The Top Ten Things Steve Jobs Taught Us

This is a good article by Eric Jackson, a contributor to Forbes magazine. Sadly, not enough educators think the way Jobs thought. We are too cautious, too set in our ways, too caught up in the way we learned, too afraid of change, too afraid of being wrong, too afraid of making a mistake, a bad decision, too afraid of being visionaries. We are in a critical time in education, I believe. Societal changes, technological changes, and economic changes are all impacting education as never before. Hopefully, we will find the kind of leadership in education that Apple, Google, Facebook, and other technology companies were blessed with.

Napster, Udacity, and the Academy

Clay Shirky is an American writer, consultant, and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. Here is an interesting article by him forwarded to me by Exeter history teacher Bill Jordan. It is well worth the read.

iPads in Education

Here's a nice website, iPads in Education, developed by Ian Wilson, a freelance Apple Education Mentor who lives in the northwest of England. It is filled with information, links, and APPS.

Mathematical Association of Western Australia

Spent a bit of time in Fremantle and Perth, Western Australia, over the recent Thanksgiving break. At the MAWA 2012 Secondary Convention I did a keynote address entitled Secondary School Mathematics: Why should we teach it, What should we teach, How should we teach, and Who should teach it. It was a nice opportunity for me to vent about the state of mathematics education halfway around the world. In summary, we put too much emphasis on teaching calculus, and preparing students for calculus, when there is so much good and relevant mathematics that could be studied. Every student should have a course in statistics and discrete mathematics before graduating from secondary school. As for how we should teach mathematics, my twenty plus years at Exeter have convinced me that a problem solving-based curriculum taught via a student-centered approach is the best. Learning mathematics is a participation sport and teachers need to get out of the way and put students at the center of their own learning. As the adage goes, teachers need to be the "guide on the side as opposed to the sage on the stage." Moreover, student-centered learning can take place in any classroom with some creativity...you don't need a fancy, oak Harkness table. Check out this video made at Pritzker College Prep in Chicago, IL last summer to see student-centered learning in action outside of Exeter and sans Harkness tables.

After the keynote, I did three 50-minute sessions entitled "A Non-Text, Problem-Solving Approach to Secondary Maths." These were about our problem-based mathematics curriculum at Exeter and were very well attended. Once again, many participants requested copies of the teaching materials and were very thankful to Exeter and, especially, the mathematics department, for making these materials so readily available. 

I also made a presentation to the entire faculty at the St. Mark's Anglican Community School in Perth on student-centered learning or what we at Exeter call the Harkness plan. These presentations always produce lots of interest and questions about how we teach. And, finally, I made a two-hour presentation on student-centered learning and our mathematics curriculum at the Hale School in Perth.

California Mathematics Council Meeting

I was at the CMC-South Conference 2012 from November 2 - 3, 2012 making a presentation on the Phillips Exeter Academy mathematics program. There continues to be great interest in what we're doing and many participants requested copies of our teaching materials. 

A highlight of the conference was a keynote talk given by Dan Meyer, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics education at Stanford University and definitely a leader in mathematics education. Here is a link to his very popular Ted Talk. And, I'm pleased to announce that Dan will be giving one of the featured evening talks at the Anja S. Greer Conference at Exeter in June of 2013.

Expanding Learning Horizons in Lorne, Australia

In August, I attended the Expanding Learning Horizons (ELH) Conference sponsored by Computelec and held in the beautiful seaside town of Lorne, on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Computelec is the leading educational technology company in Australia and is responsible for the implementation of many 1:1 computing programs in schools across Australia.

While I was quite busy giving four workshops in three days, I was able to attend a number of sessions. Donald Brinkman, a program manager for Microsoft, gave the opening keynote address on Structured Signifiers and Infinite Games: Serious Play for Lifelong Learning. He highlighted Microsoft's history with serious games and their Games for Learning Institute, as well as using badges as signifiers that have the potential to transform the way we learn skills and record experiences. An offshoot of the Games for Learning Institute is the Just Press Play project at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

The ending keynote was given by Jason Ohler, author of the book Digital Community, Digital Citizen. His presentation focused on how "new media and digital storytelling fit into the greater scheme of curricular objectives and the world of emerging technologies."

iTeach 2012 at the San Domenico School

It's been a busy summer and a while since I've updated the blog. So, here goes...

In June, I attended the iTeach 2012 conference hosted by the San Domenico School in San Anselmo, CA. San Domenico is a 1:1 iPad school.

Some highlights from the conference included sessions on creating powerful presentations with Keynote, an app similar to Powerpoint. As the speaker, Ted Lai from Apple, stated, "Edward Tufte once wrote, "Powerpoint is Evil." However, effective presentations can be made by focusing on design, content, and delivery."

Krista McKeague presented a session on interactive iPad textbooks for algebra and geometry. HMH (Houghton Mifflin Holt) FUSE is an iPad app, not an eTextbook which is simply a digital version of a printed textbook. 

On the second day of the conference I attended a session with tech leaders from various bay area schools regarding 1:1 iPad programs. Issues such as infrastructure (access points, bandwidth, saturation points, Apple TV...just how much does one want to manage?), video storage (YouTube for Schools, Safari Montage, Vimeo, Google Docs, and SchoolTube), and how to implement a 1:1 program were highlighted. The 

The overall impression I got was that going 1:1 with iPads should be a motivation to make curricular change in schools, to shake things up. At Exeter, we are in a position to begin implementation with a curriculum we are already proud of, one in which the learning is student-centered. But, a 1:1 program will allow our students to be more productive without any loss of critical thinking. Regarding the issue of iPads vs. laptops, the iPad allows for more individualism as opposed to a laptop, the iPad has a much lower profile at the Harkness table, central to our teaching and learning at Exeter, the iPad can be multiple learning tools - calculator, note-taker, music maker, art producer, language tutor, and textbook. 

Another important point that was made at the conference was that of parent education, specifically making parents comfortable with modern learning methods. Technology is ubiquitous in the 21st century and it is important that we guide students with best practices for using this technology, and keep parents abreast of what we're doing.