Monthly Archives: May 2009

First Globals and Education 3.0

I just finished reading The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream by John Zogby of Zobgy International, a public opinion polling company. In addition to compiling lots of interesting findings about how the American dream has / is shifting, Zogby creates a pictures of the new generation of learners called the First Globals born between 1979-1990. These traits and dispositions compliment the Education 3.0 students proposed by Moravec. First Globals are:

  • Highly materialistic and self-absorbed
  • Caring and tolerant
  • Change-oriented
  • OK with high educational debt
  • The most cosmopolitan age group in America
  • More likely to live abroad for an extended period of time
  • Does not expect job security

How is today’s educational system tapping into the rich culture and valuable assets of this generation? If our schools, curriculum, pedagogies, and structure are built on a social system, social values, and student attributes that look nothing like they do today, they are not really meeting the needs of this new generation of students. As noted in this blog “No matter how hard we try to cover up 19th century institutions, they will still be 19th century institutions.”

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Source: Jayson Richardson

Civil Rights and Democracy are Inseparable

Dear Diane, I got a few blasts for the comments you liked on Klein/Sharpton/Gingrich’s (EEP) civil rights efforts. It hit a nerve. Our obsession with schools is both a healthy and an unhealthy aspect of the American psyche. This is,…

Source: Jayson Richardson

Why Education Is Not the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

Dear Deborah, I was glad to read your comments on the faux-Education Equality Project (EEP), now headed by New York City’s Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the Reverend Al Sharpton, with the assistance of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The…

Source: Jayson Richardson

Two weeks of creativity

This past week, I have been in Knoxville, TN, for Destination ImagiNation’s Global Finals. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets in education, “DI is an innovative organization that teaches creativity, teamwork and problem solving to students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries. Its main program is an unconventional team learning experience where student teams all over the world solve mind-bending Challenges. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work as a team, and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Participants gain more than just basic knowledge and skills—they learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem solving.”

Following DI, I will travel to Amsterdam for the Creative Company Conference and ITSMF Academy. The CCC, in particular, should be interesting as I will join Sir Ken Robinson, Frank Heemskerk (Dutch foreign trade minister) and human capital expert Mirjam van Praag in a discussion on creativity and entrepreneurship in education. This will be fun. Stay tuned!

Source: John Moravec

When ‘Equity’ Is Used to Increase Segregation

Dear Diane, It would have chilled Martin Luther King’s blood to see how the struggle for equality has been narrowed into a race for higher test scores in a society that abandoned Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” We are now…

Source: Jayson Richardson

Technology Savvy School Leaders?

I co-host a podcast on Blog Talk Radio called Four Guys Talking. In episode 5, we discussed the role of higher education institutions to create
technology savvy leaders. To cut to the chase, we concluded that we are not
doing nearly enough to ensure school leaders are able to handle the changes,
or even capture the opportunities, brought on by social networking tools,
ubiquitous access to information, and the ever-changing introduction of new
tools. A big question that came up is how do leadership preparation programs
ensure school leaders are technology savvy? Since technology is taking a more
dominant role in formal and informal education, how are institutions of higher
education ensuring they are preparing school leaders appropriately? Here are
some highlights from our talk:

  • Technology is taught as an add-on and is not infused throughout
    programs.
  • Educational leadership courses are not measuring or ensuring that
    leaders who get the university’s rubber stamp of approval are technology savvy.
  • Outside of maybe a dozen folks (that we know of), the issue of
    technology leadership is not getting a lot of attention. Scott McLeod and I
    recently completed a study attesting to this fact. It should be published in
    a special edition of the Journal of School Leadership soon.
  • As noted over on Dangerously Irrelevant, service in higher education is usually seen as the lesser of our obligations as faculty members. How can we get our technology interested faculty members on board to directly work with more schools, leaders, and teachers on topics related to technology when the institutions that promotes them do not value this type of work (that is to say our service if judged less than our research and teaching)?

Most higher education institutions see value in technology and do want technology to be infused in their educational leadership programs. Bryan Setser of North Carolina Virtual Public Schools spoke to my class of EdD students recently. He said “if you are thinking that technology is only a tool, you are already behind. Technology is a process, it is not a tool.” Why then are school leadership programs not teaching our school leaders to change how they do the business of education versus teaching them how to use tools to make their job easier?

I find the Education 3.0 framework as proposed by John Moravec aptly applies to school leaders too. As John said: 

This will all require new forms of educational professionalism, tapping well beyond traditional teachers [and school leaders], and blending together with the communities that schools serve. The future that kids and adults co-create can provide the emerging knowledge/innovation economy a boost, greatly enhancing human capital and potentials.

Source: Jayson Richardson