How lucky am I!! (And that’s not a question). I get to meet so many fantastic people, and to travel to an incredible variety of places! As an example, am leaving 2morrow for South America. Amongst other things, I’ll be walking Macchu Picchu in Peru. A lifelong dream. Will work out some metaphor to share with you when I return.
Some recent learnings and thoughts:
* Just over a week ago, I presented a keynote to a group in Australia called ACPET (Australian Council for Private Education and Training). An umbrella group for a diverse range of TAFE and private training providers. A fascinating eye-opener for me, given that most of my work is with teachers of school students.
This means that I essentially focus on pedagogy (the art and science of learning for 4 to 18 year-olds). However, the people involved at this ACPET conference are into andragogy (the art and science of adult learning). Amongst many other things, I discovered that:
- Education has the highest value-added multiplier of any industry (0.94 compared to .47 for petroleum and coal products). This means that 94c in the $ stays in Australia when it is provided for international students.
- Education has just become the 2nd largest exporter in the country.
- 1 in 5 students in Aust is an international; and 3 in 5 come from East Asia and the Pacific
- These international students love to have an ‘Aussie’ experience; however, most of them don’t like the drinking culture (so don’t take them to the local pub)
- One neat quote: If education and training is the answer, then what’s the question?
- And, one that I’ve heard before, although it bears repeating (because I suspect that it’s pretty well true). “Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, except for bad news, which travels faster.” (Douglas Adams)
* Offered a keynote and a couple of workshops to an enthusiastic bunch at the Waimarino cluster in Tauranga on the Nth Island of NZ last Friday. I constantly marvel at my luck in being exposed to so many inspiring educators. And amongst others I met there:
- Sean Lyons, who works with NetSafe in NZ, had some neat points about cybersecurity. Including:
- 3 out of 4 students know how to circumvent filters
- Overreaction by adults leads to underdisclosure by students
- Research is the biggest driver of net usage by teenagers
- And I had to laugh at this quote: “My parents are happy for me to use a shotgun. But not FaceBook.”
And just for the heck of it. Picked this video up from Craig Price, a Muppets obsessive, who is the principal of the superb Selwyn Ridge primary school in Tauranga in NZ. Have a look firstly at the school; and then find your way to this video. Kids love it (which probably means that you will too).
Antwerp Central Railway Station in Belgium on March 23 2009. A recording of Do Re Me, sung by Julie Andrews, suddenly began playing over the public address system, and 200 people streamed out of the crowd and started dancing. They had practised twice. Pretty good effort for two rehearsals.
Why don’t we start setting up impromptu performances like this all over the world? Given the talent I often see in schools, they could be strongly involved. From there, we could set up a YouTube channel, and compile these presentations.
Over to you. Arrange something in your local shopping centre, or at your airport, or at some (normally) boring meeting, and exercise everyone’s goosebumps!
I’ve always loved toys that fly. Kites, frisbees, aerobies, you name it. If it can move through the air, it’s my kinda toy. And here’s my latest piece of fun. A HoverDisc. You inject it with some helium, and this thing just goes for ages. I can spin it in mid-air, or gently float it across the room. Bliss.
So, how often do you play?? Is it a conscious choice on a regular basis, or does it become an incidental after-thought that just occasionally happens? Or maybe not ever at all.
I’m reading a book by Stuart Brown called “Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul”. This guy has some powerful points to make. Essentially, he’s maintaining that adults forget to play… and that this is not a good thing for ongoing brain development.
He further maintains that as we become adults, we feel guilty about play, and consider it as a ‘distraction’ from real work and life. And yet, if you watch small children running around a playground, and see the excitement on their faces, you’ll be easily reminded of the joy that it can give you.
So, what is play? Well, this guy clarifies some of the properties of play, and they include:
* Apparently purposeless (done for its own sake)
* Voluntary
* Inherent attraction
* Freedom from time
* Diminished consciousness of self
* Improvisational potential
* Continuation desire
All sounds great to me. I’m off to a park with my HoverDisk. When’s the next time you’ll be playing??!
What’s goin’ on around here??! Is it really possible that the concept of collective consciousness is about to become an everyday reality??!! Could we soon see millions of people from all corners of the planet who are collaborating on solutions to planetary issues? Will we eventually become a united learning entity, fully engaged in inquiry on a range of social, scientific and educational issues? Get ready for the Collective Classroom.
The annual Horizon Report outlines some core possibilities on near-future applications to higher education (and, eventually, I believe, to other ed levels). Some neat stuff here. On the ‘near-horizon’ (less than one year to mainstream take-up), they discuss Grassroots Video and Collaboration Webs. On the mid-horizon (2 to 3 yrs), they list Mobile Broadband and Data Mashups, while Social Operating Systems and Collective Intelligence feature on the Far Horizon (4 to 5 yrs from now).
This concept of Collective Intelligence is really sparking me. Some points about it can be found here. I’m probably spinning too hard here, yet I believe that we’re seeing the early emergence of a valid everyday application of collective consciousness around the world. A Classroom of Collective Intelligence. Too far-fetched? Maybe. Maybe not.
The Collective Classroom could involve hundreds of millions of students being supported by millions of teachers. One day, I’ll have a go at drafting out more of the possible details of this concept. Admittedly, for now, it’s more in my heart than my head. A gut feeling. Yet I’ll bet that it happens sooner rather than later.
Have a look at this video. Four minutes of collaboration from musicians everywhere. Just imagine music / art / scientific experiments / philosophies / learning experiences being crafted in a similar manner.
And on a much more simple and lighter note (so to speak), check this piece of music out. Obviously, there is nothing new to connective ventures. What will become exhilarating will be the breadth and depth of these collaborations.
Whew. How much longer is the world going to cope with comprehensive social injustices that cannot be sustained??
This video goes for 6 mins. The first 2 of those seem to drift a little. Hang in on it. And if you do linger for the total time, I dare you to stay ambivalent about this issue.
Are you familiar with the concept of Pay It Forward? A neat little book, and movie, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Well, I am. And so I’ve teamed up with a Sydney colleague called Blake Beattie to offer a variation on this Pay It Forward.
It’s called Donate It Forward, and it’s meant to challenge people on the way that they’ll make use of our prime minister’s largesse. Namely, the $900 handout that will soon end up in many Aussie’s pockets.
So, rather than just spend it on yourself, we’re asking people to donate part or all of it to a registered charity that could most definitely make use of the money.
Our initial target is that 10 000 people will donate $50 each. A total of $500 000. And just imagine the possibilities if a million people donated $500 each. I can only dream.
And yet, who knows. The world is giving us messages right now about our selfish selves. Maybe it’s about time that we learned to recognise that we’re all in this scene together. And sometimes, that means that we need to support others who are less fortunate.
