Last month, Leapfrog Institutes and Education Futures interviewed Dr. Christopher Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Technology, Innovation, and Education at Harvard University, on what it would take for a state to become a leader in innovation. His answer was quite simple: successful states set up regional economic education development centers. These centers [...]
"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
-Thomas Jefferson
Archive for August, 2008
E-competencies: Building human capital for the 22nd century
8/22/2008
Upcoming event: October 31, 2008 Mexico City, Mexico Conference website: www.e-competencies.org The Knowledge Society demands that we leapfrog ahead in our education systems, build a new digital literacy, and improve soft skills (creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking, among others) that could help all 21st century citizens become productive, effective knowledge workers. Educators, policymakers, [...]
The adequate yearly conspiracy?
8/20/2008
Whitney Stark at Minnesota Public Radio wrote me to ask what I think about the increase in schools that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind: Minnesota Public Radio News is interested in learning more about what is going on with Minnesota’s declining and low Adequate Yearly Progress results. What [...]
Study: Calculators okay in math class
8/20/2008
…but, only if students know the math first. Media guru Griffin Gardner forwarded this article from ScienceDaily, which suggests that calculators are useful tools in elementary-level mathematics classes. Citing research by Bethany Rittle-Johnson and Alexander Oleksij Kmicikewycz at Vanderbilt, and recently published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, ScienceDaily writes: “So much of how [...]
Clayton Christensen on innovation in education
8/19/2008
Yesterday, HBS Working Knowledge posted an interview with Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School and author or coauthor of five books, including The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution. The interview focused on his latest book (co-authored with Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson), Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the [...]
Edison High School is poised to Leapfrog
8/18/2008
[Cross-posted from Leapfrog Institutes newswire.] Last March, Minneapolis Public Schools announced that Edison High School and Washburn High School will be overhauled in response to under-performance. As part of the “fresh start” agenda, nearly all staff members at each school received notice that their contracts would not be renewed, and they would have to reapply [...]
Is college a waste of time?
8/14/2008
An essay by Charles Murray on the opinion page of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal contains a provocative statement promoting the substitution of focused competency certificates for the BA degree. He writes: Outside a handful of majors — engineering and some of the sciences — a bachelor’s degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant [...]
“3G” education
8/13/2008
Gustavo Andrade at UNAM in Mexico City just posted a video from a conference I participated in last April. He writes: 3G technology allows us to build an innovative vision of education. Education anywhere and at anytime, with a device that can be your own cell phone. John Moravec at the University of Minnesota explains [...]
A million paper airplanes
8/12/2008
Futurelab, in collaboration with the UK’s Department for Children School and Families, has created Million Futures. The project aims to identify what people think are the biggest challenges facing education in the future. Visit this new website and write your thoughts about future life and learning on virtual paper planes which you can launch into [...]
Janet Hively on innovation in Minnesota
8/11/2008
We had the fortunate opportunity to interview Dr. Janet Hively, founder of Minnesota’s Vital Aging Network and co-founder of the SHiFT network. In this video, she shares with us what what is unique about Minnesota’s approach to innovation, the conditions necessary for fostering innovation, and the implications for leaders: Dr. Janet Hively on Innovation in [...]
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Related posts
Godin: “the curious are punished”
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Seth Godin on schools: “… over and over and over again the curious are punished.”
Project Dream School
Project Dream School starts with a simple question: If you could build a dream school, what would you do? Furthermore: What would the building look like? The methods? The teachers? Technology? The mission? …does it need to be a school, or should it be a bootcamp for designing futures… life… the perfect job? Last Thursday, [...]
Knowmads take on KLM’s extended office
This video contains a great introduction to the Knowmads in the Netherlands and their latest project: Improving the extended office for KLM‘s business travelers. The application period to join the next Knowmads team (“Team 2″) is now open, and will close on June 18. Click here for more information and to apply. Also, click here [...]
Fab Lab: Build ‘almost anything’
“The Fab Lab program has strong connections with the technical outreach activities of a number of partner organizations, around the emerging possibility for ordinary people to not just learn about science and engineering but actually design machines and make measurements that are relevant to improving the quality of their lives.” [MIT Center for Bits and [...]
Is ASU building the New American University?
This video has been floating around for seven months, and I somehow haven’t seen it until today. Not only does Arizona State University specifically address the growing needs for transdisciplinarity, design, relevancy, and innovation in higher education, but they seem to have a grasp on what it all means. In designing the “New American University,” [...]
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