Mike Falick's Blog

In Times of Change, Learners Inherit the Earth

"In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

This quote, by American social philopopher Eric Hoffer, is the introductory sentence to Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.  It is a fascinating look at our country that I highly recommend.

It is my opinion that never in the history of mankind have we seen the type of hyper-accelerated change that we have seen in the last 25 years.  In the nearly 4 years that I have been writing this blog, I have posted many times about what this change means to today's students. (some of those posts are available here).  It has been this idea of accelerated change that has formed the basis of much of my thought process and work on our Board.  I believe the quote above succinctly captures why I have done so.

U@50: A 20 Year Old Tells the World Why Things Will be Different When She is 50

AARP ran a contest in 2007 called U@50 that challenged young people to submit videos describing what the world would be like when they turned 50.  You can access the winners here.  The video below, which finished second, is my favorite.  I found it to be extraordinarily creative and meaningful.

Did You Know 3.0: The Latest Update of Karl Fisch's "Did You Know Video"

On July 7, 2007, I posted Did You Know 2.0, which graphically demonstrated the impact of global competition on today's American children.  Below is the latest version of Did You Know, released at the end of 2008.

Guest Blogger Tim Skaggs Writes About Preparing Students for a Future We Can’t Describe

I am beginning what I hope will become a frequent feature on this blog -- the Guest Author.  If you would like to contribute, please email me your proposed post.

Here's the first Guest Author post from Tim Skaggs, Program Consultant for the American Leadership Forum:

The 2008 ALF Convocation was a wake up call for many of us.  I don’t know about you but I left feeling like I know very little about how to connect with this generation of Pre K – 12 learners.  David Warlick did a great job explaining why my 19 year old son hated high school and why he’s not alone.  Since Jeff discovered on-line college courses he’s pulling a 3.5 average and can’t seem to get enough.  He lives and works in one state, goes to college in another and is not having the “college experience” that I so highly treasured.  His educational experience is so vastly different from mine that I can hardly relate to it.  If you liked David Warlick’s futurist presentation at convocation you will love Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn and Curtis Johnson.

As educators, you may never have heard of Christensen, Horn and Johnson before because they don’t typically write about education.  Disrupting Class will be found in the business section of your bookstore (if you still use one of those outdated stores that have books sorted into sections.)  The authors’ business perspective on the future of education is beautifully aligned with the world foreseen by David Warlick.

Disrupting Class is less a prescription of how to solve public education’s ills than a look into a crystal ball.  It is a forecast of what will be, not what might be if we all do the right things.  I also found it refreshing that Christensen, et. al., don’t blame schools, parents, teachers, kids, administrators, legislators or unions for the state of public education although each could certainly take a healthy serving of the blame pie.  They actually make a pretty good case that public education has done a decent job of meeting the changing and compounding demands that have been put on the backs of schools.  Given that we are one of the only nations to be so bold as to attempt to provide a quality education for every child we have reason to feel good about ourselves.

Lecturefox: Yet Another Online Source of Free University Lectures

I have previously posted a number of websites that offer high quality, free university lectures (here, here, here, and here).  Now comes another site, Lecturefox, which brings you many Ivy League University lectures on sciences, psychology, economics, history, and philosophy.  Many of the Lecturefox lectures include not only audio, which is common on other sites, but also video.

From the Lecturefox website:

What is Lecturefox?

It’s all about the joy of learning.

Lecturefox is a free service. You can find high-quality classes from universities all over the world. We collect without exception lectures from official universities, and we have a special interest in lectures from the faculties physics, chemistry, computer science and mathematics. In the category “faculty mix” you can find miscellaneous lectures from other departments like electrical engineering, biology, psychology, economics, history and philosophy.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Issues Its Call to Action: Policy Recommendations on Preparing Americans to Triumph in the Global Skills Race

Today I came across The Partnership for 21st Century Skills which I think has accurately stated one of the main things missing from today's high stakes testing regimen, the lack of focus on 21st century skills. 

The Partnership has issued a Transition Brief for the incoming administration of President-elect Obama entitled Policy Recommendations on Preparing Americans to Triumph in the Global Skills Race which is a call to action on this issue.

Here is how the Partnership's website describes the issue with one of the best graphics I have seen (click on the graphic to enlarge):

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American education. The key elements of 21st century learning are represented in the graphic and descriptions below. The graphic represents both 21st century skills student outcomes (as represented by the arches of the rainbow) and 21st century skills support systems (as represented by the pools at the bottom):

21ST CENTURY STUDENT OUTCOMES:

The elements described in this section as “21st century student outcomes” (represented by the rainbow) are the skills, knowledge and expertise students should master to succeed in work and life in the 21st century.

1. Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes

2. Learning and Innovation Skills 

• Creativity and Innovation Skills
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
• Communication and Collaboration Skills

3. Information, Media and Technology Skills

• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT Literacy
  

4. Life and Career Skills

• Flexibility & Adaptability
• Initiative & Self-Direction
• Social & Cross-Cultural Skills
  
• Productivity & Accountability
  
• Leadership & Responsibility

Google Mobile App for iPhone: Voice Search Makes this a Game-Changer

I have owned the iPhone since August 2007 and continue to believe it is revolutionary.  This week I downloaded a new app that I think is a game-changer beyond what the iPhone could already do - it's the new Google app with voice search.

I have embedded the Google app video below that shows how this incredible app works.  Bottom line - you ask it a question or say a phrase into the phone and it runs the search.  In my opinion, from an education standpoint, the instant access to information that Google and now this app allow make memorization of dates and facts far less important.  It is the context and the concept - the why and how - that are critical.

Today's Convocation on Public Education: Answering the Question about Educating Kids for a Future We Can't Describe

Today, the American Leadership Forum and the Houston A+ Challenge co-hosted the Fifth Biennial Convocation on Public Education.  The Convocation this year is entitled Education 2021 - Preparing Kids for a Future We Can't Describe.

The keynote speaker for the Convocation was noted educational futurist, David Warlick who challenged the 250 participants to answer the question of how to educate kids for a future we can't describe.  He started from the proposition that in a flat world (see Thomas Friedman), it is important to change what and how students are educated in the classroom.

David pointed out that this is the first time in history we are preparing kids for a future we can't clearly describe.  He also said that it is an insult to our students to continue to educate them in 19th century classrooms.

The main take-away for me from the Convocation, as was the case during Spring Branch's Visioning Process is the critical importance of changing the way education is delivered to meet the rapidly changing world in which our students live.

David Warlick's handouts from the presentation are available here.  His slideshow, which is very enlightening, is below.

The Convocation was even streamed live (and parts are available for viewing) on Ustream.

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Here's a Must Watch Video: A Vision of K-12 Students Today

I previously posted about Kansas State's class video on A vision of Students Today.  Today, I came across this new video which is truly excellent entitled A Vision of K-12 Students Today.

Another Great Video from the Digital Ethnography Class at Kansas State University: How Access to Information has Changed

The Digital Ethnography class at Kansas State University has posted a number of videos that are consistent with the Visioning Process our District utilized during the Fall of 2005. 

The video embedded in this post is described as follows:

This video explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. This video was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively.