Circles of Change: Conversations with Dr. Zara Larsen
on Change Leadership and Career Fulfillment
May 17, 2009
"Beyond Could, Past Should, to Must:
The critical role of digital technology in K-12 Education"
Guest: Jim Moulton
www.jimmoulton.org
Anchoring Points:
1. My work involves preparing the K-12 learners of today to be the leaders of tomorrow by focusing on helping school communities stay relevant in the 21st century – improving their teachers’ abilities to support the development of true lifelong learners – students who come to understand the power of “learning how to think and learn”.
2. Schools are knowledge centers and an important place of culture building, not just a place for the distribution of data.
3. Change is beyond hard – people actively avoid it. We need to rework our current schools with technology as a given, not an add-on. Where technology allows us to see complex concepts in new ways, encouraging us to “love the words not just love the books.”
4. The “how” education is delivered is critical to supporting the “what” – a strong emphasis on project-based, cross-disciplinary experiences that leverage the right technologies and interactions between teacher and student, and teachers together.
5. Some feel we need to just “get out of the kids’ way” and let their ease of use of technology take its course. I believe we need to hold hands. Computers can do some things, but definitely not others.
6. My global work has exposed me to cultures where younger people need no help in content as they push the fields in striking ways beyond US students – yet most often as a special class or limited portion of the population. In the US we act on the belief that every child can and will be a contributing member of society and creativity is our edge – a real foundation for learning.
7. This isn’t just about connecting 21st century skills, it is “any-century skills” that remind us to stick with the basics of human interaction, in particular providing first and foremost a grounding in family.
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