I attended the Wisconsin SLATE conference in Decemeber and had the unfortunate opportunity to attend the keynote which was given by Scott McLeod. I always love it when someone that knows a bit of technology talks to those that don’t and the hook line and sinker takes over! Everything that came out of this guys mouth is so two years ago. My advice to him: move on as your dog and pony show is old news! Do you think that schools throughout the state and country don’t know that we need to teach technology skills? Do you really think that Facebook and Twitter are going to save our educational system? Fact for you Scott: Collaboration between “C” level players gives you “C” level work. Steve Jobs had this figured out, read his bio. He didn’t put up with “B” or lower players. You were fired! That’s how a company like Apple is formed. Being an “A” player takes hard work and no bit of collaboration or technology is going to make you an “A” player. I think back to my fourth semester of Calculus, it was tough! There wasn’t anyone standing there next to me holding my hand and I couldn’t run home to mom and cry on her shoulder and make it all better. Study, study study, hard work!
Bottom line: The SLATE conference had better rethink their standards for keynotes as this was extremely sub par and I’m going to have to really think next time as to whether or not the time spent will be worth it. Want a great conference: Brainstorm!
Oh no! I’m so sorry that my keynote didn’t resonate with you!
I’m not sure how to reconcile your opinions with those of others that attended. In a crowd of over 1,000, obviously there’s going to be a diversity of ideology, skills, and needs. I’m certain you weren’t the only one that didn’t care for what I discussed.
That said, many did. I heard from folks all day – after the keynote, at breakout sessions, telephone and email conversations in the weeks that have followed – that my message DID resonate with them, was helpful to them, caused them to think, etc.
So maybe you’re in a different place than they are with your thinking? If so, that’s great! What can you do to help your fellow Wisconsin educators? What do you think I should have talked about instead?
The fact that your talk resonated with a part of the audience shows the problem with technology in education. This is two year old news. If this was news to people then they need to get out of technology in education. Technology isn’t something you go to a conference every year on and get “filled up” with, you live it, you stay up on it as it is your job and then you help make decisions that will have a positive impact on a targeted population of your children. Another issue that I have with your presentation is that you need to discuss balance. Technology is a tool. It is a resource. It will be a sad day in our world when everyone lives behind a device. We need to make sure that our children live with balance in their lives as extremes for anything are never good. Finally technology presentations such as yours need to face some facts. Technology will not solve educations problems just like re-writing your curriculum or creating new “standards” won’t (insert Einstein’s definition of insanity here). We can go back many years and show examples of technological changes and where are we? There will always be something new for speakers such as yourself to stand up and tell everyone that if they aren’t doing it they are missing out or doing something wrong but it isn’t that easy (if only it was). Throwing millions of dollars at a problem by handing an iPad to every child will not solve educations problems. Quality teachers leveraging the use of technology when appropriate make this happen.
What we should be discussing with educators is how do we flip this system upside down! Leverage technology to give the lecture (for higher grades) side of a student’s day. Leverage technology to provide immediate feedback to teachers on the current level of students so they can make appropriate changes to their instruction (how well does the Disney app Wheres My Water provide feedback to the teacher? Zero just like a majority of apps out there). Leverage technology to provide dynamic/fluid textbooks. This list can go on and on but we need to do it outside of the realm of vendors (Apple’s attempt at textbooks is a perfect example of what happens when vendors are involved as they are worried about one thing, money).