EduTECH 2016 Day 2 - Possibility and Creating Preferred Futures

Jane McGonigal Presenting

For me Day 2 at #EduTECHAU 2016 was about possibility.

Anthony Muhammad began the day speaking passionately about the endless possibilities that arise when we make conscious - and then question - the mindsets and assumptions underpinning our educational processes and structures. 

Jane McGonigal closed the day by showing how a futures perspective can open up a space to think about possibilities in the present. She provided a forecasting  framework to help imagine education in 2026 so that we can create preferred futures.

I resonated strongly with these messages. 

Muhammad's words sit comfortably within the holistic and integral frameworks I use that highlight the importance of culture - and question our implicit assumptions and world views. He questioned the often self-fulfilling 'bell curve' mindset.

McGonigal's words reminded me of the importance of social foresight, creating preferred futures and my time playing Evoke six years ago. Her work has helped shape my educational practice over the last decade.

At #EduTECHAU McGonnigal's ideas had close links with Larry Johnson's (now ex-NMC) presentation which asked if our strategic thinking is based on a world that no longer exists. Both spoke about the future already being here - but not evenly distributed. They both mentioned Bitcoin and Blockchain - and the importance of asking 'what if' questions.

Viv White's presentation on how students excel in Big Picture Schools reminded me of the times I taught Student Directed Inquiry (SDI) in years 11/12. Students followed their interest/passion for a year which made up 20-25% of their course load. 

White spoke of recent agreements for Big Picture School students to bypass traditional tertiary entrance which opens up new possibilities for students who become deeply engaged in and responsible for their own learning. I remember an external assessor from university commenting that many SDI students were performing better than her 2nd year students. 

When you tap into student interest and passion the genius within blossoms.

I wasn't expecting to hear these views at an educational technology conference. 

For this I have to thank the #EduTECHAU conference planners for their visionary leadership.

It seems to me the educational technology agenda is about to move on. I'm looking forward to participating - and this might start with a visit to Jane McGonigal's Learning is Earning game to collectively imagine education in 2026.

eLearning Strategy Opening

Today we launched a 3 month project to develop a 2012-14 eLearning Strategy for the Polytechnic. The Strategy will grow out of a wiki as a living plan for eLearning across the state.

The wiki will be open for edit and stakeholders will be able to watch the eLearning Strategy emerge as they participate in a process of co-construction.

Through this openness we hope to engage more people in an transparent process that acknowledges the complexity of the task, multiple perspectives with their underpinning values and assumptions, and the challenge of strategically planning for on-going change and financial sustainability.

We will use a perspective model developed by Dr Sue Stack for a recent Faculty of Education NBN in Education Project at the University of Tasmania. This project examined the challenges of creating connectivity for Tasmanian education through an openly consultative process involving ICT leaders across different educational sectors.

Tomorrow students and the wider community will be invited through Facebook and Twitter to contribute to the wiki pages and discussion. With analytics running on various online resources we hope to be able to build on the most effective communication strategies during the project.