Startup Riot 2009 - ReinventED Technologies

A recent presentation about my vision for 21st century learning (Startup Riot 2009, Atlanta, Georgia).

A Friday Recap

After just a few weeks "blogging," I wanted to take this opportunity on a beautiful, sunny 70+ degrees Friday to thank everyone who has clicked on my blog and taken the time out of their busy lives to read my perspectives on 21st century learning.  Hopefully, the time was not ill-spent.  While I will continue to expand on my own perspectives about 21st century education, I also use the blog to give credit and refer to some of the thought leaders who I have come to admire for their courage and their forward-thinking, research-backed ideas about how and why we need to reinvent education.  Some of them have also become trusted professional colleagues; you know who you are :) While the Obama Stimulus Bill's process was very partisan and, of course, not quite embraced with the plurality that followed his election to the Presidency, the $100+ Billion allocated to education should go a very long way toward injecting the "fuel" required to start the process of real reform in our education system.  However, it is important that everyone understands that money alone is not the "catch-all" panacea that will save our children from being left behind in the 21st century work environment. As my friends at the Innosight Institute stated so eloquently in Disrupting Class:  How Disruptive Innovation Will Change The Way The World Learns, the process has to change.  So before this money is ill-spent, it is critical that educators truly a fresh approach to learning and understand that long-held assessment standards must be radically reworked.  I can't tell you how many times in recent months I have heard:  "does it align with the standards?"  "We need to get the students ready for the tests."  I ask you to please stop this nonsense.  The 21st century requires 21st century standards, and my biggest hope will be that the frameworks being developed by the Partnership For 21st Century Skills are mandatory standards that get integrated into every public school system in the United States.  It may not be perfect, but from what I have seen thus far, their ideas a very much a strong step in the right direction. Over the coming days/weeks, I will continue to challenge your thnking, as well as make you aware of interesting initiatives/ideas that come across my desk. Until then, as we say in Japan, "de wa mata", or "See you soon" Al

Games and STEM Education

One of the inspirations behind my vision for 21st century learning is one of our nation's great thought leaders in the area of games and learning, Merrilea Mayo, PhD. Merrilea is Director of Future of Learning Initiatives at the Kauffman Foundation. She has worked tirelessly to promote the research about how video games can lead to successful learning outcomes, particularly as it relates to science and engineering. She is one of the most selfless professionals I have had the pleasure of working with, and all she wants is to be heard, and for education to improve in the United States and abroad. I am attaching an article she recently published in the January 2009 issue of Science Magazine, and I hope you find it as thought-provoking as I do. Enjoy.

A Sneak Preview To A Longer Interview

I did a brief "teaser" interview after Startup Riot through an online website called Startupslive.tv. Here is a link to the interview: http://startupslive.tv/2009/02/25/educational-startups-need-to-be-reinvented/ Stay tuned for a link to the extended interview I did on Friday, February 27th. I hope you find it interesting, as it provides a lens into my vision for 21st century learning.

A Datapoint We Should ALL Be Watching

A colleague shared with me an article that was printed in Wednesday's NY Times.  I have copied the article below, and it paints a very troubling picture about the competitiveness of the United States. The article reinstates the main focus of the new Education Secretary:  to ensure that we close the gap between the skills learned in school and the skills required for successful performance in the 21st century work environment.  Only through achieving these ends, will the United States (and any country for that matter), maintain and grow its global competitiveness and innovation. This is exactly why the time is now to embrace fundamental, transformational, disruptive innovative educational tools and pedagogy.  Our children, and our future, depend on it.