Boma Education Week: Rethinking Education

This call was on Wednesday night and Boma New Zealand had organised 4 speakers. These are my notes from this session.

You can watch the videos individually here:

Dylan Wijaya 

Melanie Riwai-Couch 

Claire Amos 

Rachel & Michael Perrett 

Claire Amos:  the Principal of Albany Senior High School, co-founder of DisruptED and and a board member for NetSafeNZ and 21C Skills Lab

Claire has been doing DisruptEd interviews to try and capture what educators have been noticing. The thing that matters most is wellbeing, not about teaching, learning or assessment but making sure they all feel safe and well. We know they can't learn when stressed and it's hard for teachers when they are unwell.

Where online learning is working is where there is a connection. A connection between school, whānau and the community.

Less is better - you can't do as much as you do in class. Forced to think about what really matters.

Create space in the curriculum

Create space in the day to go deep and wide

Need to have a combination of structure and flexibility

Home isn't school - you can't transfer straight across

Would do better if student centered at school - they would have more agency

They did Mon, Tue structured, then Wed-Fri student led - students loved that

Created agency, self direction and managing time and space

A challenge: The digital divide

OK if already using online platforms, they transitioned easily.

Real cost of digital divide is not about tools but about social justice. They need to be able to connect and still learn.

We need to embrace digital tools but realise we don't change overnight.

The reality is that education is ultimately quite inflexible. We need to design and prepare the new normal that we want.

Notice, take stock and redesign.

Whatever we design has to be agile - we may move in and out of levels. Needs to be a robust powerful experience

How do we measure success? NCEA has it's place but need to move beyond the traditional

Concept of personal constructs of success. Not our place to tell a young person what success looks like. Could be a portfolio of evidence. No one measure of success. Work with them to define what they want for themselves. 20th Century skills. The moment we turn it into a criteria it becomes redundant. Success is when they believe in themselves and can contribute.

Opportunity to consciously and critically integrate Te Ao Māori

Stop being seen as a school in isolation - be a learning hub/community hub - like a marae

A lot we can take from Māori constructs and community to reimagine school. At the moment we are still in the Western industrial age. Use the Māori view lens then we'd have a good educational model.

Working with nature - Green School - see below

Meeting needs of diverse learners and ESOL - think more collaboratively about resourcing

NCEA Hackathon Resource Group - to share ideas and resources

Virtual Learning Network - online courses and resources

Power of school and a platform such as Te Kura - we already have an online school - what would that have looked like if we had access to all of that during this time?

Communities of Online Learning (COOLs) - these had concerns about business - what if we had those?

Could have schools networked across geographical areas, not just Kāhui Ako 

Network/Collaboration/Sec schools online - where teachers are available and can cater for diverse learners and ESOL

Designing powerful online learning takes skill

We are not taught instructional design

Value in Portfolios of Personal Excellence (POPE) - they do impact projects at her school. This has earned them scholarships and opportunities in business. Sometimes we determine that NCEA has too much weight and value. Do impact projects need to be assessed to be valuable? Huge believer in soft skills - Design thinking, agile, collaborative, communicate, self directed

Ideal Learning structure:

Co-Learning hubs - Yr 0-13 learning space and a location for health and wellbeing. Co-working innovation with community as well

In and out of spaces as needed. Teachers there to open eyes and guide through the journey. Learning doesn't just happen in Yrs 1-13, it happens throughout life.

We get caught up on subjects and year groups - trying to keep the adults happy

Self directed learning schools in Canada - students come together for home room then work how and where they want to. This is the beauty of what we see in Primary Schools. Student have time to be self directed, but want some structure. Work with community groups, iwi, whānau

Teacher shave thrived where they already use UDL in normal practice. This online learning has shone a light on some people's gaps in practice.

Are teachers digitally literate? How can we use tech to be more inclusive and meet the needs of diverse learners?

Passion is the key to a great teacher

 Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch: Kaihautū Māori and education consultant for Evaluation Associates Ltd, and experienced researcher, evaluator and change manager for kāhui ako.

School Led Learning at Home: Voice of parents of Māori and Pasifika students

Team worked through surveys that were gathered through social media. Thought they would get 20 or 30 but got 100 overnight. Wanted to make sure the perspectives of parents were not lost

The name wanted to capture a new way of being - the partnership between home and school. Other names undermined the learning at home each day.

Doesn't matter what school wants - what happens in my home is what I want to happen.

Identified some benefits that would be good to carry over into school

How happy were parents with the work sent home? 50% gave a 4 or 5 but  25% only gave it a 1 or 2

If school didn't have a culturally sustainable practice then that was magnified online.

What's the best way to gather voice? Didn't use case studies but used pools of stories. Have conversations with communities.

Do we engage with parents and communicate or do we tell them things?

Parents - are they informed consumers or do we say "this is how we define success" and "this is what's important to us". Need to include the voice of parents. Best way to start is to start.

In the report they have included questions that you can use to help reflect on practice. Take back to your own setting.

Māori and Pasifika realities may not be the same as ours.There are questions to ask now and some to ask later. All the questions are designed form themes identified in the data. Constantly reflective.

How can we not be tokenistic in Māori and Pasifika?

The role that complexity plays - equity shouldn't be the end goal - devices are just a milestone on the path to reach potential. It's not enough to just have a conversation. Parents have their own perspective on their children. Need to engage beyond the surface. Her own children use identity, language and culture to grow.

Provocations - things to think about:

Focus on getting devices into homes - need them there to be able to engage

Homes are sacred spaces - no-one asked me about hundreds of people online coming into my home every day

Pasifika - loving home being calm and peaceful, it's a spiritual calm during the day

This is a chance to understand learning and how they can apply it to their own setting and reality

What are we going to go back to? Don't lose the learning. Māori and Pasifika parents have perspectives we can learn from. Need to take our parents with us into the future.

Thesis - a chapter on iwi educators defining success. Want them to achieve NCEA and be literate but also be proud and strong in their culture and to return home to serve their communities.

Really important to many Pasifika families - a right of transition - not just the child but the family as well. Want them to achieve all they can but be a whole person. Need to create conditions in schools to enable them to feel like that.

Curriculum violence - Anne Milne

Rachel and Michael Perrett: Founders of Green School New Zealand which uses a community-integrated, entrepreneurial way of learning with a focus on exciting and empowering students to lead the way sustainably.

Redesigning Education for a long time. Did Green School in Bali for 11 years.

Want to engage young learners as individuals who learn in unique ways

Sustainable caring for our planet

Creating a curriculum that addresses real world problems and engage students with joy, resilience and optimism

High respect values - entrepreneurial spirit to allow them to be changemakers

Whole community involved

Bring people along on a journey

Much of what they do is old knowledge, old wisdom and new future. Pioneering spirit. Authentic self directed learning in a natural context. 600 teachers applied before they even advertised.

Green School Compass - REAL (Relationships, Experiences, Action, Local)

Relationships - self/community/nature - this trumps procedures every time

Culture trumps strategy

Iwi first - needed to earn their place there

Engagement is extensive and rich. 

Māori blessing and powhiri - looked to reach consensus rather than just consult

Parent are essential - need to go on a journey with them to create a sustainable future. Have The Bridge where they can have coffee, the internet - co-working space. Parent have rich skills to share - can park and play

Socio economic background  - schools in Bali, Mexico and South Africa. 70 different cultures in Taranaki

Budget of 25NZ, 25Aus, 50 International

Using Bali formed Vision and values

Tweaked their content and curriculum with others

Focus on starting local and moving global

Community trusts and groups and sustainability. Support them and integrate with them and business. Public Sector support been cherished and supported. Had 7 weeks of this year before lockdown. Turned a dairy farm into an International Destination Private School

Academic rigour - sounded themselves with people to guide them

Hope to open up after school hours for sustainability studies and have camps in the holidays

Pride and partnership - an evolving process

Previous nature based school failures - many were too fringe, easily marginalised. Construction costs too high. Ego. Lack of academic rigour.

Made a list of mistakes form Bali they didn't want to make. It can be traumatic, it's stressful. Tough to conjure up a project like this but have a genuine desire to help. Montessori and Steiner have helped pave the way.

Need to be seen as serious, not fringe. Academic rigour is really important - you can learn calculus and stats in nature.

Unless Universities change it's hard for schools to get pathways so they are doing a blend of NCEA with the Green School Diploma to allow access to Uni

100% in Bali is Green School Diploma and Uni will take their students, but here it's not enough. In Bali 52 Universities came to recruit graduates - self starter, independent learner, self confident and determined. Some universities are listening but we lose so much talent to an antiquated machine.

They are moving from being the builder to the BoT. Roll early Feb was 47 and maybe have 65 by Term 3 and 100 for Term 1 2021. Want to continue to grow to perhaps 450-500 Yr1-13. Bali had a waiting list to get in. International school, but more and more people going to them.

Dylan Wijaya: a year 12 student attending St John's College in Hastings, New Zealand. For the past 3 weeks, he and 6 other students have been striving to create a cost-effective ventilator in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Called it Pear because it was like Apple, plus the Hawkes Bay is known for Pears.

Still at the brainstorming stage.

Lockdown has given him time to learn material at his own pace. Says he does 4hrs for the 6 hour day. More hands on approach plus time for hobbies

He is pursuing his purpose - to save lives

I really enjoyed this session - it reinforced my thinking around education and what education could look like. We need to make sure we take this opportunity to move forward, not take a step back into what we had. I'd love to work towards the idea of a marae as our school hub - more community involvement. More things to ponder!

The changing face of education

There have been a few things coming up in the media lately around the changes in education in New Zealand. Two have really caught my eye in the last week. One of them I kept reading and going, yes, yes, and one of them got me riled up about what people think we should and shouldn't do with education. That one inspired me to write this and put my own personal thoughts out there in the public forum.

Learning Revolution or Pathway to Ignorance?
Insight Article- link
Podcast link

I took a few notes while listening to this podcast. After reading the article I felt the real disconnect between many schools about where education is heading. There certainly is a divide and I'm glad I am on the side I am.
Hobsonville Point 
Most learning in 2 subjects done in modules of 2 learning areas together.
Deep understanding comes from links between subjects. Students and teachers co-construct contexts. Most schools the teacher decides the contexts. Can engage students more. They don't do NCEA Level 1. Some parents don't understand about what they are trying to do.
One student found it was a shock to do this style of learning, but was loving it. "Instead of just doing work for the sake of a grade and then get ranked, I was doing stuff that I was interested in and that meant something to me and my future".
It doesn't work for everyone. Lots of talk about why it doesn't work. It's up to the student to make it happen.
It's hard for parents to get their head around.

Haeata Community Campus
Working towards a model of students developing their own learning
Want the passion for learning, rather than being credit driven

Teachers have to be a facilitator of learning. Students need to have control of their learning.
Modern approaches in learning are widespread in Primary Schools but not so much in Secondary. Some have adopted the changes and some have not. Some think they shouldn't be moving this way.
Schools need to do more than just teach subjects to get students through NCEA
NCEA review results will be out next April - looking at having a project at Level 1 NCEA.
I think all schools would agree that involving students in designing learning, collaborating and use of technology are important factors in education.

Some comments made in the podcast that I want to say something about:
Teachers can't teach all those subjects in a transdisciplinary way
This is where collaboration between teachers is so important. We have strengths, we have areas of knowledge that are stronger so we need to team up with other staff to help our students get the depth and knowledge around areas we might not be so strong in. We also need to model that we don't know everything. This is an opportunity for us to upskill and learn new things and be passionate about learning. We need to facilitate learning, rather than be the fount of all knowledge.
Revolutions in technology have changed schools a lot
I am not sure many schools are using technology to change education. I see many just swapping the textbook for a pdf and pen and paper for a doc. I'm wondering how many are at M or R in the SAMR model. Perhaps this is something all schools should look at as an overview for use of tech.
You can't show a video or have open debate about things in the new Modern Learning Environments 
I would argue that, as we have breakout rooms and spaces if you need an ecnclosed space, plus we are often using our open spaces in small groups having debate and discussions and teachable moments. We often have debates and show videos, even in our open spaces.
Secondary schools are for learning specialised knowledge not for play
See my blog on Lifelong Kindergarten. I believe that we should be playing - we should be doing projects and that the specialised knowledge will be learnt as required. The old style of passing on knowledge from teacher to student is no longer applicable - the students can learn pretty much anything online if they want to. We need to be teaching them how to access that knowledge, then guiding them through projects into more depth.
Universities are finding huge gaps in knowledge I agree this will be happening - it has happened for a long time. From my own experience I know that in music, many students don't do the aural and theory externals (chosen by teachers to not sit them), but still go to Uni to do Music. There will be gaps in this area. What is needed is for the Universities to rethink how they are also delivering their courses and what they are expecting their students to do. We have so many graduates coming out of Uni not getting jobs. Why? Jobs are changing (check out this infographic). Employers are wanting more than content. They are looking for skills. Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity - the list goes on. Having a degree with purely content is not enough anymore. Workplaces have had to adapt - so does the education system.


The Futures of Learning
Education  Research and Foresight Working Papers by Cynthia Luna Scott
Report link

I read this and highlighted lots of things that I really believe in. I found it really inspiring and affirming that my beliefs about education are on the right track. It's a long document but worth a read if you are really interested in the future of education. Even if you just skim read the headings, it will give you an overview. This paragraph (taken from Pg16) sums it up for me:

"What adaptations can be expected in education in the near future? Teachers will remain, but their roles will be extended as mentors, mediators and guides, facilitators, learning coordinators, assessors, and designers and compilers of learning tools. Testing will most likely continue, but assessment will become more individualized and formative. Learning will become more personalized and customized to reflect students’ individual needs and interests, and informal learning opportunities will become recognized alternatives to traditional formal education. Transformed learning environments will encompass customized learning for each student, wider availability of diverse sources, and collaborative group learning (students will learn together as they work collaboratively on authentic, enquiry-oriented projects). Real-world experience will permeate learning activities. Most likely, schools will remain but classrooms will become more open to diverse learning experiences and instruction will likely move out into the community. Education providers will still offer face-to-face learning, but this will be supplemented by informal and virtual opportunities. Self-responsibility for learning will be essential and learners can expect to determine what their learning profile will look like. New tools for learning will be developed. Technology will support personalized learning processes and facilitate inclusion and equity."

This is what we are heading towards. This is what I believe in. This is why I am at Haeata.

Future of Learning Conference

What a way to start the holidays! I was lucky enough to attend the Future of  Learning Conference held at Haeata Community Campus. Monday was conference day and then I also get to go to the Masterclass on Tues and Wed! There were some really amazing speakers and lots to think about from today so I have put my notes here to hopefully get others thinking about what education might look like further down the track. So much information for one day! I thought about splitting this, but maybe you might just have to read it in 2 sittings. Apologies for typos, I haven't proof read it all as it is just my notes with links added, lots of extra reading. You can also check out the Twitter feed #folnz18

Introduction

Hamish Duff BSc. MSc. MBA Recalibrate

Dr Cheryl Doig Think Beyond

Some great questions to start the day!

Explore outside of our comfort zone into the world of possibilities.

Tech being used for the greater good.

Anticipate, Collaborate, activate

Preferred future, probable future, possible future

Need to consider the balance of these and being aware for all of the intended and unintended consequences

The oath of non harm for an age of big data:
"I will remember that the technologies I design are not aimed at data points, probabilities or patterns, but at human beings"
Virginia Eubanks

Keynote: The Future of Learning: Redefining Readiness from the Inside Out

What is the interaction between people and technology? Exploring our readiness for exponential change and key considerations.

Jason Swanson will explore the rise of smart machines, which include technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and other forms of automation and which are increasingly capable of doing tasks or jobs once thought safe from automation, is changing how many tasks associated with work are completed. He will also explore how work is being organised differently.

It is really worth reading this article that this talk is based on - I read it before the conference and will read it again.

Skills knowledge and dispositions needed for life and for work

Every student should have personalised learning

The future is not a fixed point. It is ours to create. It's not possible to know the future, we look at trends so seek to depict a range of futures. Do this not to be accurate but to prove the unknown

How has work changed since you entered the workforce?

Smartphone or laptop

Quality and speed

Are the changes we are experiencing now new?

Readiness will impact equity, social justice, and so much more.

As we move into the future, what skills will she need to be ready for the world in 2040. How will ready be defined in 2040?

Exponential change, rate of change grows very quickly. Rate that tech is moving, business, societal structure.

Education radically resistant to change. Need to keep pace with an exponential world.

Pressing need to partner with the code in our digital devices to make sense of the world around us.

Four industrial revolutions

Robotics, AI, internet of things, autonomous vehicles are in the latest

Have begun the shift and are increasing at an exponential rate.

Continually need to innovate to bypass resource issues.

We can expect the rate of change to continually accelerate, 5th revolution even closer.

Rise of smart machines

Rembrandt painted by a machine. Smart machines will develop further and get cheaper and will impact cognitive manual tasks.

To what extent will this change work?

Can cause significant human displacement.

Baxter robot working along side people. He learns tasks

Drs use machine learning to diagnose

Gps enabled devices also recommend shorter routes when traffic changes.

Google translator in real time

Transportation, Uber freight disrupting change.

Decline of the full time employee. Internet making it cost effective to access knowledge on the open market rather than employing people for things.

Project based work

Task rabbit. Online platform for just simple tasks.

Uber, human task is simply to drive.

Taskified jobs are broken down and easy to automate

Rise of smart machines and decline of full time work will change the employment landscape.

Future work characteristics: Market driven and user-centered, Data and metrics driven, Modular and recombined, Grounded in relating, Interwoven with learning.

Frequent measurement and quick feedback

Work broken down into tasks, each with own team and goals

Relationships will help determine success, collaborative. Productive relationships important

Act of working will be the act of learning. Passion based projects to learn new skills.

Graphic from:

Redefining readiness from the inside out

Resilient, reflective and able to build new relationships

Need to foster inclusive work environments

Focus first on the people learning, then the context that they might employ their skills

Mastering content first, then moved to thinking and doing came to be seen as being essential.

What is the role people play in the workplace? Schools need to respond with how they educate learners.

How do we use tech to augment our learning experience?

Career mosaic rather than a career ladder.

Conversation that has to have a diverse group of people at the table.

Take the focus off assessment and onto learning success.

Own set of micro credentials

Bring those resistant to change into the conversation.

How can we integrate what is important to them to where we might be heading?

Pd  look for ways to meaningfully personalise this so you don't do a one size fits all.

Base it around employees needs and goals. 

Lots more information on the Knowledgeworks site.

Panel 1:

Panelists will share their personal reflections on readiness for the future of learning and provide provocative challenges to consider during the day.

Andy Kai Fong Principal, Haeata Community Campus

We are ready to embrace change. We are ready to change the status quo.

Singularity university summit. Never before had he felt so irrelevant as an educator. Things need to change.

Whatever space you are in, it is becoming more complex. Work with the change and use the momentum to change. 

Celebrate, not sort. We celebrate all strengths and wellbeing alongside learning.

We celebrate dispositional development as a priority.

We connect and don't silo. Our students lead learning.

Our NZ curriculum calls to go across subjects but we assess in single subjects.

We all want our young people to be self managed.

Make it personal. We are about individuals. We need to value every story.

Is the education we are providing in our institutions appropriate for the future that is coming?

Biggest lessons at Haeata. Complexity of change gets more and more entangled.

We need to get more people around the table. Every time we change, it affects others. 

Hannah Hudson Student,University of Canterbury

Have done a learning mosaic, done a lot of stuff outside of Ncea and uni.

Age 11, what might the world look like in 2030. Did future problem solving.

Was told to read more science fiction to help with future sobbing. Felt if she did enough research she could solve the problem.

Singularity university, not science fiction but is science fact. We do know underlying trends which help us know the pace of change. All tech is exponential.

Our collective future is not a distant fiction. We should all understand the trends.

Need time dedicated to explore the crossover between school subjects.

Need interdisciplinary thinking required to solve problems.

Needs collaboration and ability to apply new thinking.

What is learning for? Give people the tools to lead lives and achieve goals.

Flexible and connected.

Schools be launchpad to different places and experiences.

Conference and exams. Did my grades take a hit, maybe, did my learning, no.

How do you conceptualise the future, are you a bystander in a science fiction novel or a co creator?

You have been successful in the current system so why change. The number of people that it suits and serves are narrowing. I did what I had to do to survive in the system but I hated it and wanted to thrive.

Need to jump across the divide soon. Could do ok, but have opportunity to do better.

Dr Eruera Tarena Kaihautu/ChiefExecutive, Te Tapuae o Rehua

Adaptive leadership

Ancestors were astronauts of their time. What kind of leadership would it take to embark into the unknown with no maps or evidence?

First part of being a navigator is what we leave behind. Always looking backwards, always sailing away from somewhere. What do we want to leave behind?

How can we spend more time focusing on human parts of work, robots can do the boring stuff.

How do we address the inequalities of our past?

Where do values, of equality, justice and fairness sit in our future?

Design to improve Maori and pasifika outcomes as it won't happen by itself.

We can choose to perpetuate history or change.

Plan our journey with intent. How do we make equity and innovation reside in the same place and plan our journey with intent?

We need to come together. It's not addressed by any one sector. This is an issue that impacts across sectors and communities.

If robots are answering our emails, what can we put more attention into? Equity, fairness and justice.

Question for all the panel: What's the key thing that we should be doing by 2020?

Relationships. Trust is the currency. What is the shared future we want to co create?

What would inspire us to come together and create a shared vision?

We need every New Zealander  to know about exponential change and Moore's law.

We all need to change.

Tell everyone about what you have learned and what you are worried about.

Change needs to be spread wider. 

Human Centered Learning

Exploring the skills and competencies needed to thrive. How technologies are being used to change learning experiences – trends and uses. Implications for qualifications, credentials and lifelong learning.

Faye Langdon Director, 21C Skills Lab

How to get ahead in a world of AI, algorithms bots and big data

Active listening, speaking, reading comprehension important.

Our youth need to be able to think like entrepreneurs. Need to be flexible.

Lab is about building the soft skills. It is our humanness that will enable us to survive.

Video:

The future of work is now - more info at http://www.cherylcran.com

Humans think critically, problem solve and be creative.

A lot of our young people's relationship with technology is passive. Need to move to a learning relationship.

Collaboration and team work across platforms.

What skill sets do our young people have to take into the work force.

To participate we need to think like skydivers. Have to have constant practice and learning.

Learning, unlearning and relearning. Needs to be flexible, current system does not.

Change thinking to make progress. Training brain for a growth mindset. Adaptability will be a predictor of success.

70% of future jobs will place importance on maths

Days of having expert skills have gone.

We are in the driver's seat but machines are riding shotgun with us. Career mobility will be there for all of us.

Vivian Ming.Augmented intelligence, joint partnership

Approach our learning and working lives on skills.

Employers building their own credentials. Resume has gone.

Goodbye to the linear world of work

Skills and knowledge have a shelf life of 5yrs, will learn far more on the job. Foundation for Young Australians 

Work flexibly and independently.

Self directed learning important

2030 everything in our jobs will change.

Use portfolio of soft skills to solve problems and think creatively.

Bilingual skills, digital literacy, critical thinking, creativity. Duo lingo for other languages.

Purpose and a sense of self is what young people want.

Germany 50% of education in workplace

South Korea,academic credit bank, skills in and out of class.

Soft skills here are important.

World Economic Forum has more on this.

Tessa Tierney Agile Tribe Lead - Spark New Zealand

Victoria Lyons Tribe Lead - Spark New Zealand

Taking whole organisation and using Agile and tribes

Decision making further down the organisation. Puts them in the direct line from problems to resolution

No longer tell them what to do. You give them a purpose.

You have constraints and success measures. Allow them to come up with the how. 

Outcomes: Stronger customer focus, Engaged and empowered people, Faster to market

Need to move business systems and structures and their culture

How do I get better? Invest time and knowledge into your craft.

Work in two weekly sprints

Examine problems. Cross functional times. Empathy.

Experiment, pivot, pause. Stop, realign.

Have an agile coach to develop a high performance mindset.

Need to follow the discipline of Agile.

These teams also bring together diverse people. What does inclusiveness look like. Reflect in our workplace the community we serve

Diversity is our strength, let's celebrate it.

Reflection:

What skills do you imagine you need for the future?

What are the priorities for your organisation?

Panel: Qualifications, Credentials and Reputation: Implications for Personal Learning

This panel will share experiences in microcredentials, new learning models and blockchain technology

Matt Carter, Director of Business Development, Otago Polytechnic

Developing microcredentials

More info on Edubits. Learn, build, succeed. Assessments and credentials

How do we recognise learning. Assessed against competency.

Demo skills through work and volunteering

This can be personalised.

Examples: Te Ao Māori, social marketing, health and safety, Microsoft skills, project management

Evidence can be through work, video, photos

Professor Samuel Mann, Professor,Otago Polytechnic @samuelmann (his Tweets were awesome graphic notes!)

Capablenz

Possible to do within current system

Tell their own story

Line up with graduate profile

All about defining professional framework of practice

Applied management and social services bachelor degree and one of Leadership for Change:

Defensible argument. Here I am and this is what I do.

What is it to work in their career space.

Start with a review of learning. What is my current framework of practice then what is the aspirational framework which leads to a project.

Then action research cycles.

Can be doing lots of change processes along the way.

Professional framework of practice canvas.

Entirely project based degree.

Work backwards from the end point. I want to make this difference in the world.

How are they setting themselves up for that?

Andrew Masters @adm_chch

CEO and Co-founder, HomeScore and Inductive

Introduction to AI at stanford

How do we get info into human brains.

Unprecedented growth in new knowledge

Cross fertilisation of Internet of things, blockchain, AI it goes crazy

Cost to learn about things is declining.

Scarcity of people that can use that knowledge for the greater good.

Store in Qualifications comes in the form in trust. Have to trust that your Qual will still be wanted.

Financial cost of quals

Decentralisation. Power is shifting to the individual and the small group

What if anybody could be a student or a teacher in any subject.

Blockchain have to work out if anyone was any good in it.

What if anyone could create a qual and issue it? Who guards the guards?

Large scale collaboration without central control

Fancy database. Block are pages in book. Each page references previous page. Each page has micro credential

Open, public and global. Full access and available records.

Can never be altered, can only add to them

Ethereum/smart contracts. Unstoppable code

Can build rules about who can issue micro credentials and how they interact

Tokenisation

Can have a digital item and take it out of one game and put into another.

When you get a certain amount of microcredentials they could stack up to a new level.

Can get micro credentials through act of teaching as well.

Might have crowd funding to take and learn micro credential, might be paid to learn.

Questions for the panel were answered as follows:

Micro credentials are showing how people are keeping up their standards

Competency based model

Shows here are the skills you need to be building

People need to continue to learn all the time. Life long learning needs to be taken seriously.

Having microcredentials democratises learning. Removes the barriers. Can learn in small blocks.

Take learning from the project and has validation for that.

Employers can offer for staff, they can recognise that and give pieces that can add up in the future.

Even a short project, what have we learnt from that, how can we share that.

Continually learning

Dark side:

That we reduce everyone down to numbers. China has social credit score.

If we are continually  assessing things, it can change the outcome

At lunch there were also breakout sessions which I didn't attend, instead I wandered with the Haeata tour and had some good conversations with others about what we do at Haeata.

Machines as Learning Partners

The impact of AI, robotics and immersive technologies on the way we learn. Implications for today and the future.

Dr Elinor Swery Solutions Architect, Soul Machines

Artificial humans. Used in a number of industries.

Need to make sure tech is more human like. Creating the future of human machine cooperation.

Bring a human element to the way we react with machines.

I just finished uni, I could do whatever I want, how do we support people to change careers and make that jump. This tech did not exist 4 years ago.

Baby X  video 

Movies portray robots as having human qualities. Often negative ones!

Why do we need these things?

Message to get across we go from text, to voice then face to face.

Having a conversation with someone face to face you can pick up cues.

The face is so important for determining context.

Intersection of :

Embodied cognition

Emotional intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Dopamine currency, making people feel good

Personalised service, for anyone.

Could be a virtual teacher

Specialised content and knowledge

Accessible by anyone anywhere

Need people from different backgrounds and different expertise.

World's only virtual nervous system - Mark Sagar CEO

They are modelled in full body. Heart and lungs affect how we talk.

AI is here, we need to embrace it and use it for our own benefit.

Applications:

Assistant, to create customer experiences

Companion, digital characters that learn in real time, engage, entertain and empathise with you.

Can we use this for companionship, or provide unbiased support.

Hero, well known real world heroes that educate enlighten and inspire you. Have a conversation with someone from history.

Autodesk, Ava tool 70% of tier 1 and 2 calls

Creative script writers

Teams looking out how to dress her

Royalbank of Scotland, Cora

Providing customer support. Anything complex gets diverted

Our biggest challenge is we don't have the staff we need. Data scientist. People needing to be flexible on learning new skills.

James Hayes CEO, Virtual Medical Coaching @virtmedcoach

Because fantastic education doesn't just happen

We now live in a world driven by data. Why don't we do it in education? We have changed from a black board to a white board.

We don't have an airpoints card for students to collect data. Why are we, in education, teaching to all in the same way at the same time?

Will AI take teachers jobs? Probably not. Will it take teachers jobs who refuse to work with AI? Probably.

Air New Zealand kiosks. Took no jobs, they are now circulating and helping out.  But the process is now quicker.

Teachers shouldn't be trying to teach content.

How do we get that data for students?

10 questions just finding out what they know 7/10

Weighting takes it to 5/10

Then find out they guessed 2 takes it to 30% correct.

Do you want to know if they got 70% or 30%

Using VR to train radiographer. Students used to train on people.

Data collected and used to enhance learning experience.

This kind of talk should not happen. Do not ask multichoice questions.

Adaptive learning development tools

Personalised, micro adaptive learning. They don't seem to know this so it sends them down that line.

Big data platform. No point doing a 3hr exam. They should have access to data where it tracks behaviours, competencies, risks and strengths.

Advanced analytics.

Move from what happened and why they got there.

Prelearning on their phones. Online material at weekends on their phones. Doing 30% on the bus.

Evidence based exams.

Finding out what they know is really important, then you can teach them what they don't know.

VR unit. Everything they do is saved to their data. They can see they are doing well and make it more complex. Can do it at home.

Gamified solution. People love to compete. Even against themselves

90 days to forget 50% of information. Texts can continually remind students what they did in the past.

Waiting room, every time they did a module a person left the room.

With data you know what they know and don't know. If they are really good at anatomy why ask them about anatomy in a face to face.

Start in same place, end in same place but different path.

Software identifies knowledge gaps and it fills them.

Continuously data driven

Adaptive digital learning

Vr

Lms elearning

Oral/practical assessment

Retention strategy

Students know what they don't know.

Panel: How are machines influencing us and what are the implications for learning?

Panelists will share their unique perspectives of technologies from their industry perspectives – what is happening, what should we consider and how should we design learning in this changing environment

Amy Fletcher Associate Professor, University of Canterbury & Executive Council AI NZ Forum

Disrupting the status quo with AI

Higher education.

Find some of it to be challenging and quite threatening.

Raises risk and psyc issues

"Automation is Voldemort, the terrifying force nobody is willing to name"

Jerry Michalski

The education model we have brings them in week 1 and turns them out at week 12 with same assessment.

How can we have faculty in as partners not obstacles to change.

Younger people much more tech savvy than we are.

Those that perceive themselves as experts actually need to know there are new ways of doing things to be a life long learning

Competency based learning can take place in different places. Needs to be accountable and reliable

Scenario for faculty:

Dystopia, Goodbye Mr Chips

Alternative, rock star academic, could broadcast the top ten to all students but would lose people on the ground

Aspirational, augmented professor, brought in as a key part for effective learning system.

Personalised learning done well will create more access, equity and fairness. Is crucial when done well with the student with the centre.

In one sense we have had stackable credentials for a while, more interested in horizontal.

Can work across different areas. Partnership going to be important. Education and employers are in sync. Citizens deserve to feel they are being prepared for the workplace. What does it mean to do critical thinking?

Concept of a pathway is crucial. NZQA will be key. Put together micro credentials in a pattern. 

Margaret Pickering Co Founder and COO, MTech Games and Stickmen Media

How can we be collaborative to partner up with machines to human advantage.

Software developers

You could make a youtube clip. - On demand, convenient, cheap and customised

Cartoon: I've found a course on how to find a course.

So many projects and online courses not finished.

This is how humans prefer to act in a digital environment.

Get to know your engagement types:

A Killers (competitive) - want leader boards

B Explorers (curious) - so find every bug

C Socialisers (Chatty and cooperative) - mentors

D Achievers (all the gold stars) - Want quals

E Nurturers (Build and refine) - Farmville

Socialists that are also killers can be bullies

Minecraft caters to every engagement type.

Killers get to destroy other stuff

If you engage people in the way that relates to them, learning becomes relatively painless. 

Game developers know how to engage their audience

We can tailor education for different types.

There are so many moving parts, get it there and get to know how your audience like to engage

Self awareness will become more important.

Core skills they need for hiring: Need people who can learn and keep up with what they need. 

Eduard Liebenberger Head of Digital, Jade Software Corporation

Humans crave connection

Connections define relationships. Relationships define success.

Shared experiences can define a relationship for life.

Meaningful conversations about things we care about.

Touch, experience and conversations

What is AI? Software that gets better without updates

Feedback defines patterns. AI is feedback from a dataset.

AI can make digital interactions more personal.

Can simply say what we want and we get answers.

Voice recognition has increased exponentially.

Chat bot can listen and respond 24/7

Electricity has changed the world and how we use it. Think of AI as an opportunity to make digital more human.

Looks past credentials when hiring. Looks at how they think and how they fit.

Panel: An intergenerational response to the themes of the day

Perspectives on the Future of Learning – what could this mean for us

April McLennan Founder & Trustee, Limitless Charitable Trust

Margaret Austin Former Vice-President Science Education, Royal Society of NZ

Sacha McMeeking Head of Aotahi, School of Maori and Indigenous Studies - University of Canterbury

A

Orientation of where we are now and where we are heading.

Past we look back on to inform the future.

M

Change is the result of learning

You can't learn without collaborating together and achieving what you inspire to.

Resistant to changes.

S

We would rather keep that that we don't want, than engage in the unknown.

Predictions cannot be accurate. It is impossible to know what so happen. Can only focus on trying to build something we believe is worthy.

M

Need to reinforce the idea of learning and what are the areas that cannot be left to chance as we move into the digital age.

A

Exciting to see things that can enable learning.

What is the world we collectively want and how do we move towards that? How do technologies give us one benefit without compromising another?

S

Students already prefer chat bots for feedback.

Quite often the first person to say I believe in you.

My ability to believe in and aspire to students.

Her child will have education not like hers, thankful for that.

Key takeaway:

A

Building self awareness and confidence in young people

There is a lot to think about. A community of people that are dying so much work and research. Power of collaboration is important.

M

Translating from the me to the we.

Teams, time and relationship.

Challenge in our community to make sure we have an informed public. At the present time they are listening but are they taking it on board? Environment, technology, future of work. Got to do something about social cohesion.

We have human condition of optimism bias, it won't happen to me. We are all dispensable. We have a choice whether we work in the status quo or bring in the new. Building the new is much harder.

Practicalities

M

Embrace tech but be aware of the risks. But don't be afraid to make mistakes, learn from them and get on with the job

S

Find a group of 4 people, 2 you don't know who and do an intentional project. Need concept deliveries

Need to work with people that are different.

Provocation

S

Question your own assumptions about what will be. Take someone who has an opposing view out for a meaningful coffee.

M

Never forget your roots, be thankful for them, never turn down an opportunity

Give as well as receive

Never for get to applaud some one for something they did during the day that deserves to be recognised.

Think we have to have the audacity to develop

To shape the future so it is more humane and more equitable

Conclusion: Postcard from the future

A call to action, implications for learning and our future

Jason Swanson

Hamish Duff BSc. MSc. MBA Recalibrate

Dr Cheryl Doig Think Beyond

Nearly every speaker has mentioned the power of collaboration.

Struck by how vital that is.

Hope you have met someone you can collaborate with. An unusual suspect

Education is facing an exponential world. We have to move towards a network ecosystem mindset.

When you are trying to move things forward, sometimes it is a lonely job.

Microcredentials to measure lifelong learning.

Learning how to learn is really important. We need to create the ecosystem to support people through new learning.

Equity access and trust are key design principles.

Major hurdle is about marginalised communities not being able to learn

Still issues as a city we need to address, access to learning

Removing boring parts of jobs to allow people to be more humane and work with people.

How do we break down silos with schools and businesses.

UN sustainability goals. Put our actions in the same direction

We have a city of opportunity. We have a collection of people who are willing to dig deep and make change happen.

My thoughts:

I am super excited about micro credentials - I did some work previously on Digital Badges and I can see some possibilities in where this could go. I love the idea of AI and can hardly wait to get into how we can use some of this amazing tech at Haeata. There were so many passionate people in that room today and I know I will be having conversations with many of them over time. It was great to meet new people and get different perspectives on how things might look in 20 years. Looking forward to Tues and Wed Masterclass.