Last week we visited the National FutureSchools Conference in Sydney. We presented in three different forums – Mr Baker contributed to a panel discussion on the new Digital Technologies Curriculum, he and Mrs Sansness and I then facilitated a round table discussion on the QLD Government’s Advancing Education agenda whilst I also presented a session titled a ‘Case Study’ in the Young Learners stream of the conference.
It was a wonderful opportunity for us as a school – to share the work we are doing, to field questions on Queensland’s view of this new curriculum and to receive affirmation of the early familiarisation work we are doing as a school.
During my presentation, I discussed the powerful learning that can result from the alignment between inquiry and curriculum when technology is used to leverage outcomes. It was titled “Supporting Young Innovators of the Future” and innovation was certainly a theme of this conference. It might be worthwhile asking at this point whether being innovative is important for our students and teachers………is it?
It is constantly questioned whether we are preparing our students for their future rather than just for our past. Are most classrooms of today vastly different to the classrooms we experienced when we were at school? Are our students ready to add value to the world in which they will find themselves?
Tony Wagner, Harvard Education Specialist talks about the importance of being able to innovate:
“Today,” Wagner argues, “the capacity to innovate ” – the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life – and skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge.
Innovation in today’s world is being driven by technology. It is likely that technology will continue to underpin innovation and change in the future. It is certain that our students will be at an advantage if they are able to cope with change, to create ideas, to collaborate with each other and to leverage technology to do all of this.
I profiled three recent learning episodes at Oakleigh State School – QUEST club, the use of Minecraft to connect, deepen understanding and engage and the cross-curricular approach to the Digital Technologies Curriculum. Although the movies themselves are missing from the below SlideShare, this presentation gives you a summary of the session.