Eric Lauzon the IB Chief Information Officer gave IB staff in Cardiff a reprise of his presentation
Education and Technology in a Global Economy which he gave originally in
San Francisco in May for the
Ed Tech Industry Summit. Eric used
Prezi as the tool for his delivery which certainly held his audience. Please feel free to view the presentation and feedback your thoughts to me or directly to
Eric.
We were taken through many of the issues that will be familiar to those endeavouring to encourage others in the use of technology in an educational setting - my favourite quote was from a child who says 'when I go into school I have to power down!'
When he came to discuss why it has proved difficult to embed IT in schools Eric challenged the reasons that are often given - ' Teacher Technophobia', 'Institutional Conservatism' and 'Lack of Resources', and put forward his theory that it is actually 'Teacher Practice', Curriculum design' and Assessment methods' that are having a greater effect. This certainly forces us all to consider how we can make serious long term progress in building technology into the curriculum..... thanks to Eric for his thought provoking presentation.
We were left with the thought from Prof. Stephen Heppell on what will be possible if we get this right:
'It's the death of education, but it's the dawn of learning that makes me happy'