Digital handout available at : www.stager.org/ulearn
This blog post has been written with help from the twitter network. These ‘tweets’ are included as indents. Take part in this back channel by adding #ulearn09 to your tweets. You can view the stream at http://twitter.com/#search?q=ulearn09
This session was entitled Ten things to do with a laptop and was inspired by Seymour papert’s presentation 20 things to do with a computer. You can read the Papert’s paper on the link above and see how your school measures up now 40 years on.
1:1 computing is not about hardware, it’s all about software. Software determines what you do and what you do determines what you want.
What do kids do with computers in your school? Are we helping children use computers in ways that help extend their capacity? Gary is arguing for children to use computers in real ways for real reasons.
richardmillwood #ulearn09 We humans ‘notice’ things, computers help us to manage things, but we manage things.
10 things to do with a laptop:
Write a novel
gibbisons #ulearn09 – @garystager’s 10 things to do with a laptop No1. Write a Novel (write better, more, differently, podcasting, research)
Share your knowledge
Keamac “You can lead kids to the internet but you can’t make them think” Gary Stager #ulearn09 – so true.
Tougher questions
eFacilitator Access to primary sources is possible via internet instead of just talking about things #ulearn09
Make sense of data (use primary sources)
Westleyf #ulearn09 Kids will have access but will yearn for structure – that is the place of educators.
gmacmanus #ulearn09 hearing stager speak, reminds me of a history teacher who would start his lessons with national radio speeches from WWII
sirchriss nice ideas of putting “stuff” in context. Don’t make a work sheet – go get primary sources. #ulearn09
Westleyf #ulearn09 Testing content is dead as it is freely available to all - what can we test that you can’t be written on the back of a bottle
Design a video game (not just consume them)
debh2u RT @jnxyz: #ulearn09 Gary Stager keynote- luv ths ‘kids cn do real work’ ie. Do we expect enuf from R students? (No – we help too much)
Build a killer robot (even in kindergarten)
sirchriss Like the vision – but how to balance it against the dreadful demand of state based assessment? #ulearn09
richardmillwood #ulearn09 the human species is symbiotic with technology
davein2it kids Learn time tables but never get to multiply. #ulearn09 priceless
Think outside the square with this. Robotics can be used to bring a ballerina or dancing teddy bear to life, this is not just the traditional realm of boys.
The conversation on Twitter was lively and thought provoking during this keynote. The back channel provided ways for ideas to be explored, extended, recorded and remembered. For me the take away message of this keynote was that ICT is not window dressing, we need to go deeper with our students and we need to expect more, both of them and of ourselves.
What was your take home message?
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