Blog Profile / Derek's Blog

Disruptive Technologies that will transform us

Having recently spoken in Hamilton about the Ten Trends at a CORE Breakfast my mind is already thinking forward to what lies on the horizon for 2013, so it was with interest I read this morning the latest McKinsey report on Disruptive Technologies: advances that will transorm life, business, and the global economy.  What I like [...]

Teaching kids to code

I have a 15 year old son who is in year 11 at high school this year. Since age 10 he has been keen on learning how to program computers, beginning with Scratch while he was at intermediate school, and moving onto building his own mods for Minecraft and teaching himself a bit of Java by watching [...]

Drivers for change in the 21st Century

Ubiquity-agency-connectedness from CORE Education Digital Media on Vimeo. I've been developing some thoughts for some time now about what I see as the key drivers of change for 21st Century learning – the things that will differentiate how learning occurs and how our learning insitutions and structures from what they were just a few decades [...]

This guy’s mad – but worth listening to…

I took a moment over lunch today to watch this recently released TED talk video. It's of Dr Geoffrey Canada, President of the Harlem Children's Zone in New York. Raised in poverty and the son of an alcoholic father, Canada introduces himself as black and mad. What he's mad about is the state of education, [...]

The first web page

It's now 20 years since the WWW was brought into the world, and to celebrate,The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has recreated the website that launched it.  CERN is not only preserving the original site, but also a range of information and artefacts associated with the origins of the web, including Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for [...]

Game-based learning – new research

I see and hear lots of reference to game-based learning these days – the concept isn't new, but is certainly seeing a resurgance of interest with ongoing development of computer-based games and the application of the principles of this sort of game-playing being applied to the design of learning experiences for students.  The National Foundation for [...]

Why blended learning can’t stand still

MLEs – library space

Last week I had the privilege of working with the staff at Auckland Girls Grammar School, where they've been working for some time on how they integrate digital technologies into their teaching and learning programmes. The strategic approach to their thinking and planning extends to the way they've re-designed their library space to provide a wonderful [...]

Minecraft in education

For some time now I've used Minecraft as an example of the sort of gaming experience that I believe has application for education. Minecraft is essentially a computerised version of lego on steroids, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generatedworld. Show More Summary

Standards for teachers

While I've been at the CoSN conference this week there has been a lot of discussion about the Common Core in the US and other standards-based approaches being adopted in various countries around the world (incudiing NZ). The focus of these initiatives is on defining a set of standards which represent the goals and assessment [...]

Teachers use of technology

Just this past week, Pew Internet have released a new study called How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms. It explores how teachers use the Internet for their own professional learning, with their students and for communicating with families. The study surveyed 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers [...]

Touch technology – but no touching

Interesting view of where the world of 'touch' technology could be heading – what implications could there be for this being used in education? Made me think of a conversation with my son about five years ago (aged 10) when he asked me when we might have the sorts of TV that show up as [...]

Prepared for life?

Here at the CoSN conference in San Diego there is much talk about the Common Core standards that are being implemented in the US, and how a strict adherence to meeting these can and is stifling creativity and flexibility in educaiton. The same debate is going on in NZ over the implementation of national standards. [...]

An avalanche is coming

I'm currently attending the CoSN conference in San Diego, which has the theme of 'audacious leadership'. The opening plenary featured Lord David Puttnam and Punya Mishra, discussing the issue of the changes being experienced in education (and elsewhere) in the 21st century.  Hearing them speak raises themes familiar in much of the literature, forums and [...]

Two agendas

As you can tell from my previous two posts, a lot of my current work involves dealing with the vexed issue of how we can provide an education system that is fit for purpose in the 21st century. As a part of this I've spent time reading the details of Education First, the United Nations Secretary-General’s initiative to ensure [...]

Building better schools – what do we value most?

"In a global economy it's no longer national improvement that's the benchmark for success, but what makes the best performing education systems internationally." I've spent a lot of time in the midst of discussions about the future of schools and schooling in recent weeks – something I enjoy doing. This is particularly significant in Christchurch [...]

Change or Die: vision, trust and support

This year has begun in an extremely busy fashion for me – as you can tell from the lack of posts! The constant in it all has been thinking about and planning for change – in almost every sphere of work I am involved with.  This week I had the privilege of speaking to the [...]

Where’s the leadership?

The long awaited report from the parliamentary inquiry into 21st Century Learning environments has just been released and makes for some good reading IMHO. I had the opportunity to contribute to four of the submissions made to this committee, wearing different hats for each, and so have a keen interest in the process and its [...]

An Introduction to Technology Integration

Edutopia have just released the video above to illustrate how effective technology integration is achieved when its use supports curricular goals. I'm always on the lookout for clips like this that may be helpful in my work with teachers, and like so many I've watched, this reminds me of how difficult it is for us [...]

Defining what’s important

I've just finished four days of learning and forming relationships at the AESA Annual Conference held in Tampa, Florida. It has been a great opportunity to engage with over a thousand educators from all over the US who are providing in very similar services to education as we are at CORE in New Zealand.  There's [...]