The last three weeks have been very hectic indeed and have meant that I haven’t been able to post here for a while. I have presented at EdExec Live, attended the Google IT Summit with the ANME, led the planning and delivery of the ISC Digital Conference plus presented a session on cyber at the same conference, attended a meeting with the University of Glasgow looking at Digital Citizenship Education and attended the edufuturist awards event. And this has meant travelling all over, which as per usual, seen train cancellations, mis-direction by google maps, which I swear is trying its best to kill me, traffic and expensive uber travel due to “increased demand”. To say things have been busy is an understatement.
In all of this, the main take away from me continues to be my favourite quote from David Weinberger; “the smartest person in the room is the room”. I have been so privileged and lucky to find myself in rooms filled with some amazing educators and tech people, and I have benefited so much from this. I simply cant list off all the people who I have had the opportunity to discuss technology and education or to share thoughts with as I will invariably miss someone off. But they include my friends and colleagues in the Digital Futures Group including Emma Darcy, Gemma Gwilliam, James Garnett and Abid Patel. The ANME gang also, including Tim Mace, Ben Whitaker (the other one!), Luke Vere, and Dave Leonard as well as the A.B.I.D again! Then there has been Kirsty Rogers, who I am lucky to work with at Millfield, Poppy LeMar, the amazing Al Kingsley and Ollie Barnes, SJ White, Laura Knight, Tara Jones, Hayley White, Cat Scutt, Victoria Hedlund, Julie Caron, Miles Berry, Joe Cozens, Tom Dore, Georgina Dean, David Horton, Neelam Parmar, Simon Balderson, Andy Kemp, Martyn Colliver and Mark Steed. In terms of the EduFuturists event I cant not mention Ben Whitaker and Steven Hope, who put on such an amazing event and who relentlessly challenge in relation to the need to reimagine education. Am so proud to consider myself part of their Wolf Pack seeking to push for educational change. As they say, the power of the wolf is the pack, and the power of the pack is the wolf. Also Ian Phillips, Martyn Collins, Patrick McGrath, Andrew Caffrey, Rick Cowell, Mark Anderson and Christine Mayers. The list goes on, and this represents only some of those I have had the chance to network with, and my apologies to those I have met but not listed; My excuse is its been so busy and such a whirlwind three weeks (not to mention the fact I suspect my memory is getting worse with age) however additionally this post would be very long if I listed everyone.
This all brings me to Thursday 27th and the Edufuturists event and the proud moment I got to accept the Outstanding IT professional award. I had no expectation as to winning given the very strong list of people shortlisted however the night saw me collect the award from the twice award winning and amazing Dave Leonard. For me this award is due to the many people I have worked with and met and networked with who have shaped and at times challenged my views. The award is also the product of the amazing team which work with me at Millfield including Barry, Helen, James N and James F, Martin and Belinda. Without their tireless efforts, and the efforts of the rest of the team, I would never have been able to engage in this networking, and especially in the efforts of the last three weeks, and be able to support and be involved with such great groups as the Digital Futures Group, the ANME and the ISC Digital Advisory Group, the Edufuturists, among others.
This and a long conversation with the couple across from me on the train heading home from the Edufuturists event, speaking to people in person rather than via a screen, a conversation which was accidental and unplanned, got me thinking. It got me considering the challenges of education in a digital world, of digital citizenship, the challenges of AI, the “lets be more efficient” narrative (blog post to follow on this one!) and more. Maybe we need to look less at the technology, the products and services, and spend more time looking at the human side, and the people sitting to our left and right, but also inwards. Maybe we need to spend more time interacting with other human beings, networking and sharing and maybe some of this has to be messy and without scripts, frameworks, KPIs and other measures. Maybe the answer to our technology challenges doesn’t lie in technology, but lies with people and considering what it means to be human and to flourish! And in this maybe we also need to ask what the purpose of education is and review how the current system compares. Are we equipping our students for the future, or are we educating them based on past needs?
Technology and Learning