17-19th September 2009 Hong Kong International School
Extending Tommorow’s Leaders With Digital Learning
Conference Report
Conference Overview
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Feedback from Participants
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Conference Content
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Conference Sponsors
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Student Volunteers
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Flat Classroom Workshop
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Conference Demographics
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Appendix
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http://21c-learning.hk/ All photos in this report taken by student volunteers. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21chk
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Conference Overview Conference by the Numbers
40 Involved in Flat Classroom Workshop 88 volunteer educator presenters and workshop leaders 100 Separate workshop sessions 4 Keynotes 96 schools represented (52 schools in Hong Kong) 430 Teachers and Administrator attendees
Conference Visualized The 21CHK Conference was focused around improving the learning of students in Asian schools, the leaders of tomorrow, with digital technology. Feedback from conference participants indicated the sessions were a good balance between those that provoked thinking and those that provided practical takeaways.
(Wordle generated from session descriptions, worldle.net)
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Conference Themes
Digital Citizenship and Cybersafety Video and Podcasting Technologies Leadership in 21st Century Schools One – to – one learning Information Literacies Web 2.0 technologies Innovative uses of technology Mobile technologies Managing information in schools Managing digital content
Conference Goals Bring together educators from around Hong Kong and Asia to form lasting professional connections around the use of technology to enhance learning with digital technology Provide both motivating and visionary and challenging messages about learning in the 21st century as well as practical takeaways for conference participants Target school leaders with content and opportunity for conversation about leadership of schools in today’s digital world “Walk the talk” with a student strand to allow conference participants to not just talk about but also witness first hand students communicating, collaborating and publishing with Web 2.0 tools Build a learning community based in Hong Kong which shares world’s best practice about leading and learning in the 21st Century
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Conference Innovations Full program including media available on iPhone Forum sessions on critical challenges facing 21st century schools facilitated by Principals in Hong Kong schools Largest conference of its type organized in Hong Kong to date
Wes Fryer - CCC in the 21st Century
Greg Curtis, Director of Curriculum – International School Beijing (ISB)
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Feedback from Participants “Great conference! Lots of fabulous ideas and discussions. The issues of ethical behavior relating to technology are timely. 'Just because you can doesn't mean you should' - there were enough people reminding us of this during the conference for it not to be 'too techy' and out of the realms of possibility for less techy attendees. Good balance between practicalities and philosophies.” “This week we had colleagues sharing their conference experiences and the teacher reviews were top notch, and, their learning both practical and motivating” – John Darcy (Canadian International School, Hong Kong) “This and the Learning 2.0 conferences have been the best I've ever attended in 15 years of teaching.” “Thanks for organizing this conference. It was and will continue to be incredibly useful.” “Thoroughly enjoyed the conference, both professionally and socially” “Bigger, brighter and better than last year. Well done to the organizers!”
Would you come to the 21CHK conference again?
Would you recommend this conference to a colleague?
No 8%
No 8%
Yes 92%
Yes 92%
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Conference Content Attendees at 21CHK heard from four world class keynotes: Wesley Fryer is a digital learning consultant, author, digital storyteller, educator and change agent. His blog, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" (www.speedofcreativity.org), selected as the 2006 "Best Learning Theory Blog" by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education, is utilized regularly by thousands of educators worldwide. Wesley is completing his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University. Keynote: in the 21C: Create, Communicate, Collaborate
For students to be successful in the 21st century, we need to ensure they develop the knowledge and skills of the 3Cs with technology tools: Creating Content, Communication, Collaborating “Are kids too wired for their own good”? TIME Magazine headline this past year asked “How do students consume media today?” As educators, what are the implications for learning? It is our responsibility to help students crate content and work with in the digital space; their digital footprints will be with us forever. Media Literacy is critical – we will not be as aware unless we step out of the consumer role into the creator How can we transform learning? o What should impress us is not the technology that is used in the classroom, but the engagement of students in ways that goes beyond knowledge comprehension of Blooms Taxonomy o Technology is like a window into what’s happening, not replication o Permeability - sharing content - transparently look at learning As we consider the transforming learning experiences in our classroom, consider the following lens to view new thinking opportunities: o Does this technology merely accommodate things that I have done before or will it allow me to transform what I am doing and do something that would not have otherwise been possible? o How do you measure effective classroom technology integration? o Start small.
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Bruce Dixon is President of the Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation. As a teacher, Principal, educational software developer, college lecturer, Bruce's focus over the past three decades, has been on driving reform initiatives that significantly improve the opportunities for learning through the use of technology.
Keynote: Emerging Trends that Redefine Education in the 21st Century
It’s not about the technology, it’s about what comes next. In technology rich environments we have an obligation to change: o Where we teach must change o When we teach must change o What we teach must change o How we teach must change Change in employment available for students as we go forward from here o Decrease in simple routine work o Decrease in cognitive space routines (Levy, Mumane) because these are the skills that can be outsourced, digitized and automated o Increase analytical and problem solvers Learning organizations need to take time to discuss and clearly articulate: o What is transformation? o What is your role in transformation? o What is the nature of that transformation? We need to build a better understanding of the “Art of the Possible”. While ever we review access to a computer as a shared resource, we were never going to realize the real opportunity it could afford them. Technology will increase educators pedagogical capacity, improve their teaching, enable more young people to get more complex ideas that the would not otherwise get. Michael Fullen states that contemporary classroom teachers know the more powerful the technology becomes, the more indispensable good teachers are.
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Robyn Treyvaud is Specialist Consultant (CSE) and Director of the CybersafeKids Project & CyberSafeWorld. A leading authority on ICT and education, she’s presented at international conferences and published papers in Australia, UK and the USA and has led ICT workshops in schools across Australia and the Asia Pacific region. She established the CyberSafeKids Project, working with parents, schools and students as they develop internet safety strategies in their schools. Keynote: Our 21st Century Challenge: Developing Responsible, Ethical and Resilient Digital Citizens
To young people and children Web 2.0 environment is a place where the virtual and real often collide. The need to bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn impacts significantly on the development and delivery of the curriculum. Students welfare is stretched.
o Audiences are invisible o Concepts of identity, community, audience and friendship continue to be redefine by the public private worlds that young people create online o We need to understand the needs sites provide o Engage with them about how they can engage with them safely and ethically Technology is an enabler – communication, expressing themselves and entertainment. Technology enhances face-to-face providing a seamless social network. It is imperative to develop responsible, ethical and resilient digital citizens underpinned by shared values and understandings of what is appropriate behavior. Nancy Willard (2008) “our focus must be on ensuring young people gain the knowledge, skills and values to independently make safe and responsible choices in a highly interactive mobile environment where they are both. Test of a moral compass is what you choose to do when no-one is watching. Questions for consideration: 1. Where are places for student voice in discussions? 2. Acceptable use policy – do they reflect ways we are dealing with some of these issues. 3. Do you have codes of conduct? 4. Are there places and spaces within the curriculum where you can embed digital citizenship?
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Andrew Thomson served 12 years in elected office in Canada in a variety of Cabinet posts that included the ministries of finance, learning, information technology, public safety, and energy. Today, Andrew is advising CISCO’s Global Education Group to help improve access and outcomes for students.
Keynote: Education 3.0: A Framework for Change in Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skills Education has to be more than just teaching and learning of current knowledge. It can’t be just about filling empty vessels with ideas. It has also to be about ensuring we are building social cohesion, a sense of equity, and ability for people to contribute to communities. It is our responsibility to shape a learning environment that considers a new way of looking at the 3Rs that compliments, but does not replace reading, writing and arithmetic. These include: o Responsive to the needs of communities o Relevant to the way learners want to engage o Results orientated 4 key pillars of change towards transformation and technology. 1. Skills and content 2. Connectivity 3. Pedagogy and Practice 4. People, Leadership and Culture 21st Century Skills – not easily identified in a particular subject o Curious, creative, and know what you know – metacognition o Ability to communicate (digital literacy) o Collaboration o Literacy, numeracy, science, technology o Knowledge and skills need to be transportable / comparability / common reference points o Complex problem solving Need to support students ability to ask the right questions Questions for consideration: o How do we make sure we have engaging environments? o How de we make sure the collaborative technology is in place? o How do we make sure it is interactive? o What do we have the ability to gather and control? o How is the technology delivered? Assessment is the largest lever of change – you can’t improve what you can’t measure. 10
Educator presentation and workshops Teachers and administrators presented 100 separate presentations (45min) or workshops (90min) on a array of topics and technologies. A sample of those topics:
Around Wikispaces in 90 Minutes Connected Learning - Building a Learning Community 21 Steps to 21st Century Learning—Planning The Natives are Getting Restless : Growing Up and Learning in a Web 2.0 World Mainly Second Life (3D Online Virtual World) Helping Students Manage Technology (or It WILL Manage Them) Walking the Talk: 21st Century Learning in Curriculum Design and Learning
Forums Forum sessions on Friday and Saturday were opened ended discussions facilitated by a Hong Kong based school principal and panel of experts around essential questions all educators in the 21st century face. Sample of forum topics: Ubiquitous Computing: Should schools be supporting any device capable of connecting to the internet; how can these devices be used to support learning? "School Libraries after Google" How have school libraries adapted to change and where do they need to go? The School as a Learning Community: Personal Learning Networks, Online Tutorials, Professional Development days Clouds of Uncertainty: Why are schools continuing to spend so much money on servers and disk space when Google will give a lot of what you need to you free? The Assessment Dilemma: Creativity, Collaborative Skills and Inventiveness are what we all want from students but can we measure these traits as effectively as we can measure the ability to learn and repeat a mathematical algorithm or verses of Shakespeare and thus are we doomed to concentrating our teaching on what we can clearly assess
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Conference Sponsors 21CHK attracted the sponsorship of 16 corporate partners. Corporate partners make conferences like this possible and the conference organizers thank our sponsors for willingness to be part of an important conversation around the future of learning.
RM Novell Adobe Apple/Promethean Cisco FujiXerox Studywiz Mimio/Rubbermaid
Mathletics Dell Pearson/Fronter iBridge Gowell Wacom GrandTech
“This is the first conference I ever been with so many professionals from the education sector all around the globe. It was like an 'Olympics' for the schools and we could feel the passion and see a bright future for the next generation. Great job done.” Peter Mann, General Manager - Novell Hong Kong (Premium Sponsor)
Fantastic conference, well run and well organized with lots of opportunity to network with key decision makers from International Schools and also with local partners and potential resellers. RM will definitely sponsor the next one! Simon Jones - Sales and Marketing Manager, RM Asia Pacific (Premium Sponsor)
32% Atttendees that found sponsors valuable 68%
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Premium Sponsors:
Partner in Education: Apple
Exhibitor Sponsors:
Other Sponsors:
Website and conference logo: Fevaworks
Student Volunteers A key principle behind the 21st Century Learning Conference was not just talking about student learning with digital technology but witnessing it in action. The 21CHK Conference had over 30 student volunteers updating the websites, taking videos and photos, helping conference delegates find where they need to go and providing technical assistance. Student volunteers came from Hong Kong International School and German Swiss International School
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Flat Classroom Workshop The signature event happening through the conference culminating with student presentations at the final plenary was the Flat Classroom Workshop, a two and half day event facilitated by Julie Lindsey and Kim Cofino. The Flat Classroom Workshop had 30 students from 4 countries collaborating with 10 adults to research and present solutions to the “Digital Divide.� During the workshop participants used a variety of Web 2.0 and multimedia tools to collaborate in groups. During the conference and at the final plenary conference attendees had the opportunity to witness and even participate in the workshop making real what they heard and practiced in the regular conference sessions. http://hkworkshop09.flatclassroomproject.org/
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Conference Demographics Not just a conference for technology specialists 21CHK had a good balance of educators from all disciplines
Educators Represented 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
87
43 32 25
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19
19
19
19
16
14
11
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Common Job Titles: Teacher
87
Grade 5 Teacher
19
Technology Specialist
43
Librarian
19
Principal
32
Science Teacher
19
Vice Principal
25
English Teacher
16
Technology Teacher
21
Math Teacher
14
Chinese Studies Teacher
19
Director of Technology
11
Humanities
11
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Administrators and teacher leaders The intention of 21CHK was not to host a “Technology” conference per-se, but rather to have a conversation around the intersection of technology and learning come together. The organizers were pleased to see a high turnout from classroom teachers, teacher leaders and school leadership.
Who were the educators at 21CHK?
Administrator 23%
Head Teacher 7% Teacher 68% Staff 2%
During a special interactive session for principals led by Wes Fryer principals from around the region generated a series of questions they felt were critical to address for schools. Here are some of the “critical” questions principals would like to discuss:
1. "What does "transformational learning" look like when it takes place in the classroom?" 2. "How are we teaching students to be digital citizens? (what are people doing that is effective to develop digital citizenship?)" 3. "How can we reasonably discern 21st century teaching and learning skills in a teacher interview?" 4. "How do we know if what we are doing is improving student learning?" 5. "What is a "good teacher" in the 21st century?"
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Addressing all K-12 educators Although the greater portion of 21CHK attendees were secondary educators, there is a growing interest in the role of technology in learning in the younger years. The high number of attendees with school level scope is recognition that schools are looking to build capacity in adult learners.
What age group of students do participants at 21CHK work with?
Primary 31% Secondary 51%
Schoolwide 18%
Secondary includes grades 6-12 Primary includes grades K-6 Different dependant on school
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A regional conference 20 Countries were represented at 21CHK
Not all countries are represented by a blue dot on the map, some dots cover more than one country; Missing: Switzerland, Netherlands Full list: Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Netherlands, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
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Appendix Full list of schools represented American Embassy School, India American International School of Guangzhou, China Ashdale Secondary College, Australia Australian International School, Hong Kong Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) Bangkok Patana School, Thailand Beijing City International School, China Bradbury School, Hong Kong British International School, Thailand Canadian International School, Hong Kong Canadian International School, Singapore Christian Alliance International School, Hong Kong Clear Water Bay School, Hong Kong Concordia International School Shanghai Creative Secondary School, Hong Kong Delia School of Canada, Hong Kong Diocesan Boys' School Primary Division, Hong Kong Discovery Bay International School, Hong Kong English Schools Foundation, Hong Kong French International School, Hong Kong Fukuoka International School, Japan German Swiss International School, Hong Kong Gyeonggi Suwon International School, Korea Hawkesdale P12 College, Australia Hong Kong Academy, Hong Kong Hong Kong International School, Hong Kong Hong Kong Sea School, Hong Kong International Christian School, Hong Kong International College, Hong Kong International Education Corporation International School Bangkok, Thailand International School Dhaka, Bangladesh International School Manila, Philippines International School of Beijing, China International School of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia International School Singapore 20
# attendees 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 4 1 18 1 1 1 6 1 1 1 7 3 2 2 13 7 1 6 71 1 24 2 1 2 1 3 3 2 6
Island School, Hong Kong Jakarta International School, Indonesia King George V, Hong Kong Korea International School, Hong Kong LEAD Peak School, Hong Kong PGH Products Qatar Academy Reflex Education Solutions Renaissance College, Hong Kong Riffa Views International School, Bahrain Ruamrudee International School, Thailand Saigon South International School, Vietnam Seoul Foreign School, Korea Sha Tin College, Hong Kong Sha Tin Junior School, Hong Kong Shanghai American School, China Shekou International School, China Singapore American School, Singapore SKH Tin Wan Chi Nam Primary School, Hong Kong South Island School, Hong Kong Taejon Christian International School, Korea Taipei American School, Taipei The American International School of Muscat, Oman The International School of Macao, Macau The Zurich International School, Switzerland Tianjin International School, China United Nations International School, Vietnam United World College of SE Asia -- East campus, Singapore West Island School, Hong Kong Xiamen International School, China Yew Chung International Primary School, Hong Kong YK Pao School, China Chinese International School, Hong Kong Kellett School, Hong Kong Australian International School, Hong Kong Discovery Bay International School, Hong Kong Yew Chung International School, Hong Kong Hong Lok Yuen International, Hong Kong Victoria Shanghai Academy, Hong Kong Independent Schools Foundation Academy, Hong Kong Glenealy School, Hong Kong 21
15 3 7 8 1 4 1 6 1 5 5 3 4 3 7 1 6 6 10 1 3 8 11 1 3 1 2 5 4 6 1 7 2 30 10 3 6 1 2 4 2 2
Quarry Bay School, Hong Kong Sha Tin Junior College, Hong Kong Jockey Club Sarah Roe School, Hong Kong Beacon Hill School, Hong Kong Kowloon Junior School, Hong Kong International School Eastern Seaboard, Thailand
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3 1 1 2 1 7
Full List of Job Titles # attendees 87 43 32 25 21 19 19 19 19 16 14 11 11 9 9 8 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1
Teacher Technology Specialist Principal Vice Principal Technology Teacher Chinese Studies Teacher Grade 5 Teacher Librarian Science Teacher English Teacher Math Teacher Director of Technology Humanities Language Teacher Social Studies Teacher Learning Administrator Grade 3 Teacher Business Manager IT Manager Director of Curriculum Grade 4 Teacher Head of School Grade 2 Teacher Deputy Head of School Music Teacher Art Teacher Counseler Drama Teacher Grade 6 Teacher Literacy Specialist Online Learning Physical Education 21st Learning Specialist Design Grade 1 Teacher
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Hope to see you next time
http://21c-learning.hk/ Visit site for more information about the conference, videos and photos and for information on upcoming events
Hong Kong International School
English Schools Foundation
German Swiss International School
Learning Solutions Asia
21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong committee
Graeme Deuchars Head of Learning & Teaching Technologies, German Swiss International School Justin Hardman Director of Technology, Hong Kong International School Paul McMahon Digital Learning Consultant, Learning Solutions Asia Limited Paul White Learning Technology Adviser, English Schools Foundation. Karen Rohrs Director of Professional Development, Hong Kong International School
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Digital Citizenship and Cybersafety Video and Podcasting Technologies Leadership in 21st Century Schools One – to – One Learning Information Literacies Web 2.0 Technologies Innovative Uses of Technology Mobile Technologies Managing information in schools Managing Digital Content #21CHK