Ideas that Matter

Deborah Howes, Director of Digital Learning at The Museum of Modern Art, discusses some of the main drivers of change in education, similarities between museums and schools, and the place of museums in the future of online learning.

Steve Hagardon discusses characteristics of institutions and how education reform needs to be a process that invites participation at the lowest level.

Ellen Wagner of Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) discusses the Gartner Hype Cycle, data and how it is being used for outcomes-based funding and more. She discusses the issue of balancing where we want to go with what we are held accountable to.

Martti Raevaara, Vice President of Aalto University, discusses some of the issues in Finland and how connecting students with their community and professionals within it can create a community of learning that transcends the university.

Joe Lambert discusses the evolutionary history and role of story-telling and the importance of cross-generational dialogue and how this ties into projects at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

A Bill Frakes Film: Members of the NMC Community discuss ideas that matter in their personal and professional lives.

Ideas that Matter: Dr. Vijay Kumar brings up the rhetoric of crisis in education versus rhetoric of optimism, innovation, and opportunity. He goes on to focus on the optimism that open content, courseware, communities and data are bringing in the abundance they provide on the educational supply side. This is redefining what, where, and how people learn. Dr. Vijay Kumar provides leadership for planning and implementing technology-enabled educational innovations at MIT. In his prior roles at MIT as Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Computing, as well as other institutions, Kumar’s work focused on the effective integration of information technology in education. Kumar was the Principal Investigator of the Open Knowledge Initiative, the MIT-led collaborative project supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop an open architecture for enterprise educational applications.

Ideas that Matter: Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura breaks down how to think about the information from the 2012 NMC Horizon Report, and how the technologies outlined in it relate to us as humans. He brings to the forefront the connection between humans and technology, beginning with the first fully human skeleton. Ruben is the Founder and President of Hippasus, an educational consulting firm focusing on transformative applications of information technologies to education. While a teaching fellow at Harvard University, he co-developed new courses in the introductory sciences, aimed at increasing the breadth and depth of science understanding for majors and non-majors alike.

Ideas that Matter: Helen Keegan describes a project she facilitated with her university class, using elements of alternative reality gaming to create a mysterious scenario that brought curiosity back into their learning. She wants students to go beyond curriculum and the path set in front of them, believing that we cannot teach students to be curious but we can put opportunities to be curious in front of them to facilitate their curiosity and creativity. Helen Keegan is Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media and Social Technologies at the University of Salford, MediaCity UK. Her expertise lies in curriculum innovation and the development of new pedagogies, focusing on creativity and interdisciplinariy. A recognized international speaker, her research focuses on digital culture, digital identity and literacy, and the interplay between formal and informal learning.

Ideas that Matter: Keith R. Krueger discusses the problems in Technology and K-12, highlighting that the number of students in K-12 dwarfs Higher Ed. Only about 65% of school districts have a person dedicated to technology leadership and Keith feels that the metaphor for how K-12 thinks of technology is based on a hero-mentality with just one hero teacher or model school. Instead we need each school to be an ecosystem of innovation. Keith discusses the hurdles that are in the way of this goal. Keith R. Krueger is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a nonprofit organization that serves as the voice of K-12 school system technology leaders in North America. CoSN’s mission is empowering educational leaders to leverage technology to realize engaging learning environments.

Ideas that Matter: Lev Gonick brings to light some staggering statistics in Cleveland, and discusses the process of transforming our education culture from one built off scarcity to one built out of abundance. In 2004 Lev and Case Western Reserve University founded what is today known as OneCommunity, the award-winning regional community network now reaching 22 counties in Northeast Ohio. In 2009 Case Western Reserve University began extending gigabit fiber to the home in Cleveland’s inner city.

Ideas that Matter: Sherry Lassiter feels that we’ve lost our desire to make things, and seeks to inspire and celebrate “making and digital fabrication.” She began teaching a class on “How to Make (almost) Anything,” using digital fabrication technology. The class model went on to inspire “Fablabs” all over the world. These labs provide tools and guidance to allow students to tinker and modify the world around them. Sherry Lassiter is a former science documentary television producer, writer, director who decided she wanted to become a part of the story, rather than just telling other people’s stories. To that end, she changed careers (after 18 years in the TV biz), coming to MIT and working at the Media Lab. She now runs the Fab Foundation and international fab lab network.

Ideas that Matter: Scott Sayre, who moved from working in academia for over twenty years to a position that immersed him in the museum world, discusses storytelling in relation to art pieces in museums, and how stories of each museum piece are taught in a specific way, leaving many aspects of the story out. New media is the key to illuminating these untold stories. Scott Sayre is a founder and principal at Sandbox Studios, a Minneapolis-based group that works with museums and other non-profits to plan, create, manage,and assess education programs and technology projects. Sandbox Studios creatively applies tested technologies and innovative educational strategies to bring museum collections and people together.