View this email in your browser
You are receiving this email because of your relationship with MindShare Learning. Please reconfirm your interest in receiving emails from us. We welcome you to share this MindShare Learning Report with a colleague! If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here.
|
|
|
Dear Thought Leader,
Happy New Year and Happy Friday! I love this time of year as it represents a clean slate, new beginnings and opportunities for innovation that will bring greater success in 2020! I sense amongst my peers this year is extra special and a real marker, inspiring us to become more laser focused for a clearer decade ahead (pun intended!) to make a real 'impact' on students of today and tomorrow.
This marks our 12th Special Edition Top 10 Canadian EdTech Trends Report as I gaze into my crystal ball for 2020 and the decade ahead!
We continue to see a major shift happening where technology has become so pervasive and transparent in education at all levels in education.
Of course, we know it's not about the technology and more about sound teaching and learning. I like to reinforce that it's about people making deeper connections. Learning happens best through human connections. The good news is that the role of the teacher continues to be vitally important, to facilitate the learning process, sometimes as co-learners in our increasingly complex world.
You’re probably wondering where I get my insight for my Top 10. Weekly, we curate the MindShare Report and I keep my pulse on the EdTech button through our consulting practice and the many professional learning events I host and attend.
As CEO of C21 Canada, I have the good fortune of being part of a national PLN made up of some of the top education leaders in the country. Also, on the global stage, I’m honoured to be a member of the OECD Education and Skills 2030 working group; this provides me with a strong lens into the future. I’m fortunate to be further supported by an awesome MindShare Report advisory board made up of education and industry leaders which provides me with ‘boots on the ground’ deep insight on the future of learning and skills. I must say, I’m blessed to be running the MindShare Workspace coworking innovation space which has opened a whole new world into the future of work & learning and building community that all pull for each other to succeed.
As a passionate lifelong learner and parent of three Gen Z kids, I've never been more optimistic about Canadian education and the innovative spirit of our future leaders. They think differently and will create the future. Their lack of patience and desire to make things happen will lead to unparalleled accelerated change and growth in Canada.
I challenge you as a key education stakeholder to inspire your colleagues to collectively support and nurture our future leaders to strive for excellence through engaging teaching and mentorship, in order to future proof their skills and to give them confidence to help them thrive in 2020 and beyond!
Special thanks to the C21 CEO Academy and my advisory board for the inspiration in crafting this year's Top 10.
I hope you enjoy this edition of our Top 10 trends and predictions for 2019! As always, we welcome your feedback. All the best for an impactful year in 2020!
Until next time, keep the digital learning curve steep!
|
|
|
P.S. We're honoured to be media partners at the 40th Future of Education Technology Conference in Miami. If you're attending Join us for our CanAm Celebration of Excellence Meetup! Click here to RSVP.
Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech
President, MindShare Learning Technology™
Chief Digital Publisher, The MindShare Learning Report™
Co-founder & President C21 Canada™
Follow us on Twitter @MindShareLearn
|
|
|
1. Embracing Learning Frameworks>>The Future of Education 2030 Learning Frameworks and Skills
|
|
|
If I was to sum up the future of education in the next decade in one image, the OECD Education team led by Andreas Schleicher, has done their homework in crafting one of the most concise learning framework models and accompanying report The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030, an excellent reference document co-created through a global working group of key education stakeholders. No doubt partly inspired partly by the excellent work of Dr. Michael Fullan, who crafted his 6C's and the fine work of C21 Canada, who published its seminal document Shifting Minds and the 7C's. |
|
|
2. Storytelling and Digital Portfolios
|
|
|
The resurgence in the Art of Storytelling in the Digital Age presents many exciting possibilities through the multitude of tech tools at our finger tips. The irony is that storytelling was and still is pervasive amongst the first nations community. It was their way of passing on traditions and knowledge. Fast-forward to today, students are gaining powerful essential skills through the process of writing and creating interactive and engaging presentations.
With the startup culture upon us, youth are honing their presentations skills through pitch challenges and hackathons. We've also incorporated a start-up challenge into our workspace and our summits to give youth opportunities to shine! |
|
|
|
|
2. Continued Major Shift to Online Learning, Blended, Micro Credentialing, Unbundling and Chunking
|
|
|
Digital learning in all formats continues to grow at an exponential rate and is not going away, both in the K12 and post-secondary space.
While my personal preference is blended, there are many forms emerging, where students will have options to customize and chunk their learning for greater personalization. This will promote opportunities for micro credentialing and customization of learning giving students flexibility to follow passions for a more focused experience.
An excellent FREE digital book I recommend commissioned by ContactNorth and authored by Dr. Tony Bates, Teaching in a Digital Age |
|
|
|
|
4. The Democratization of Learning, Leadership & Technology, Social Media & Entrepreneurship
|
|
|
Perhaps a bit of a foreign term in education, however, technology and a shift in culture of senior leadership in learning is providing teachers and students with greater agency to ownership of their learning to be future proofed for the global economy.
Hence, I'm a BIG fan of learning technology solutions that provide the tools in the hands of students and teachers that are intuitive and enables them to creators, while reinforcing their skills. For teachers, we'll continue to see AI focused assessment tools that will give teacher back time and provide a streamlined platform to have greater insight to student learning, while engaging parents in the process.
We'll see a continued major shift where teachers and students will be leaders, entrepreneurs and influencers of the tools that make their way into classrooms of the future. |
|
5. Podcasting to Amplify Teacher and Student Voice to Share and Learn
|
|
|
As a bit of pioneer of podcasting, now in my 13th year, we're seeing a trend of this technology making its way into education at all levels from leaders, teachers and students starting their own podcasting channels. Teacher and student voice has never been stronger. Podcasting especially allows students to share their knowledge, discover their passsions and thrive as individuals.
Checkout our extensive library of podcasts! Of note, my very first podcast was while doing my Masters degree in EdTech in 2006, where I was honoured to interview legendary professor, Dr. Seymour Papert from MIT, a pioneer in computational thinking, who envisioned the first computer in education. Have a listen here. |
|
|
|
|
Special Guest Blog:
Reclaiming our Relationship with Apps
This blog has been written in collaboration with Lisa Anne Floyd, PhD Student, Western University, and Dr. Karen Grose, Associate Partner, MindShare Learning.
|
|
|
No matter the age, one of the primary goals of most mobile app developers is to keep users engaged for as long as possible. As such, apps are designed and developed to grab and sustain users’ attention. Some of the techniques employed by mobile app developers to manipulate users to interact with apps are based on observations, while others are informed by input from psychologists and research regarding human behaviour. Everything from the colour of icons, to the rate of notifications received, apps are created to spur a sense of urgency to check our devices repeatedly throughout the day. In this article, we discuss some of the techniques mobile app designers and developers utilize to keep users consistently active and how we as educators, with our students, can rethink our relationship with mobile devices.
It is no secret apps create psychological dissonance when it comes to our mobile devices. In fact, websites, streamed videos, and forums have been created for app developers to examine the best ways to keep users engaged. If our friends, family members and students are struggling to reduce usage, despite the best of intentions and constant reminders, there are many forces working against them.
|
|
|
6. Cyber Security, Safety, Well-being and Data Privacy
|
|
|
Cyber Security and Data privacy are very much top-of-mind amongst educational leaders and CIOs. Learning companies focused on this space cannot keep up with the demand and shortage of skilled workers. Hence, on a positive note, a great career path for today's students considering a career in the tech sector.
One of Canada's leading organizations focused on this sector that's put its stake in the ground is CyberNB. Another interesting connection is through ICTC, who created a student challenge, CyberTitan.
Given increasing concern over student, safety and data privacy, there presents itself a challenge and opportunity for EdTech companies to demonstrate leadership in this are to create tools that protect by educational institutions and students from unwanted intrusions. |
|
|
|
|
7. Schools & Classroom Design Thinking & Maker Spaces
|
|
|
As we're immersed in the future of work and learning on a daily basis, I've come to appreciate the importance of functional spaces from a design thinking perspective.
Inspirational spaces are a key element of the student success equation. Functional maker space that are designed with essential tools for teacher and students to be creators and makers, sure to inspire the next talented engineers, coders, designers and entrepreneurs!
Checkout the FREE Spiral Playbook to nurture inquiry based learning and design thinking, courtesy of C21 Canada. |
|
|
|
|
8. Robotics, Computational Thinking and Automation
|
|
|
Thanks to Canada's renewed CanCode project, schools across the country are enjoying FREE workshops on coding and computational thinking. This has proved as an accelerator of sorts to inspiring the next generation coders, computer scientists and problem solvers. We don't expect that all student want to be coders or scientists, however, it challenges students to think differently.
The continued growth of robotics in schools and competitions such as First Robotics will continue to inspire innovation, entrepreneurship, innovation and automation that will drive further streamlining in education.
|
|
|
|
|
9. Gamification of Learning: Meeting Students Where There are Most Connected
|
|
|
| While teachers may be daunted by the proliferation of gaming and an industry that has overtaken the size and scale of the movie industry, they should be relieved to know that gamified platforms such as Prodigy Math, Classcraft, or Minecraft, require minimal or no teacher training to implement. students are resourceful and the tables are often turned where teachers become co-learners. Watch out for eSports making its way into the classroom too! You may be surprised to learn that it's becoming a profession as well, just like being a pro athlete! |
|
|
10. Strategic Alliances, Partnerships and Sustainability
|
|
|
 |
It truly does take a digital village to raise a child in the 21st century, especially given the enormous costs of maintaining state-of-the-art learning environments. That said, sustainable educational partnerships and ecosystems require greater stakeholder engagement, especially when it comes to new and innovative spaces and technology.
Many of the new technology innovations in education are a barrier to implementation, largely due to lack of funding as I've noted through my previous research.
The appetite for partnership has never been greater on both fronts (education and industry), where educational institutions are more open than ever before to partner with EdTech companies and not-for-profits. I often recommend pilot projects as a testbed of sorts. The key is to forge innovative mutually beneficial partnerships, where both parties feel there's a Win-Win. It's always strategic to include a research component as part of the partnership to better assess the success of the project.
Feel free to drop me a note if you require some input as I'm happy to offer advice on how to best forge a partnership.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
 | | |
|  |
|
|
|
|
