What I learned this week: humanity + digital = futures unknown

In the light of Larry Cuban’s highlighting of school education as being complex rather than complicated (the latter inviting purely structural responses), this year I am sharing what I learned from some readings that took my notice this part week. Perhaps they left me wiser, although I feel they might leave more questions to pursue

This week I’m considering:

• Predicting The EdTech Trends Of 2017 (Natalie Nezhat, Huffington Post, 5 January 2017)
• 8 Things to Keep in Mind When Executing a Digital Transformation (Eric Sheninger, EdTechMagazine 3 January 2017)
• Educating for the Digital Transformation: Four Common Mistakes philippesilberzahneng.wordpress.com
• From Hands to Heads to Hearts NYT Thomas L. Friedman · Jan 4, 2017
• Why Rural America Voted for Trump NYT  ROBERT LEONARD · Jan 5, 2017

On the surface eclectic I know. But as educators we need to look for connections, to seek to understand, and then to see whether we can add value.

So if we accept that people have fundamentally differing views, then teaching will be at odds with at least some of the community. We need to look deeper to human needs and boundaries if we wish to influence beyond the surface. In an increasingly digitally accessible world it is easier to seek confirmation bias, either way. Educators must work against this by developing capacities to challenge assumptions, as well as countering willingness to jump to conclusions and bias.

As digital continues to rearrange and redefine what is work and what organisations need to take on board to add value to such reordering, how long can schools as a system continue as is? And in the meantime will we just continue to be content to blame the technology or teacher intransigence, while leaving infrastructure and pedagogical considerations in the too hard basket (or worse still, handing over to future sellers divorced from the human requirements of a good education?)