Slides


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Slides:**
 * 1) Ok Go quote from "Here It Goes Again". Goal: sets up an undercurrent theme for the presentation; acts as a lead-in to the Ok Go video itself.
 * 2) Ok Go "Here it Goes Again" video. Goal: playful way to 'wake everyone' in an early morning presentation, as well as a creative way to hint at the idea of 'digital natives' and how we can design a 'school' relevant to their future.
 * 3) Topic Slide: "Design Essential Questions" (aka "EQ's). Goal: if we were to 'only' discuss characteristics of well-designed schools, these would be "essential questions" (to borrow from Ted Sizer) that I would offer up. I'm going to suggest that our ability to design true 21st century schools (or understand the concept of "School 2.0") requires going beyond even these questions. The set-up for each slide is essentially: "Is our school, project, solution, idea focused on the following premise?"
 * EQ: "Engaging, Interactive?"
 * EQ: "Relevant Now, Future?"
 * EQ: "Active, Producers?"
 * EQ: "Learner-centered?
 * EQ: "Customized, Social Networks?"
 * EQ: "Partnerships, Multi-generational?"
 * EQ: "Community Hub, Asset?"
 * EQ: "WiFi, Always Connected?"
 * EQ: "'Flat', Connected Classrooms?"
 * EQ: "Anywhere, Anytime?"
 * 1) Quote: "One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat..." (see below). Goal: Like I share with my students, until we know what we are looking for in the 'future' (as students, as designers, as leaders, etc), 'any path' will get us there. This will be an underlying theme for the entire presentation.
 * 2) Question to Audience: "Why are YOU here today?" Goal: In spite of the ideas that I'm going to present, there must be a reason that each audience member came to hear a (early morning) presentation on the 'future' of school design.
 * 3) Image: Shot of Curly from the movie "City Slickers". Goal: As I said to the audience, if you take away "just one thing" -- inspired by Curly's advice to Billy Crystal's character -- from this presentation, then it was worth it. Ultimately it is less about my full presentation and more about one 'big idea' that each audience member uses to further their own research, project development, client service, etc.
 * 4) Quote: "We arrived at our present precarious situation..." (see below). Goal: Regardless of our individual comfort with emerging technology (or even understanding of "School 2.0" as a new model for school design) and our sense of how 'different' things are (vs. past transitional moments in history), there is a rising sense that we are facing a new set of challenges as a school-based society.
 * 5) Quote: "I am slightly burdened by being..." (see below) Goal: There is something about a master designer using the phrase "slightly burdened" that felt 'real' to me. We are all "slightly burdened" in this day and age; while we are adept at finding solutions, we are still in a time of history where so much is shifting beneath our feet.
 * 6) Quote: "We're moving from..." (see below) Goal: School has traditionally been a place of "linear problems". Tomorrow's graduates are going to be faced with problems that are far more "wicked" and messy than traditional schools prepare them for. This -- I believe -- is a fundamental truth we must face. And embrace.
 * 7) Quote: "Do or do not..." (see below) Goal: I've always loved this quote from Yoda (to a young Luke Skywalker who is uncertain as to his next step). This subtly plays off of the title of this presentation in the idea that our students can't wait for us to find/craft "perfect" solutions. We need to embrace the mindset of "beta" processes -- as technology teams do -- that are always in development, always being improved.
 * 8) Title slide.
 * 9) Comment to the audience: "Why I am Here This Morning". Goal: This is where I begin to lay out a variety of biases: a) biases that underlie the presentation and b) my own professional/personal biases.
 * 10) Presentation Bias #1: "Schools are..." Goal: I wanted to make a point that schools mean many things to everyone. Additionally, school aren't going anywhere (even with the rising trend of virtual schools/programs). Finally, I also wanted to stress that there is misplaced negative criticism of school in general these days. I believe -- without hesitation -- that schools (and pubic education) have been a profound success story over the last few hundred years. Instead of focusing on their weaknesses or over-doing the "cells and bells" criticism, I believe we need to simply a) acknowledge that schools -- universal literacy, free schools for all citizens, etc. -- were an audacious vision that we pulled off centuries ago and b) we need to shift away from "failure" to "we need to develop a new vision". This leads me to the idea of School 2.0.
 * 11) Presentation Bias #2: "Raise Questions..." Goal: I offer that a good portion of this presentation (and my interest in these topics) is about raising questions, not necessarily seeking specific answers.
 * 12) Presentation Bias #3: "Seek Possibilities..." Goal: Collectively we need to seek new ideas, not just defend our experiences. Even if we disregard what we find, we are better for it in terms of our thinking process.
 * 13) Presentation Bias #4: "[The] Future is Here; [It] Just Looks Different." Goal: We often talk about 21st Century schools as if they are 'coming' sometime in the 'future'. I believe that we have to act as if we are already 'in' the 'future' and shift our understanding as to what that means. The most vital trends/changes are those that are right in front of us (and easily ignored).
 * 14) Comment to the Audience: "Not a Resume. Only Biases." Goal: Like presenting biases for the presentation itself, I wanted to target a few key biases in my own professional and personal life. I am not a fan of listing my resume; biases on the other hand better target where our ideas originate and why we're presenting the ideas we are.
 * 15) Image: Shot of my classroom (or at least a what it temporarily looked like this past summer as the space was being re-designed). Goal: To establish that my day-to-day life -- away from these presentations and similar consulting work -- takes place in a very traditional classroom space. The 3 laptops and iPhone suggest, however, that the 4 walls do not contain the full classroom.
 * 16) Image: Screenshot of my classroom blog where students submit 250-350 comments a week.
 * 17) Image: Screenshot of my Google Docs account where students submit all major writing.
 * 18) Image: Screenshot of one of my class Wikis where my students research about the various literature we're studying.
 * 19) Image: Screenshot of my CoverItLive 'channel' where students live-blog (aka post real-time class discussions on-line for archive purposes, as well as to allow outside experts and absent students to participate in a real class discussion).
 * 20) Image: Screenshot #2 of my CoverItLive 'channel' showing how my students post real-time comments that are normally 'lost' once the class comes to an end each period.
 * 21) Image: Screenshot of a Skype chat/conversation that is often used for my class (both in terms of bringing in outside experts or other classes from around the world to talk to my students).
 * 22) Image: My wife/I on our wedding day (which allowed me to mention that a) I "married up" and b) I married a fellow educator who always reminds me that there is a teacher and a student who will live in the school I help plan...and thus to remain 'grounded' in what is really important.
 * 23) Image: My daughter and son; no caption.
 * 24) Image: My daughter and son; caption: "Berkeley, 6 mos | Beckett, 3 yo". Goal: Suggest how much has changed for me now that my own children have helped me re-think both being a teacher and being a school planner/consultant, esp. with regards to technology.
 * 25) Image: My daughter and son; caption: "Class of 2027 | Class of 2024". Goal: Begin to focus on the design of schools that will be relevant to their futures, not our pasts.
 * 26) Video: "Designing for Their Future". Goal: I made this video a year or so ago based on a live/archived video feed of my son Beckett's daycare classroom that I was able to watch on-line via my laptop. At first, it was simply wonderful to be able to 'see' him when I was traveling. Over time, however, I began to think about the camera itself...and the idea that suggested that school could become '2-way' (a link to the idea of School 2.0). I created the video as a way to a) have school planning professionals look for architectural/design solutions to improve the space they saw and b) to switch the conversation mid-way through the viewing of the video to what it means to be 'forever connected' as a parent and what it might mean for our students to be engaging the world around them without leaving their physical classroom. In the past, I've used just this video to run an hour-long session.
 * 27) Organizing Topic slide: "Kids learn instinctively". Goal: I'm deeply interested in the disconnect between students' classrooms and their real-world experiences. I am equally interested in the different way that students today learn outside of school via technology that is often prevented or overlooked in school itself.
 * 28) Video: "Bow Drill Set" (see below). Goal: This is a wonderful video to watch (and think about) -- esp. before you realize it is on YouTube -- in terms of how kids these days use the internet to discover information, seek expertise, and even admit what they don't know. While the subject of the video is not what interests me (besides for quirky curiosity), I am deeply curious about what this student's educational life must be in comparison to what he can do via YouTube when the school day is over. My favorite part? When the child says, "Please comment down below", after admitting that he assumes he's wrong.
 * 29) Image: Screenshot of the "Bow Drill Set" video on YouTube. Goal: I appreciate the kid's ability to 'brand' his name/topic and the 'modest' # of views/comments (although not that that says anything negative about the quality of the comments he's received).
 * 30) Image: Screenshot of 3 of the comments found on the "Bow Drill Set" YouTube video. Goal: Identify how professional/authentic the feedback is.
 * 31) Image: Ethan Bodnar. Goal: Ethan was a high school kid who several years ago contacted me to see if I would link to his blog from my blog. While I didn't do it at first -- after all, he hadn't done anything to 'earn' that at first (although in time I definitely linked to his site). He is now a college student, a very clever blogger and designer, and now a published author. I wanted to show a slightly older version of the boy in the previous video...and further make the point that 'kids' these days (aka "Digital Natives") are in a position to publish globally and become a legitimate 'brand' on the Internet, esp. if they learn proactive strategies for crafting their message and identity. I wonder how many schools/teachers are in a position to help them manage this process/development.
 * 32) Image: Ethan Bodnar beginning to expand how he represents himself to professional audiences around the world.
 * 33) Image: Ethan Bodnar's current web site / portfolio. Goal: I wanted to show the progression of how he has 'entered the market' as a professional, but long before he's graduated from college.
 * 34) Image: Ethan Bodnar's recently published book that is the result of his asking a large # of illustrators, designers, and artists to respond to a variety of 'design'/'art' challenges. Goal: This started when he was in high school. In a world before blogging/Web 2.0 tools, it is impossible to imagine how he would have so quickly put together a Rolodex of professionals from around the world that would have taken his invitation seriously.
 * 35) Image: Sam Jackson. Goal: Sam was another high school student who touched base with me -- when I had an educational blog for several years -- and grabbed my attention due to his incredible instinct for how to use the Internet to his advantage. He is now at Yale (and studying in China) and works at Google in the summers.
 * 36) Image: Sam Jackson's blog. Goal: What struck me about Sam early on -- and his blog -- was the line seen in this image where he talks about how he was being "marketed to" by colleges admissions offices...and felt it paid to be "savvy" about the marketing process. This led to a wide range of opportunities for him professionally as a range of organizations/blogs began to take notice of his work while he was only in high school.
 * 37) Image | Question to the Audience: "Kids: Are We Paying Attention?" Goal: I've always loved this 'art installation' (somewhere in Japan, I think) that became a rich metaphor for me to emphasize that "Digital Immigrants" aren't even sure where to begin in terms of emerging technology while "Digital Natives" simply look for reasonable paths/experiences without worrying about the 'right' way to act. I think this image -- for me -- becomes an interesting metaphor for both school and the future of our society.
 * 38) Organizing Topic slide: "Things move intuitively". Goal: This was as close to 'futuristic' technology as I wanted to get into for this presentation; likewise, this was a chance to re-think technology as 'boxes' where we 'do computers' to a 'way' we 'engage' the world around us. I'm also becoming increasingly curious about intuitive technologies -- like the iPhone touchscreen and the TED video that follows these next few slides -- and what it might suggest about no longer being "confined" by technology (or even spaces called "school").
 * 39) Image: Laptop classroom. Goal: While the laptops are themselves a bit 'dated' (in relative terms), the overall room/layout/process of learning/collaborating appears to be fairly positive. It seems, in other words, to be an 'ideal' vision of what the future of learning spaces should adopt: multiple groups, furniture arranged around various activities, self-directed/group learning via laptops, etc.
 * 40) Image: Typewriter classroom. Goal: Clearly we have 'been here' before. I offer this as a contrast and reflection of the previous one. The idea is to suggest that computers alone do not mean 'new' or 'future'. We must re-think what we mean by teaching/learning, not just add 'technology'.
 * 41) Image: Side by side comparison of the 2 previous slides. Goal: A quick reminder that it's not as revolutionary as we may think at first.
 * 42) Image: Current college lecture hall. Goal: I wanted people to stand in the shoes of a professor (or teacher) in a classroom today where all students are wired and carrying laptops to the 'outside' world. Clearly this changes the game when it comes to what we 'do' as teachers and how we 'design' spaces that are relevant to teaching/learning in the future.
 * 43) Image: "When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom" article from The Chronicle of Higher Education (see below). Goal: This is a very intriguing provocation by a Dean at SMU (Dallas) who has demanded that all professors remove the computer from their newly designed lecture halls. He has a trick, however, and it is a fantastic provocation for what the future of education might look like.
 * 44) Video: "TED Talks: Jeff Han". Goal: This is a fantastic video in terms of the multi-sensor touchscreen that Han has invented. What I was most impressed with was Han's suggestion that we we should not be "conforming" to the machine, but that the machine should be "conforming" to us. His focus is on the "interface completely disappears" in this multi-sensor touchscreen technology. I can't help but wonder what happens when a digital 'fabric' and every-surface-is-a-screen becomes more and more the norm, along with intuitive touchscreening...and how this might re-shape our biases towards technology being a 'box' we conform to.
 * 45) Organizing Topic slide: "Spaces Respond Inevitably". Goal: A bit esoteric on some level, but I wanted to compare 2 schools (as sets of spaces responding to an architectural process). I also wanted to subtly point to the difference of a school being designed 'perfectly' without a 'soul' being protected vs. a school being retrofitted in a decidedly 'imperfect' way...but managing to become quite successful because the vision of the school truly has a 'soul' and the users adapt the spaces to fit their evolving needs.
 * 46) Image: Architectural rendering of the School of the Future, Philadelphia, PA. Goal: to begin discussing the difference between a 'futuristic' model of a school that is not scaleable ($65mil, sub-1000 students, global corporate partnership, etc) before looking at schools that may be a better example (while flying under the radar) in the same city.
 * 47) Image: School of the Future's website. Goal: From the outside, this appears to be everything we're looking for in a school with 21st Century vision. I'm going to suggest otherwise in the following slides.
 * 48) Image: Visual of the Education Week article, "'School of the Future' Struggles to Break from the Past" (see below). Goal: Interesting focus on past and future. While I do not celebrate the challenges faced by this school, I do think that something vital was missing in the design of it. It acts as a transition to introducing another new school in Philadelphia in the following slides.
 * 49) Image: Visual of the //eSchool News// article, "School of the Future: Lessons in Failure" (see below). Goal: While I do not celebrate the challenges faced by this school, I do think that something vital was missing in the design of it. It acts as a transition to introducing another new school in Philadelphia in the following slides.
 * 50) Image: Google Map of Philadelphia. Goal: Show how close Science Leadership Academy (in green) is to the School of the Future ("A"). Also, to hint that 'just down the street' from SOTF may be the real 'school of the future' well under the radar of most designers.
 * 51) Image: Chris Lehmann. Goal: to introduce Chris. Also, to point out the school's goals over his shoulder. This was also the way I began to quickly introduce how I met Chris (on-line, blogger to blogger) when he needed a school planner to give him advice as to how he could talk to his contractors/building owner when they needed final design input within 72 hours...and he knew nothing about school planning.
 * 52) Video: "The Schools We Need" (Chris Lehmann at PhillyIgnite). Goal: This is a rapid-fire presentation (10 slides, 30 seconds each) done in a 'bar' full of city thought-leaders. Chris Lehmann's personality, educational leadership, and vision of what Science Leadership Academy and School 2.0 means comes through loud and clear. I've always wondered what would happen if I gave just this video to a dozen world-class school planners/architects...and asked them to design a new school for Chris. I just might.
 * 53) Image: Cafeteria wall hanging. Goal: Clever re-branding of the Periodic Table merged with educational goals developed by the Science Leadership Academy team; suggests a complete embrace of vision and tactics.
 * 54) Image: Branding/signage of the Science Leadership Academy. Goal: Focuses on a unique partnership.
 * 55) Image: Street view of converted downtown office space that became the Science Leadership Academy. Goal: An obvious focus on re-claimed space.
 * 56) Image: View from 2nd floor down to the student cafeteria on the 1st floor at Science Leadership Academy. Goal: Interesting 'architectural' element that was unintended...but has been embraced by the school (transparency, etc). In some ways, the school itself is transparent to the outside world...and 2-way in terms of communication/observation. Also, this is a reminder that a limited budget and last-minute changes created a set of school spaces that have become valuable after the fact (and is an interesting comparison to other new schools that were 'perfectly' designed from day one with much higher budgets, yet lack 'life' somehow).
 * 57) Image: Students at Science Leadership Academy a) wear lab coats (symbolic of the school's academic mission) and b) are in a 1-to-1 laptop environment. Goal: This is an interesting way to see what the school stands for...at least on the surface.
 * 58) Image: Experts visiting Science Leadership Academy; students presenting to experts. Goal: This is a fundamental part of the school's make-up. All student work is meant to be authentic and relevant to the real world along the way.
 * 59) Image: "This is YOUR shelf. What will you publish?" sign found in the Science Leadership Academy library. Goal: This has always struck me as powerful in that the school expects their own kids to publish, not just to read what others have publish.
 * 60) Image: Kids dancing in Science Leadership Academy cafeteria. Goal: In spite of the focus on School 2.0 and emerging tech, Science Leadership Academy students are real kids living real lives.
 * 61) Image: //Edutopia// article highlighting Science Leadership Academy. (see below)
 * 62) Image: The public/transparent planning wiki for EduCon 2.2. Goal: I offer this as an interesting spin on how conference planning can be done in this day and age. Not only can participants help shape the conference in advance, it means that the conference is F2F (aka "face to face") and virtual from beginning to end. And the content always remains available long after the F2F events come to an end. Finally, I also appreciate that they pull off an international conference using free web tools and do not worry about it feeling 'complete' when they go 'public' with content/ideas. In some respects, this wiki is evidence of School 2.0 itself.
 * 63) Image: Chris Lehmann hosting EduCon 2.1, Philadelphia, PA.
 * 64) Organizing Topic slide: "Futures Shift: Intelligently". Goal: Ultimately, I think that we all -- educators, designers, teams, organizations -- need to begin to develop a 'future think' mindset and foster various strategies that will help us imagine the 'future' with regards to our curriculum, projects, clients, etc. I chose to start with out-there, professional versions, shifted to university-level work, and then brought it back down to something created by K-12 teachers. Ultimately I'm curious what each individual in the audience would create if they were challenged to make one of their own (either as an expert or as a learner themselves).
 * 65) Video: "Astounding World of the Future" (see below). Goal: On some level, this is meant to be 'fun'. On another level, it is a reminder that we should never hold too dearly to our view of the future in terms of literal facts/truths. I appreciate this as satire...and suspect that many others would appreciate a less-intense moment along the way.
 * 66) Video: "Microsoft Office Labs 2019" (see below). Goal: An interesting visual representation of the future with the opening minutes dedicated to the 'classroom of the future'. Several people were talking about those images during CEFPI. I found it serendipitous that I had included it as well. While I don't think that Microsoft has a guaranteed vision, I do like it as a premise for creating an 'amateur' video of our own.
 * 67) Organizing Topic slide: "Today's Students: Re-Think". Goal: Before we begin to imagine students in the future, we need to look more closely at today's students (obviously). Many of us are beginning to use "Digital Natives" vs. "Digital Immigrants" language (all borrowed from Mark Prensky, BTW). This might be helpful to use as a lens/filter -- with regards to emerging technology -- to better understand DN's in general.
 * 68) Video: "A Vision of the Student Today" (see below). Goal: This might be worth watching simply to talk about the disconnect between students in their 'real lives' and their 'school lives'. The conclusions are fuzzy-math to me, but it sure acts in a provocative manner. I'll let others determine what the implications are.
 * 69) Video: "The Machine is Us/ing Us" (see below). Goal: In some ways, this is a confusing/esoteric video, or at most an 'intellectual' exercise. On a deeper level -- and probably why millions have watched it on their own -- indicative of a shift in terms of what 'content' means...and what it might mean for the larger world and schools/students/teachers. I offer it as a thinking piece alone.
 * 70) Image: quick shot of part of Prof. Wesch's YouTube page for the next video. Goal: I was most interested in his decision to not use a professional PowerPoint presentation he had built; instead, he relied on his students to co-create a video for the Library of Congress. This -- by itself -- is an interesting definition of a teacher re-thinking their role in the larger educational process.
 * 71) Video: "An Anthropological Intro to YouTube (see below). Goal: While not vital to our time together, I offered this video as a way to re-think how the internet is used in this day and age. While it is easy to dismiss YouTube (and most of the content on the site), this is an interesting way to challenge such notions in terms of understanding our evolving society (and use of emerging technology).
 * 72) Organizing Topic slide: "Tomorrow's Kids: Re-Imagine". Goal: The idea is that we can do similar productions at a much more modest level, just as our own 'digital native' kids are doing in real time (vs. how we 'digital immigrants' tend to produce projects/research in traditional ways).
 * 73) Video: "Did You Know 2.0: Shift Happens" (see below). Goal: This version (2.0) -- based on a simple PowerPoint presentation given by 2 educators -- was re-created by a professional design company; it has now been seen by over 5 million. While the production is professional, the 'facts' are easily located by anyone willing to put in the time...and may suggest an infinite array of similar presentations that schools/teams can create to help their own colleagues/clients re-imagine the world around them...and the implications for our futures.
 * 74) Video: "2020 Vision" (see below). Goal: The original video was created by one educator for 150 colleagues in one Colorado public school district. This is the type of video that any school/team can create. While it can't pretend to be 'accurate', it can be indicative of trends and offer a 'way of seeing' for others to consider/challenge/embrace.
 * 75) Question to the audience: "Mmm...Where is yours?" Goal: After learning about, watching, reflecting upon other groups creating 'future think' videos/presentations, the real task is to begin having our teams/schools create a version of our own. This is partially to go through the process of 'future think' and to create something that can inspire others along the way.
 * 76) Quote: "I can't go back to yesterday because..." (see below). Goal: while many of the ideas explicitly/implicitly introduced in this presentation are untethered (or to be explored at a later time), there is one clear truth: once we begin to think about them, we can't 'go back' to a state of not-knowing/not-thinking about them. And in some ways, our 'relationship' with emerging technology (esp. Web 2.0 tools/protocols) means we can never go back to a traditional view of schools, education, and learning (let alone designing for those outcomes).
 * 77) Video: Tribute to Ok Go's "Here We Go Again"; Granbury HS (Granbury, TX) (see below). Goal: With nearly 2 million views on YouTube already, it is interesting to see how real students have become 'experts' at re-producing a professional product/experience. And let's be honest, it reminds us that these presentations about the 'future' of school design are about kids/students first and foremost!
 * 78) Contact information for Christian Long and a link back to this wiki site.