Leading Change in the New Millennium: The last mile

Next up is Professor Ian W. Gibson, Ph.D.Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation Chair in Education Learning, Leading, and Teaching Futures. Department of Education, Faculty of Human Sciences. Macquarie University, Sydney – “Leading Change in the New Millennium: The last mile”.  The last mile is the fibre link to the home from your ISP – bringing real broadband to the masses – a huge challenge for providers, governments, etc that is often put in the too-hard basket.  The argument is that in education we have a last mile that we are not dealing with.

Quoting Dewey on defending ‘pet notions’ and then Einstein – “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time”.  Now Senge on systemic change – the 5 disciplines are crucial. So looking at change in teacher education and school systems. Off to a good start !

Google’s experimental fibre network on You Tube – similar to MUSH initiatives. Are all of us actually doing things differently – or only some of us. It’s time for a different kind of university – he references principles of teacher education at Macquarie.  So the last mile is the gap that exists between our knowledge of the ICT skill level required for teachers to engage in 21st C learning and the actual current practices in teacher ed.  Likewise for academic development in higher ed.

Going on now to Greg Whitby on 21st C learning – changing the pedagogical DNA.  Integration of pedagogy and technology is the end game – but large numbers of schools and teachers are not engaging, are not dissuaded of the notion that ICT in education is an optional choice, using ICT as an expensive overhead projector – despite the huge investment in ICT and network infrastructure.   Shows the ‘vision of K-12 students today‘ clip.  Is there anyone who hasn’t seen this ? – 562,000 views – but Wesch is up to 3,5 million!!  Long quote on the last mile:

“The last mile looks at what there is after the politically correct statements have been issued, the PR and marketing people have done their work, the policies and practices have been accepted and there are good resources freely available to all on a publicised website for readily available laptops, supported by professional learning opportunities, available to all, and amazing systemic enablement.”

And Toffler to finish off: “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

and a plug for the upcoming 2010 International Symposium on the Futures of Teacher Education and School Leader Education at Macquarie in July.

Running out of power now – guess I have a last mile problem in this hotel ballroom with no ready access to electricity for my laptop ! Still the MacBook Pro lasted about 7hrs today so I’m impressed.