The Importance of Technology to Education #edtech

In light of last week’s FOTE12 event in London, I found this excellent video from Prof Stephen Heppell, talking about the education system in Australia (and a dire warning to the English education system at the same time):

YouTube: Professor Stephen Heppell – Importance of Technology to Education

“Schools are these extraordinary intellectual powerhouses that are at the heart of our future – connecting them up is essential if we’re going to bring the collective ingenuity of those minds together. But it’s that ability to crowdsource so many smart people, so many keen children, so many extraordinary communities and families, so many professional teachers. I’m in awe of where this all going to go in the next decade.”

“This isn’t about how much money you’ve got. This isn’t about what your parents do. This is about have you got the ingenuity, have you got the horse power between your ears, to really make a difference with this? And I’ll tell you what, we’re going to need every single kid on the planet, every single kid, to be part of this. What we can prototype with the NBN (National Broadband Network) is what ubiquitous learning looks like, what we can prototype is what learning looks like when everybody has access.“

 [emphasis above is mine].

I’m sure we’re all aware of what resources can do for learning, where everyone has the access and ability to learn from what’s available, but it’s also about how these resources are introduced, managed, implemented, and ‘taught’ that makes them work for everyone (MOOC anyone?). From the above video and from a little reading I’ve done around the NBN and Stephen’s work in Australia it really does sound like they’re trying hard to, and already achieving, good results from this initiative.

UK take note … before it’s too late.