ISTE 2012 Opening

Welcome to ISTE 2012 in beautiful San Diego, California! The weather is beautiful and our room is awesome! We spent the early afternoon touring San Diego. We're now ready to get started learning all we can at the conference. Over 20,000 people here for the conference from 61 countries! We are now awaiting to hear the keynote speakers. Unfortunately, we are in an overflow room since the main keynote room is full :(. Hearing from several ISTE leaders and Arne Duncan (Department of Education) Dr. Ken Robinson: Published a book 10 years ago called http://www.amazon.com/Out-Our-Minds-Learning-Creative/dp/1907312471/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340587744&sr=1-1&keywords=Ken+Robinson Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative Think about how much technology has changed in the past 10 years since the book was written. "We cannot afford to not personalize education. It's a catastrophe." 1/3 of students don't make it from 9th to 12th grade - would we accept that failure rate from doctors? #sirkenrobinson 1/3 dropout, if those were planes dropping, or patience dying we'd do something about it I knew Americans got irony the minute they created No Child Left Behind Teaching is the heart and soul of education. Not the curriculum. Mark Prensky: Key question for learning- what do we keep in our heads? Brain science is not making us better. Connecting our brains to technology is making us better. Digital wisdom -what our brains do better and what a machine does better. Teachers provide empathy. Students provide passion. Four things teachers must do: 1. Listen 2. Respect - mutual disrespect. One hundred years ago we overlooked the woman's point of view. Now we are overlooking the kids under 25 3. Over expect from kids 4. Empower al teachers to challenge kids Feel the fear and do it anyway. That is the definition of courage. Things that were great yesterday are old today. Technology can truly inspire kids but used poorly can do damage. Everyone needs a different curriculum,not just the same curriculum presented differently. "Helping kids find and follow their passion is the KEY to 21st century education!" Mayim Bialik: Homeschool teacher pd neuroscience, chemistry, and biology. Mayim: Wow, this is like Comicon, but with less chewbacca bikinis. Put a female face on STEM and technology. Connection is important to incorporating technology into education. The kids teach each other.