Brenda MacIsaac’s session this morning at CONTACT on the shifting nature of our kids and the increasing disconnect between schools and their learning needs was wonderful.  She presented a great snapshot of the research and personal anecdotes, painting a picture of today’s youth that captured just how important it is that teachers recognize how kids have changed and the need to adapt to this change in clientele.

I am pleasantly suprised by the quality of the conversations here.  It’s a very different feel than other events I have attended that were not tech-specific and the story emerging is one of teachers seeing the need and demanding opportunities and change within their school.  In fact, the quality of the conversation here is at a level approaching that of some of the major “ed-tech” conferences I have attended.

Tomorrow I am presenting a workshop on School 2.0; Creating Flat Classrooms for the 21st Century.  I now am reviewing my session on the fly, adapting stuff she covered and building upon conversations she started.

For a small, “non-tech” conference, Brenda and a few others have a chance to start real conversations about changing the narrative of learning and how we can use technology to connect to students and have them connect with each other.  This is turning into a pretty “shifty” event.

tags: technology, education, whipple, learning, contact2008