4 minute read
Keynote Address: Ian Jukes / Student Keynote: Chin Zhaomin Jasmine
friday, March 30, 2007 8:00-10:00 2nd day of conference
Announcements
KEYNOTE STUDENT
CHIN ZHAOMIN JASMINE
Title: Frog in the Well - An Old Chinese Proverb
Biography: My name is Chin Zhaomin Jasmine, and I am Singaporean by birth but Chinese by heritage. Because of my nationality and my race, I speak both English and Mandarin, but I hope to learn a European language in the future. I lived in Singapore for the first 16 years of my life, and was very fortunate to have experienced the rich diversity of cultures and traditions. In March 2005, I moved to Beijing, China, where I first ventured into a paradoxical world of oriental tradition and modern internationalism. My stay in China allowed me to explore the roots of my Chinese heritage, while my education at the international school – Western Academy of Beijing – encouraged me to discover the meaning of global citizenship. In order to promote global awareness and social cohesion, both of which are vital in sustaining world development, I undertook projects such as the organisation of International Day for the high school and middle school, in which all students and staff gathered together to celebrate cultural diversity and learnt about the Millennium Development Goals. I have also undertaken projects that would allow me to serve the community via my love for music, such as organising a charity music concert in order to raise funds for Breast Cancer research in Beijing. I endeavour to read Music at Oxford University in the fall of 2007, and I hope to be able to use my knowledge in Music to contribute to the society in future. - Jasmine was recipient of the EARCOS Global Citizen Award from Western Academy of Beijing. KEYNOTE ADDRESS
IAN JUKES
Title: Our Children are Not the Students Our Schools Were Designed For: Understanding Digital Kids
Today’s world is not the world we grew up in; and today’s world is certainly not the world our children will live in. Because of the dramatic changes our world has undergone, today’s digital kids are not the students our schools were designed for; and our students are not the students today’s teachers were trained to teach. This keynote examines the effect digital bombardment from constant exposure to digital media has on digital kids in the new digital landscape and considers the profound implications this holds for the future of education. What does the latest neuroscientific and psychological research tell us about the role of intense and frequent experiences on the brain, particularly the young and impressionable brain? Based on the research, what inferences can we make about kids’ digital experiences and how these experiences are re-wiring and re-shaping their cognitive processes? More importantly, what are the implications for teaching, learning and assessment in the new digital landscape? How can we reconcile these new developments with current instructional practices particularly in a climate of standards and accountability driven by high stakes testing for all? What strategies can we use to appeal to the learning preferences and communication needs of digital learners while at the same time honoring our traditional assumptions and practices related to teaching, learning and assessment? Participants should prepare to have their assumptions about children and how they learn seriously challenged.
Biography: Ian Jukes has been a teacher, an administrator, writer, consultant, university instructor and keynote speaker. As the Director of the InfoSavvy Group, an international consulting group that provides leadership and program Development in the areas of assessment and evaluation, strategic alignment, curriculum design and publication, professional development, planning, change management, hardware and software acquisition, information services, customized research, media services, and on-line training as well as conference keynotes and workshop presentations. In August 2002 Consulting Magazine Online named him one of the top ten educational speakers in America. Ian has written six books, 9 educational series and had more than 100 articles published in various journals. Ian is also the publisher of an on-line electronic newsletter, the Committed Sardine Blog, which is electronically distributed to more than 17,000 people in 60 countries. He is also the creator and co-developer of TechWorks, the internationally successful K-8 technology framework; and was the catalyst of the NetSavvy and InfoSavvy information literacy series; he has been a Contributing Editor for several journals and magazines. His two most recently published books are Net.Savvy: Building Information Literacy for the Classroom, co-authored with Anita Dosaj and Bruce Macdonald, and Windows on the Future, co-authored with Ted McCain. Corwin Press publishes both books. He is currently working on the 2nd edition of Windows on the Future and a book on Digital Kids and another on Schools of the Future.
Ian is an educator first and foremost. His focus has consistently been on the compelling need to restructure our educational institutions so that they become relevant to the current and future needs of children. His rambunctious, irreverent and highly charged presentations and articles emphasize many of the practical issues related to ensuring that change is meaningful. As a registered educational evangelist, his self-avowed mission in life is to ensure that children are properly prepared for the future rather than society’s past. As a result, his material tends to focus on many of the pragmatic issues that provide the essential context for educational restructuring.
