Conferences pt.1

On April 7 I attended the TEP Conference (Technology Education Partnership) in Holyoke as part of the U28 Technology Team with Debbie Lee, Karin Gravina and Christine Morin. Alan November was the keynote speaker. I'd heard of his work and really looked forward to his presentation. There is real value in having your beliefs challenged and shook up. I appreciated November's underlying message about education and the need to do things differently. He spoke of the Flipped model of learning where students traditional classwork and homework are reversed. I agree that putting computers in every classroom and devices in each child's hand does not increase learning in and of itself. How do we teach? How do we effect change? Unfortunately Mr. November's delivery was so arrogant, cocky and out there that it was hard to hear the valid message underneath. He is a leader in the tech ed field, and he put many folks from small schools at this small conference on the defensive, which isn't a position where people can be open to new ideas. Too bad.