This brief post will be one of many that will no doubt be written about the powerful ideas shared at the brilliant Ed Tech Summit held at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong over the weekend. I am hoping that the ideas will go on shaping the thinking of the leaders that came along to hear the message. I think that this time there were a few more than usual. We just might be getting somewhere with all of the nagging!

I have to echo the comments coming thick and fast on my twitter client about being back in reality (mine probably more stark than most as I sit here with 25 years of teaching experience, 8 of setting up and running a 1:1 notebook program looking across at a pile of applications for IT leadership positions in Hong Kong that schools have not even bothered to reply to, let alone call me for an interview! To be fair, I have, for family reasons, tried to limit my search to Hong Kong and this is not the most progressive of the Asian cities with regard to 21st Century Learning). Having sat through some great presentations over the weekend, the elephant in the room that seemed clear to cynical old me was that a great many projects and happenings were to do with non-core subjects and elementary or early middle-school kids. Having taught across most levels, I find it easiest to inspire this group with any open-ended, inquiry project based learning. What I did not hear so much of was about systemic change across the whole school.

I think that a lot of us secretly dream of being in schools where all assessment is formative, is “for learning” rather than “of learning” and is shared with parents continuously. Where schools embrace inquiry in the core subjects, especially the maths and sciences and base demonstration of understanding on annotated portfolios rather than making sure that the kids sit the “all important” Cambridge Examinations with their subsequent high costs, rigid curriculum and expensive study guides so that accountability wins out over innovation.

The message I take away from all of these events is that we have to remain positive and resign ourselves to fighting the wars that we can win. I particularly take a lot of inspiration from people like Stephen Heppell on this front. I first met Stephen during my Masters studies back in 1990 when he spoke of his work at Ultralab at the University of East Anglia. He remains as fired up, energetic and optimistic as he was back then. If it can work for Stephen, then there is no reason why the rest of us can’t stay inspired.

I guess we must continue to find things like this TED Talk by Richard St. John: Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes. I often feel that it is the “persist” one that I have been doing for far too long but who knows? There may be light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. In the meantime, things like Twitter and conferences like the one on the weekend and the one that we are putting on in Hong Kong this September are great support mechanisms along the way.

On a personal note, thanks to all who came and introduced themselves and offered encouraging words on the weekend.

Photo: Image_1323.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/92028021@N00/3473591188/