Ted McCain
Educational Futurist and Technology Guru
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Ted McCain
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Keynote Overview
"My focus is not just on technology - it is on the underlying instructional approach. In my view, the real issue in schools today is the 20th century mindset of the vast majority of teachers. So when they go to use technology, they graft it onto an old view of what instruction looks like, what learning looks like, and what evaluation looks like. Most teachers are stuck in what I call the horseless buggy stage of implementation of technology - they have taken the new technology and limited its use by trying to make it fit into an old mindset for instruction. Of course I use technology in my classes - I run possibly the only Digital Art Academy in a high school in North America. But my approach does not focus on the tools, it focuses on the task and how teachers and students can take on different roles in the classroom that will equip them with 21st century skills. And my presentations stress that we must insist that students use technology as an integral part of their schoolwork. However, often teachers tell me that they can't teach 21st century skills because the school won't give them technology. I disagree. Technology is often the best tool to use to accomplish a task and students must be given practice in using it in school, but my instructional approach can be implemented in any classroom so that students can begin getting the skills they will need for success in the future regardless of whether there is technology in the room or not."