Sekolah Bogor Raya

Microsoft’s 2008 School of the Future World Summit recently brought together some 250 educators from 31 countries to discuss the future of education. The Powerpoint presentations are online and can be downloaded.

One clear trend is the move towards online course delivery. According to one participant, in 15 years about 50% of all courses will be delivered online. Even now, at the Florida Virtual High School, kids can take their entire high school curriculum without ever meeting a teacher face to face. And this school system is popular, with over 20,000 kids on their waiting list to take classes.

What are we doing to prepare our students for this technology-rich future? First, is our 1 : 1 laptop program in the SMP and SMA. We follow the ‘Starbucks model’, where we provide the connectivity and bandwidth and the students bring their own laptops. I would like to see this program extended down to grade 6 next year and ultimately to grade 5. Second, our ICT people teach various aspects of technology integrated into the UOI for the PYP years. And third is our staff professional development strategy emphasizing acquisition and classroom employment of technology, which admittedly has gotten off to a slow start this semester at least in the PYP grades due to intensive preparations for our recent PYP authorization visit in January.

The video shows a grade 2 Sekolah Bogor Raya student explaining technical aspects of his Comic Life project.
watch?v=1wPEox_LonM

We are of course well aware of trends and new technology developments. One of the best sources of such information is the K – 12 edition of the Horizon Report. This report describes emerging technologies considered likely to have a large impact on education in one of three timeframes, within the next year, within two to three years and within four to five years. The report names collaborative environments and online communication tools for adoption of one year or less, mobiles and cloud computing for adoption in two to three years and smart objects and the personal web for adoption in four to five years.

Several of the ppt/pptx files in the School of the Future World Summit are notable. The slide set on Design for the Creative Age, by Fielding, shows some beautiful examples of school design, including Sinarmas World Academy in Jakarta.

Homo zappiens: Learning Strategies of a New Generation is an excellent review of digital natives, as is Martin Bean’s presentation What Technology Makes Possible. All of these presentations can be accessed through the same webpage.