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PyCon: Keynote: Adele Goldberg

  • One Laptop Per Child is going to change the world.
  • The US schooling system is in crisis.
  • The Internet is very free, but schools are very rigid.
  • Schools aren't succeeding.
  • She mentioned The Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) at Stanford University
  • Social interaction has a positive impact on eLearning.
  • "Teaching to the test" is destroying education.
  • nickjr.com is amazingly educational.
  • Constructivist teaching is great, but it's hard.
  • Programming is one of the most beneficial eLearning activities.
  • Not enough time is given in schools to eLearning; it doesn't matter because they're too constrictive anyway.
  • Let kids learn at their own pace.
  • Inquiry-based, project-based, group-based learning is good.
  • Lecture-oriented classrooms are bad.
  • The best learning is the type kids do when they aren't in school.
Adele was very passionate, but she didn't elicit the same passionate response that Ivan Krstic did in his One Laptop Per Child talk. I felt like she was saying, "I'm working hard to change the world, why aren't you?" instead of, "We're going to change the world, and you can help!" However, since I have children of my own, I hope she continues to forge ahead and that she meets with success.
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Comments

Lee Capps said…
Yours is the first weblog entry on Goldberg's keynote that gets it right. Perhaps many people were too busy checking their email to follow her evidence-heavy and nuanced argument.

Or maybe people were so put off by her seemingly negative initial thesis (which of course was meant to be a trope, a turning) that they just didn't listen to the rest.

Anyway, thanks for providing some evidence that I may not be losing my mind. You heard the same speech I did.
9:01 PM
jjinux said…
Thanks for the positive feedback ;)
3:19 PM
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