Welcome to this Crazy World

Figure 1. Me and My Daughter April 4, 2019

            As I write this blog after welcoming my new baby girl into this world, it is hard not to write about these experiences. I can’t help but wonder what role will technology play in her life. One hundred years from now, thanks to medical technology, will she be a thriving centenarian? How will technology impact the life she lives, how she lives, the work she does, the family and community she creates? How will technology affect her education? Most importantly how can I possibly prepare her for this constantly changing, advancing, and new world? I can’t wait to watch her grow and find her own way. The readings this week have me very optimistic about her and her brothers future, their place in it, and their education. 

I am optimistic that if given the right opportunities, children of today will have diverse perspectives, unheard of creative abilities, and resilience when using technology. Too often we think of these skills that they are developing as 21st Century skills: “engaged thinkers and ethical citizens with an entrepreneurial spirit” (Alberta Education, 2011, p. 1). Yet I strongly believe that there is more to it than the skills that define their working future.

Students receiving a modern progressive education will have teachers that help build tacit knowledge through experience and experimentation, that happens through the body, involving all the senses, a knowledge that is absorbed (Thomas & Brown, 2011). As these students take the skills that they learn, from educational practices such as inquiry-based (Thomas & Brown, 2011) or technologically based learning suggested by Koehler and Mishra (2009) as technology, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK), they will bring this information beyond the walls of schools and into their everyday life. Ito et al. (2010) go into more detail stating: 

     “…new media engagement operates as a site of training and preparatory work as well as how it becomes a vehicle for new forms of volunteerism, non-market labour, and new media ventures. The effort is to capture those new media activities characterized by a productive or seriousness of purpose, where play, socializing and messing around begin to shade into what youth consider “work,” “real responsibility,” and economic gain" (p. 296). 

Also, as our world changes and technology changes, many people will become less tied to who they are based on a profession or job, but as a person who is skilled in multiple aspects of their lives. People will no longer be working towards becoming 21st-century learners, they will become polymaths. Although a polymath is an older term it seems to fit, polymaths, as defined by Ahmed (2019) are “humans of exceptional versatility, who excel in multiple, seemingly unrelated fields…or put differently, polymaths are multidimensional minds that pursue optimal performance and self-actualization in its most complete, rounded sense” (p. 2). These multi-talented individuals will be the innovators and creative individuals who impact and have a hand in changing the world.

My work as a father then is to give my kids diverse experiences, that allow them to experience the world in different ways and understand the larger context of the world. My hope is that these diverse experiences, perspectives and learning opportunities will afford them the opportunity to become polymaths in their own way.

Figure 2. Me and my three kids, April 4, 2019.

References

Ahmed, Waqas (2019). The PolyMath: Unlocking the Power of Human Versatility. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=5630238

Alberta Education (2011). Framework for Student Learning. Retrieved From https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/4c47d713-d1fc-4c94-bc97-08998d93d3ad/resource/58e18175-5681-4543-b617-c8efe5b7b0e9/download/5365951-2011-framework-student-learning.pdf

Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge TPACK)? Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, 9(1), 60-70. https://www.citejournal.org/volume-9/issue-1-09/general/what-is-technological-pedagogicalcontentknowledge/

Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Cody, R., Stephenson, B. H., Horst, H. A., ... & Perkel, D. (2009). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. MIT press.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Seattle, WA: Create Space.