by This week, I will speak at my 29th ISTE Conference (International Society for Technology in Education, previously NECC) in Denver, Colorado. I have made at least one presentation every year since 1987. I signed the charter that created ISTE, organized one of its SIGs, and edited an ISTE journal for a few years. I was a keynote speaker at the final NECC Conference in 2009 before the conference was rebranded as ISTE. Despite my well-publicized concerns about the direction of the organization (see bottom of post), I attend the conference each year because educational computing is my life’s work and I refuse to abandon the field, no matter how tempting.
In the past, I have expressed my concerns over the quality, relevance, and too-often corporate nature of the ISTE keynote speakers. I have demonstrated the flaws and lack of objectivity in the session selection process and lamented the celebration of corporate interests.
These concerns have often been dismissed as sour grapes. My public statements certainly have not been beneficial to my career or my visibility on the conference program. Despite the popularity of my sessions, the 2013 conference organizers put me in a tiny room and turned away hundreds of educators lined up for my presentation.
For this year’s conference, I proposed two presentations. One, Programming: The New Liberal Art — Why and How to Teach It was accepted.
29 other accepted ISTE 2016 sessions cite my work or collaborations with Sylvia Martinez in their proposals.
The following proposal was rejected – obviously irrelevant
Mindstorms at 35: Examining the State of Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas
The most important book ever written about technology and education, Seymour Papert’s “[easyazon_link identifier=”0465046746″ locale=”US” tag=”neweasyazon-20″]Mindstorms[/easyazon_link]” is 35 years old. This session led by Dr. Papert’s longtime colleague will review the book’s big ideas and engage the audience in an evaluation of the current state of education in light of Papert’s work.
Longer Description
[easyazon_image align=”right” height=”160″ identifier=”0465046746″ locale=”US” src=”http://stager.tv/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/516HdDm2C0L.SL160.jpg” tag=”neweasyazon-20″ width=”100″]Nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Papert began calling for 1:1 computing. He invented the first programming language and robotics engineering system for children. In 1970, Papert predicted the maker movement and his entire career was dedicated to creating contexts in which children could encounter and engage with powerful ideas.
[easyazon_link identifier=”0465046746″ locale=”US” tag=”neweasyazon-20″]Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas[/easyazon_link] is arguably the most important book ever written in the field ISTE represents. This presentation will introduce Papert’s ideas to newcomers and ask veterans to candidly evaluate his predictions in light of the current state-of-practice.
The presenter will also share video clips and textual excerpts from recently unearthed and overlooked work by Dr. Papert over five decades.
Objectives
- Review or introduce the powerful ideas contained in Mindstorms
- Introduce a new generation of educators to the powerful ideas of the father of educational technology, Seymour Papert
- Challenge teachers, policy makers, tech directors, and administrators to do more with computational technology in order to amplify the potential of each learner
- Take a good hard look at current practice
- Explore what Papert had to say about 1:1 computing, the Internet, robotics, engineering, game design, school reform, teaching, and learning over half a century
- Introduce constructionism to a new generation
- Honor an intellectual giant never invited to keynote an ISTE or NECC Conference on the 35th anniversary of his seminal book
Session Outline
- Explore what made Mindstorms revolutionary
- Review Papert predictions for what kids might do with computers and how schools would react
- Discover recently unearthed video and texts shining new light on Papert’s work
- Discuss the state of educational technology in light of the challenges Papert left for all of us
Supporting Research
In addition to countless Ph.D. dissertations written about Papert’s work, I would direct you to the following:
- Published works by Seymour Papert
- The Daily Papert
- TEDx Talk – Seymour Papert Inventor of Everything
Past articles about ISTE:
- Leadership is Clarity, Consistency, and Coherence
- The ISTE BYOD Debate
- Ask ISTE a Simple Question
- Refreshing the ISTE Technology Standards
- The ISTE Problem
- Educational Conference or Boat Show?
Gary S. Stager, Ph.D. is a veteran teacher educator, author, speaker, publisher who worked with Dr. Papert for more than 20 years. He was the principal investigator on Papert’s last major institutional research project and is the curator of the repository of Papert documents, The Daily Papert.
His ISTE 2016 session will be held Wednesday, June 29, 8:30–9:30 am in room CCC 110
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.