KMDI presents "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology" a talk by Allan Collins, Northwestern University
Aadila
Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology
Lecture, discussion and book signing. Refreshments provided.
Date: Thursday February 11th, 2010
Time: 3:30 – 5:30 pm
Place: Bahen Centre for IT, Room 7256 (Webcast available)
40 St. George Street, U of T St. George Campus
Abstract:
All around us people are learning with the aid of new technologies:
children are playing complex video games, workers are taking online
courses to get an advanced degree, students are taking courses at
commercial learning centers to prepare for tests, adults are
consulting Wikipedia, etc. New technologies create learning
opportunities that challenge traditional schools and colleges. These
new learning niches enable people of all ages to pursue learning on
their own terms. People around the world are taking their education
out of school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces,
where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to
learn, and how they want to learn.
The developments described above are changing how people think about
education. This rethinking will take many years to fully penetrate our
understanding of the world and the society around us. We are beginning
to rethink the nature of learning, motivation, and what is important
to learn. These changes demand a new kind of educational leadership
and changing roles for government. New leaders will need to understand
the affordances of the new technologies, and have a vision for
education that will bring the new resources to everyone.
Allan Collins is Professor Emeritus of Education and Social Policy at
Northwestern University. He is a member of the National Academy of
Education, and a fellow of the American Association for Artificial
Intelligence, the Cognitive Science Society, the American Educational
Research Association, and the American Association for the Advancement
of Science. He served as a founding editor of the journal Cognitive
Science and as first chair of the Cognitive Science Society. He has
studied teaching and learning for over 30 years, and written
extensively on related topics. He is best known in psychology for his
work on how people answer questions, in artificial intelligence for
his work on reasoning and intelligent tutoring systems, and in
education for his work on situated learning, inquiry teaching, design
research, and cognitive apprenticeship. From 1991 to 1994 he was Co-
Director of the US Department of Education’s Center for Technology in
Education.
For more information please feel free to visit our website at
http://www.kmdi.utoronto.ca.