21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada

[XCritonX]

The concept of public education is strategically flawed. This video accidentally admits as much when contrasting the vast progress of privately developed technology with the embarrassing lack of progress in public schools. No vast improvement will happen until we the consumer of education have the choice of where to spend our money. School choice is the right strategy.

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. - Sun Tzu

[planejourney]

Great video! In a world where we can't predict what what will come next, people need to become life long learners - and teachers need to make changes in the classroom to prepare their students for this. You might like to check out our video "The Global Transformation in Education."

[liang8231]

This video is great.

[kopi5896]

think this is a great, provocative video that really gets people talking and opening up discussion on the way that society and the world is headed.

[minami935]

Education definetly has to change to meet with changes in technology, but we need to teach kids moderation otherwise technology will consume them. We need to change the way we teach kids.

[jasperwillis5385]

This video is valuable and informative.

[claircote4416]

This video was created to serve as a discussion generator in New Brunswick - and generate is has. We have received inquiries from all over the world.

[flydiz]

Interesting to note that 21st Century Students understand the language of film so well, that if they had made this film, most would have made a much different presentation, not simply an animated power point presentation of text. But the message is overwhelming regardless! Thank you!

[lilianopapa]

When was the last time you made a video that was STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!!!!?

[SqueakyFloors]

This video reminds us of the changes happening every day. From my first serious computer use of a PDP8 and telex printer in 1975, much has changed in the way I do things. Consign the old to the past as a nostalgic curiosity and look to the future, our students are. As rosamaria2015 says, "Education is about understanding change and (re)orienting it towards better living and a better world for all."

Ross Mannell (teacher)

Australia

[blackvin888]

Very inspiring video. This video has been shared in my country and mostly amazed with its content. thanks for shared it to the world.  facebook: adf.ly/594079/blcvn. twitter: adf.ly/594079/twblcvn

[Yamieguy64]

Interesting, if a bit over-stated. The more that things change...the more that things stay the same!

[CEFCProgram]

Hello, Could you confirm you used Adobe Effects to produce this video? DId you work with a specific marketing agency?

Thank you

[hanboc95]

The thing is, with all this new technology, we are losing our appreciation of natural wonders and simplicity. What's wrong with a good old paper and pencil? I love technology, but I don't think schools should be as heavily tech-oriented as the video suggests. Soon, we may have students who don't even know how to write a nice paragraph with proper spelling (no spell-check!)

And, what's going to happen to our poor eyes once we stare at a screen the entire day? I think I prefer textbooks :)

[ch00bz0rzz]

@hanboc95 well we have to learn to balance everything =p

[roosty24]

Great stuff....As a student-teacher I can really appreciate video's like this, very Ken Robinson......ish

[mariruddy]

I work in the US in education reform at the community college and high school level helping teachers change the way they interact with young people in the classroom. Namely I help them integrate instruction across subject areas (math, English and college success courses) and use project based learning that have real world driving questions. I am super excited to share this video with the program directors, principals and instructors with whom I work. Thanks so much!

[pbkid39]

Education definetly has to change to meet with changes in technology, but we need to teach kids moderation otherwise technology will consume them. We need to change the way we teach kids. They should be evaluated based on creativity, and not their ability to regurgitate information. Every school should have mandatory courses in physical and outdoor education, creative arts, and public relations. The current educational system kills creativity and may even promote obesity

[hanboc95]

@pbkid39 the current educational system does not kill creativity. physical education, arts, civics/ careers (at least in Ontario) are all mandatory credits. in fact, without creativity, in many courses (e.g. geography, history, english, science), you will not gain over a 80%. even when writing essays, a creative touch is needed to ensure uniqueness. above this, schools generally offer a wide variety of extra-curriculars--sports, music, arts, philanthropy.

[nevadosdecachi]

"The top ten jobs today didn't exist in 2004". The actual "Top ten jobs" for Canada in 2010 - Financial Manager, Nurse, Skilled Trades, IT Managers, Pharmacists, Dental Hygienists, HR Manager, Professor, Teacher, Retail Manager. What a Crock!!

[pattersonbss]

Does a version of this video exist in French?

[jameslasallebacolod]

this is really true

[cheezywiener]

Books are available 24/7.

[Temp93]

@cheezywiener Not when you go to a school thats too poor to buy enough textbooks, so you aren't allowed to take them home.

[djpharmboy]

Also...

The purpose of education is the exact opposite of "adjustment" and "relevance". If technology advances so much, and is poised to advance even more, then we'd be better off teaching how to deal with such a dizzyingly changing world, and that would involve more reading and discussion. Language and books are very old technologies, and the best ones for orienting ourselves in a world of technology that mostly disorients, fragments, and over-individualizes us.

[stingrayfever1]

@djpharmboy What is crucial is that each example was relevant to real world. Students were given the opportunity to exercise creativity, innovation, critical thinking, citizenship and global awareness in meaningful ways. The technologies used were enablers only. The learning wasnt tied to any one technology.

[djpharmboy]

I'm distrustful of arguments like the one in this video, as well as their opposite: that of going "back to basics". Both are extremes that, I think, we'd be better off avoiding.

Is it not self-defeating to say that, because technology is developing so rapidly and our world chaning so drastically, we need to technologize our educational experience? Wouldn't relying on technology, given its admitted rate of change, guarantee perpetual obsolescence of equipment?

[stingrayfever1]

@djpharmboy What is missing from the video is the fact that a system based on equipment (technology) would absolutely be self-defeating. What we need, and this isn't clear from the video message, is a structure based on systems. We need an education plan that survuves regardless of technology. That means a system flexible enough to deal with whatever tools are at hand. The examples in the video clearly utilize technology, but what is crucial in these is not the tech.

[2noobmusic]

they showed us this in school today.

[proceedapathy]

Very informative!

[2DoubleJ2]

By the time this happens in my school I'll be out; With a Lower education

I have no idea what I want to do though; whether I want to go to college or community college or just not go

I Kinda wish we had this a while back at our; maybe it would have opened my eyes sooner and maybe I might have found what my talents were and what i wanted to do :S

[vjglucky7]

@2DoubleJ2 You ARE the target for this notion--step back and realize, you haven't missed a thing. The path is in front of you, what you are expected to do is open any door that makes you curious. You won't be interested in everything, but pick pursue a course or compete for a job that includes on-job-training, and these tools are how you'll learn what there is to learn. Key is, they're "only" tools, and it's you that gets to have fun discovering methods, or serving others, that's what a job is.

[rrnewsteam]

As a visual educator, I enjoyed this immensely, appreciating the effects as well as the message. I also yearned to add my own "Did you know?" & "When was the last time . ." to the mix: "Did you know that without the ability to read and write, this message could not be presented as effectively?" "When was the last time you engaged in a stimulating conversation with one or more people, or wrote a love letter or thank you to someone in another country?" Kudos for inspiring us to ponder our future.

[Infosource2008]

I could not agree more with this video's message and good luck to New Brunswick in making this happen.

I've had a number of educators from all over Canada signing up for the EdTech UNconference that I'm Chairing - it is obvious to me that Canadians understand the power of a 21st Century Education, since many are even taking their professional development into their own hands.

In the spirit of of the video - I'm going to share it through my Twitter! All the best! - Kimberly, @EdTechUNcon

[UCGSimHub]

Awesome video from a school district about change in education.

[bessie513]

This is excellent!

[zafzen]

I guess the real challenge is the way we approach the way teachers teach.. who are schooled in the old chalk + talk method. we are developing a solution for teachers in India..

[peacemakerwithsoul]

really cool video! :)

Please watch my one video contest

Thank you!

[infoliteracy1]

In my search for a comprehensive visioning for our Information Literacy program - This video hits it in a positive active way. Thanks. I just joined youtube, just so I could try to make contact. Is it ok to use this video at an administrative meeting in our school district? It is so much better than what I could create right now!

[21stCenturyNB]

@infoliteracy1 By all means! This video was created to serve as a discussion generator in New Brunswick - and generate is has. We have received inquiries from all over the world. Feel free to use it in whatever way that you find helpful. If you wish to contact me directly, my email is william.kierstead@gnb.ca

[gabibowditch]

@21stCenturyNB

Thanks for producing this fast paced, thought provoking video!

[MLESmovies]

@21stCenturyNB Thanks for a terrific, thought-provoking video. I just shared it at a faculty meeting and feedback was that they all want to see it again! Now we need to share it with our school board to get them to see the light.

[21stCenturyNB]

@MLESmovies Thanks for the feedback! What jurisdiction are you from?

[MLESmovies]

@21stCenturyNB New Hampshire -- a public elementary school PS through 4th grade

[tinkeramblin]

Really, what's so great about it? Isn't the thought of the spectacular rate of societal change around technology - and the widening gap caused by accelerating consumption of data (and e-goods) - cause for some deep pondering?

The eternal positivism around this is stunning.

Why can't we feel good about doing more with less? And do public engagement that's less glitter/hype and more about caring? Check the pamphlet put out by NB ED. Is it election time?

Where's my whiteout?

[jrwalker1969]

Really like the video. My question: Does the Dep't of Education really have what it takes to start making this happen? When dealing with them at different levels (personally and professionally), they also seem to get stuck in the bureaucracy of things! They are the most "by the book" person I know! I gave my name 2 years ago to be a literacy volunteer in schools and was promising to get my professional colleagues involved in their new program. I receive one call back and since... nothing!

[MCHomeForever]

Well done! My only question is how long it will take to get in place, and what that means for kids already in the school system????

[benrschmidt]

Great video... looking forward to OutReach productions doing my twitter/youtube/biz cards!!

[bmgsrugby]

An inspirational clip; thank you. Many of us are aspiring to move multiliteracies continually forward in our own classrooms and with our own skill bases also, here DownUnder! Would love to have the knowledge to be able to put clips like this together for my own classroom.

[MaikeruDiron]

This is a truly amazing video.

Props to the creator, this is some seriously amazing work.

[fuzzie47]

they tried this... i got a laptop in grade 7 and the program was removed 2 years later(in Fredericton)

[JuggaloBlaster]

I am from NB and we rarely use 21st Century Edu.

[fgmoncton]

I agree that computer literacy is very important (I make my living developing software for schools) but not at the expense of the basics skills. In order to be understood by people you are communicating with, to understand what others have to say, to promote your projects, or just to be taken seriously, you need to know how to read, write and speak well. No computer can do this for you. NB has one of the lowest literacy rates in Canada and something must be done to fix it.

[fgmoncton]

I wonder how all this will be achievable when half of New-Brunswick youth is coming out of the school system technically illiterate and a large other portion of the other half can't write properly or read complex documents...To access knowledge or to produce and sell innovative ideas or work requires good writing and reading skills, including a good mastery of the 'old boring stuff' such as grammar, syntax, vocabulary, etc...

Does the government thinks that software will take care of that too?

[7JFS7]

@fgmoncton

Is that not evidence that the current system is flawed and that an overhaul of this magnitude is necessary.

[fgmoncton]

Hello, an overhaul is necessary but not the one that is proposed in this video. What is badly needed is a back to the basics (ie: teaching kids how to write, read and count properly). Right now, many nice kids are having problem at school or finding proper jobs because they haven't been taught how to write, count or read properly...This should be fixed before anything else...In 10 years, the computer we are using today will be obsolete, but knowing how to write, read and count will not.

[7JFS7]

@fgmoncton

We live in a technologically advancing first world country. A reversion to basics will just put us further out alignment with the rest of the world - the same world we want our children to flourish in. Competitive businesses, governments, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, supermarkets, and universities (just to mention a few) all have computer networking as the backbone of their institutions.

[7JFS7]

@fgmoncton

As for the computer being obselete in ten years you may be refering to moore's law which states that while computing power will double every 18-20 months it will eventually come to a halt when we run out of space to write on silicon chips. We may have a slow down in advances for a while when we reach this point, but quantum computers may be right behind. Computers are already the foundation of our societies today.

[AldousHuxley1]

It's nice to dream.

[PatSepton]

Great piece of work.

[0kt0ber7]

2/2...

The company I work for sends hundreds of immigrants to N-B every year

and I am proud to know that they will receive an education

''a la fine pointe de la technologie''.

''Education, more than ever, must continue being a tool for personal and social transformation rather than adaptation'' rosamaria 2015...That is absolutely true, but this video is only talking about the tools and the improvements in our education system to achive just that!

Congrats to all!

[0kt0ber7]

When I finished watching this video two things went threw my mind:

1- Who created and animated this video? Who ever you are, what a great job.

I love how you stepped away from the usual conservative way to approach education and how you adapted it to the real world.

2- Like any other spheres that govern our society, education has to stay up to date with our, fairly new-born, techno-world. I think this video represents perfectly New-Brunswick as the progressive canadian province that it is.

[rosamaria2015]

"Education is about adapting to a changing world" (?) No. Education is about understanding change and (re)orienting it towards better living and a better world for all. The " rapidly changing world" we are experiencing is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, the North and the South, the included and the not included. Education, more than ever, must continue being a tool for personal and social transformation rather than adaptation.

[uilregit]

@rosamaria2015 which proves the subtext of this video

education has always been a tool to bend kids in the way the government wants

being a kid under the public education system, i disagree with this completely

what we don't NEED is to fill a gap that wouldn't exist after 60 years (death) while creating that exact same gap

what we NEED is to create a new spectrum in which we can flourish properly and not get stuck in the same cycle that came into being during the industrial revolution

[0011000100110011ish]

@rosamaria2015 I think that because they did change their flag pole to the means of this "education" thingy, they actually should consider this brave cosmic jive called jeopardy, because this is absolutely no thing of importance and she would have done much better back in the days when steering wheels were still cool, because that's what it's all about, after that you will have to look out for accidentally challenging this before the aliens this comment will have exactly the characters it takes.

[2jcormier]

Excellent piece of work! Dynamic, modern and pertinent! Good job MA! :)

[MsStalky]

Wow! Way to go NB, catching up with the times..... of course this process will take time, but there are some great ideas in there. 

Outreach prod - good job on the video...so up to date with the graphics and animation!

[sk659]

Great video....Wow. Not only creative but the animation is bang on!

[sk659]

I think this is a great, provocative video that really gets people talking and opening up discussion on the way that society and the world is headed. AND, whether you agree or disagree with the message of the video, which is strictly a personal opinion, there's no question that the graphic designer on the project really created high quality work. Kudos!

[salmo66]

Excellent presentation.

Too bad about the edu-saurs complaining about the reality of today.

[stoneybrook99]

I like it.

[ChaosmanOne]

I agree with everything Whitecrow said. I was going to go off on my own tirade, but he said most of it anyway. This isn't the future.

[desideratagrace]

Thank you for making this public :)

[whitecrow667]

I have quite a few problems with this concept. The main one being whoever made this needs to have their video editing software removed from their computer.

if you're required to give yourself, then you're not giving yourself, you'd be doing what you're told. So now we're starting with grade school kids being required to serve the community, how long before they have to "give themselves" to the military for 1-3 years in order to graduate?

[whitecrow667]

@whitecrow667

Desks and classrooms obsolete? So the schools will be gutted and made "open concept learning lofts"? Fine and dandy till Billy and Mary get to the real world and end up in cubicle farms and can't handle being so "restricted" by a desk.

so many more things to pick apart...

[whitecrow667]

@whitecrow667

And also, teachers need to know the technologies at least as well as they expect the kids to know it. I'd say there are probably about 25% of teachers in NB that are tech oriented, and of the rest, 25% hate tech and will never want to use/teach it, and the other 50% are very "meh" about it, only learning the bare minimum requried and leaving kids with either unanswered or worse yet wrongly answered questions.

[rextonstacy]

Okay Bill, I love it. (But you know at our school we have lots of this in place already.) Can't wait to see what the future will bring to my class.

[darthforde]

We can't get anywhere without a plan, and this is an example of being ahead of the curve. I want to see a video of one of these classrooms in action now!

[Moineaucage]

I'm glad to ear about these future change. I would have like to have them when I was still in school.

C.Bouchard

Student University of Moncton

Bac. Informatique Appliquée régime Coop

[nashwaakjock]

As usual, a great positive spin. The true problem is NB politicians and policy makers couldn't organize a bake sale.

[CastleIsland]

Wow! This is extremely well done.

[reggie1540]

Great video! Great message! We're heading in the right direction.

R.Cyr

District 15

L.E.Reinsborough School

[sam9bo9]

Awesome job Bill and crew. Keeping NB in the forefront.

[outreachproductionsW]

It was our good pleasure to produce this video ... yes we're bragging lol. Check out our channel outreachproductionsW to see some more of our stuff ;-) Thanks for the opportunity!!

[colinjagoe]

Great work. If we can now walk the talk, I'll move back home to NB and work with you! :-) Ex-pats are always looking for an in. I'll be sharing this video widely as a positive example of how to push thinking forward.

[nashwaakjock]

@colinjagoe Don't quit your real job to come back to NB.

[JayColpitts]

Great Job - Guys - Proud to cal NB Home and to be part of this great movement.

[LVLustre]

Wow! Just shared this with the Nova Scotia DoE. It will be interesting to see the response. Thanks so much for this! Like Clarke, this makes me hopeful!

[carmtech]

Carm is impressed!

[carmtech]

Carm is impressed!

[Clarke]

Awesome. This kind of innovative thinking makes me hopeful.

[djgoliath]

Well Done!

[xt66]

Very impressed with this video and its message.

[21stCenturyNB]

Thanks Zal - Appreciate your support

[Maximxvmax]

Zal likes this a lot!