Larry+Rosenstock

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It may have been the end of a long day, or as David Price put it, “nearly beer o’clock”, but the audience still came out in full force to see Price and Larry Rosenstock deliver EduTECH's closing keynote titled, Open schools for globally-connected learning.

As an author, learning futurist and senior associate at the Innovation Unit in the UK, Price has a wealth of knowledge to share about exactly where he sees schools headed in the future. Using the technology company Kodak as his lead example, Price explores why it is that companies refuse to change and adapt with technology, even if it is to their own detriment. Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Through his work with these companies, Price says he regularly sees CEOs who are incredibly worried about having their own “Kodak moment”, and who are constantly looking out for danger. 

“We’re approaching a Kodak moment in compulsory schooling,” he tells the EduTECH 2015 audience. “The challenge is enormous." According to Price, school leaders are constantly looking for ways to improve and better lead their school into the future. “Autonomy is the new mantra, and in a sense, it’s a lot better than the old mantra of ‘do more, work harder’,” he shares. To prepare students for what could be quite a turbulent future, particularly as rates of youth unemployment rise, Price says it’s never been more important for educators to think beyond the journey of now. “Think, how can I change my classroom practice to make these kids the social entrepreneurs of the future?” he says. Price also shares with EduTECH some current research regarding the automation of jobs, citing estimations that half of the jobs around the world will be automated in the next two decades. “You know how we have climate change deniers? I think we have education change deniers,” Price says. “We need courage to think about long-term interests of these kids.” From there, Price throws to his friend Rosenstock, the CEO of High Tech High. High Tech High is an innovative school development organisation based in Califorinia in the United States. It includes a network of 13 charter schools, (five high schools, four middle schools, and four elementary schools) at three locations. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,'Palatino Linotype',Times,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">At High Tech High, there are no rules, and Rosenstock says the students there are thriving. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,'Palatino Linotype',Times,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">Using promotional videos to explain exactly how the programs work, Rosenstock takes EduTECH 2015 on a journey of how the school was established, how students were chosen to be involved, and how the teachers there are preparing the students for the world that awaits them after high school. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,'Palatino Linotype',Times,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">It was a fantastic end to what was a brilliant first day at EduTECH in Brisbane.