Theatre of dreams

Photo by Sean MacEntee on Flickr

Old Trafford. The Theatre of Dreams. It's the home of Manchester United - probably the greatest football team in the world. Ever.

Yes, I know - I've probably just alienated a large percentage of readers, and some may never return, but I care not.

I'm very proud to have been a Manchester United fan since 1970, when as a young lad, I first saw them play against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Playing in the team that day were several legends, including George Best, Denis Law and of course, the man who called Old Trafford the 'Theatre of Dreams' - Sir Bobby Charlton.

One of my cousins, Steve Morgan, actually owned Wolves between 2007-2017, but I bet he wished he'd owned Man Utd instead!

I was excited then, to be invited to Old Trafford to speak at the 2018 EdTech Expo, hosted by Salford University. The conference is on midsummer day - 21 June. A click on the conference website will tell you that the themes of the event are close to my own heart:

“The programme will focus on getting industry and education to work together to harness technology and put learning first. The event will explore how technology is used in the classroom, how the latest innovations will shape the future of education and how to use the technology already in place to its full capacity.”

I'm looking forward to speaking on one of my favourite themes - digital literacies and competencies for 21st Century learning. For those who object to my use of the term '21st Century', consider that many schools still teach from a 20th Century curriculum, and need to be reminded that each and every child in school today was born in this century, while every existing teacher was born and educated in the last century. It's an unimportant gulf to bridge when we talk about ways of thinking, and methods of teaching. We are all in this together.

Digital literacies are also an important theme because teachers everywhere need to know exactly what they and their students need to know, to be able to leverage the power and potential of digital technologies. Simply having access to smart mobiles or social media is not enough. Students need to understand what they can and can't do with these tools, how they can optimise their learning and use it to enhance their opportunities. Teachers need to know how technology can support learning and drive it forward, rather than simply being used to replace earlier technology. We all need to know how to harness technology in our everyday lives, especially at work, where we need to be able to work smarter and more competitively.

And there lies one of the greatest problems faced by our present generation of school leavers. Schools and industry don't talk to each other enough. Education and industry rarely communicate effectively. The skill sets demanded by organisations is not always the same thing schools are teaching. There's a thought provoking quote on the conference website:

“90% of new jobs require digital skills, so children need to grow up as more than just digital consumers but practitioners and creators.” – Anne Milton, Skills and Apprenticeship Minister.

Whether or not this is entirely accurate is a moot point. Even if only half the new jobs in the future require digital skills, we must still make digital literacies a priority in schools. We must continue to support development of digital competencies in colleges and universities, so that students can leave formal education as lifelong learners, able to use new technologies to their advantage in any, and every place of work they choose. Finally, schools must listen more to the demands of organisations, and industry must do more to communicate their needs to schools.

These will be my key messages at EdTech Expo 2018 in Manchester.

Theatre of dreams by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.