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Seven Things We Learned at SxSWedu

A photo posted by @makematichq on Mar 9, 2016 at 1:59pm PST


Last week we had the pleasure of presenting a session at SxSWedu in Austin. If you haven't encountered SxSWedu yet, it's a 4-day conference-slash-festival focused on innovation in education.

As a spin-off from the much larger SxSW Interactive / Music / Film festival there's an obvious technology slant to proceedings. So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that there was a lot of maker hardware, online learning platforms and educational gaming on show. Lots of it. So much in fact that one thing became really clear.

A lot of what's innovative in education right now, was not built for education to begin with.

MakerBot ran a session on maker tools facilitating an entrepreneurial mindset; Minecraft was showcased as an education tool; VR, AR and 360 video demos abounded and YouTube educators talked about viral content. None of these technologies were developed explicitly for education but they're finding a home there.

So what can we take from this?

  1. We don't yet have the Teacher's Edition
    New tools are great, but how they get used in the classroom setting is still a work in progress. There is a huge amount to do both in terms of professional development for educators and developing content. Without these things we are overly reliant on a small number of early-adopter educators. They should be celebrated - but without the "Teacher's Edition" (lesson plans, curriculum maps, worksheets, tutorials etc...) we will struggle to move beyond these superstars. This is an easy fix.
  2. Good educators are seeking creative tools
    In most cases, these kinds of tools are finding their way into schools through individual teachers with a gut instinct about their potential. This is encouraging a second generation of similar tools which have been crafted with education in mind - Kano, LittleBits, SAM Labs. Both are being driven by a desire to teach new skills and an effort to put the fun and engagement (that tools like gaming can offer) to use.
  3. Formal education isn't the only kind
    When we talk education our minds frequently go straight to schools. But people learn in lots of different environments, both formal and informal. The jury is still out as to whether these new tools will find their best education use inside the classroom, in the home or somewhere else altogether.
  4. "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."
    Access is a problem. Not every school can afford these tools. Mass adoption will require some combination of free/cheaper alternatives, open-source options, increased school budgets, corporate sponsorship etc etc etc. It's a problem that compounds diversity issues in many industries. This should be a problem everyone is focused on.
  5. We have to avoid the tendency to "curriculumise" cool tools
    We run a risk when we try too hard to map the use of tools to existing, standardised curriculum. Games-based learning shouldn't loose the game. Maker technologies need to leave room for creativity. Coding in the classroom needs to focus on making new things. It's understandable that we aim to connect new tech to what we already need to teach (try finding space and budget for new subjects) but where these tools work, they work because they are engaging. We can't lose that.
  6. It links to Project-based Learning
    The best examples we had creative tools playing a role inside a wider project-based learning (PBL) activity. PBL lends itself to all sorts of "21st century skills", portfolio development and more relevant work-like experiences. All good stuff in our book.
  7. The structures aren't there yet
    It was really exciting to see so many innovative educators and companies, truly passionate about using new tools to help young people learn and flex their creativity. But the frustrations were clear. A lot of time was spent talking about barriers - barriers to procurement, budget concerns, CPD issues, even seemingly simple things like getting time in a computer lab for non-computer classes.


Based on SxSWedu at least, we're not struggling for ideas - and they're coming from media, tech and the arts. And that's a large part of the problem; because these ideas and tools coming from the outside in, the structures aren't there to support them yet.

There's little doubt that given sufficient time, these barriers will get addressed from inside formal education. Unfortunately that will take more time than it should, which is fundamentally unfair to kids going to school tomorrow morning.

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