1	Partners in Learning and the Developing World Eduardo O C Chaves Head of the UNESCO Chair of Education and Human Development, Ayrton Senna Foundation, São Paulo, Brazil Professor of Education, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil Member of the International Advisory Board of Microsoft’s Partners in Learning
2	School Quality and Innovation As the quality of a given school or school system goes down … … the degree of radical innovation that is acceptable in it goes up! As the quality of a given school or school system goes up … … the degree of radical innovation that is acceptable in it goes down! (Nicholas Negroponte, 2004)
3	Uses of Technology in Schools To support what is being done (Conservation) To supplement what is being done (Reform) To subvert what is being done (Revolution) (George Thomas Scharffenberger, 2004)
4	Means and Ends Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem to characterize our age (Albert Einstein, n/d)
5	Putting it all Together … Countries with good school systems may be less innovative in their use of technology in schools than countries with very bad school systems Those countries seem to take it for granted that technology is merely a means and do not see that present technology forces us to question the established views regarding the ends of education and schooling
6	In Latin America … … We tend to be more revolutionary in our approach to technology in education We believe that, as technology is brought into schools, we need to rethink education and schooling … … Since technology is changing, in very important aspects, the larger environment in which education and schooling take place…
7	Content Information is now easily available, at our fingertips, to be acquired as needed Knowledge (differently from information) is now understood as something to be built or constructed by each person So information need not, and knowledge cannot, be transmitted, transferred, delivered
8	Time and Space One can now learn anytime, throughout one’s entire life, whenever one needs it One can now learn anywhere, wherever one has access to the Internet So, learning need not, and perhaps even should not, be concentrated in a given period of life (school age) and in a particular place (the school)
9	Classes, Classrooms, Schools If the preceding makes sense, it is no longer evident why we should have classes and classrooms, and perhaps not even schools (times and places dedicated only to learning) The “School of the Future” must not be a reformed version of the present school, but a school we create from scratch to meet the needs of 21^st century students – otherwise the school may not have a future
10	Ends and Means If you don’t know where you are going, then any road will be as good as the other one … So the sensible reply to the question “What do we do now?” is: we look for a new vision, a new model of education, learning and schooling that can give us direction
11	Human Development Differently from other animal species, human beings at birth seem to be unfinished: they are totally incompetent and dependent But they are born with an incredible capacity to learn Because of the open-end nature of their genetic code, human beings can, from a given time on, choose their own life project
12	Education Education is the process invented by the human race to transform incompetence into competence, dependence into autonomy, potential into reality, dreams into life projects, life projects into – well, lives ! That is why some people say that there must be a connection between our cognitive processes (learning) and our organic processes (living), between education and life
13	Life projects and values One does not choose or define a life project without values Values are entities (material or spiritual, concrete or abstract) that we are willing to fight in order to gain or maintain Values provide us with criteria for choosing, making decisions, and acting
14	Education, teaching and learning Education has no essential tie with teaching, but it is not conceivable without learning Education and learning are basically the same thing seen from different perspectives (education looks at the thing more from the outside, learning more from the inside) Our education, after a certain age, is our own responsibility (this is what protagonism is) – but, fortunately, we do not do it alone . . .
15	Paulo Freire “No one educates any one else. Nor do we educate ourselves. We educate one another, in communion, in the context of living in this world”
16	Learning “To learn is to become capable of doing that which we were not able to do before” (Peter Senge) Typically, we do not learn, in this sense, by merely assimilating information, or by being told, or even by being shown: we learn by actively doing Besides active, learning is interactive or, as Paulo Freire suggests, collabora(c)tive !
17	Learning, Abilities & Competences The product of learning is a skill, an ability, a competence (mental or physical) Learning typically results in “knowing how” – what we in English call “learning that” is mere acquisition of information Knowing how is not equivalent to being “mentally obese” (Rubem Alves) “La tête bien faite” x “la tête pleine” (Molière)
18	Schools Children are naturally curious, have a natural inclination to learn Before they come to school, and when they are out of school, they learn all the time (they don’t need to learn how to learn – much less to be taught to how to learn) Schools should be environments designed to be even richer in learning opportunities than the natural habitat of children
19	Curricula Each human being is unique, has a unique combination of interests, talents, energy, ambition, patience, persistence, resilience... A school should have very broad and flexible curricular arrangements And the curricula would include diverse sets of competences children should construct or acquire -- rather than bodies of information to be assimilated by everyone
20	And information? Information becomes necessary in the context of things we want to learn Information is to be acquired when needed, not to be received, unsolicited, wholesale Information is to be acquired on the job, in the course of hands-on projects, and as a rule it is sought “just in time” and wanted “just enough” -- unless one’s life project is to be a TV trivia player
21	And what about teachers? Teachers, well – shouldn’t be teaching... (unless asked to do so by the students!) Teachers should orient, advise, support, facilitate, instigate, ask questions (rather than give answers), open horizons, gently provoke, give incentive, be coaches, mentors and role models ... These roles for teachers are more important than their role as information dispensers !
22	Teachers Above all, teachers should be able to look at children and see, not only what a child is now, but what that child can become, if given adequate conditions and support Teachers are shepherds of dreams (life projects) and of learning – of student-centered learning
23	Student-centered Learning is … Built into life (related to one’s life project) Oriented to competence & autonomy Centered on problem-solving (project-based) Driven by demand Active, hands-on Collaborative
24	And technology? Technology, in its most general sense, is anything human beings invent to make life easier or more plesant The technologies we create to make life easier we call tools The technologies we create to make life more pleasant we call toys And some technologies, especially books and computers, are both: tools and toys
25	Teachers and technology Teachers usually have a love relationship with at least one technology: books They will only use computers effectively in their job when they understand that and how computers can also be fun, and develop with computers a similar love relationship . . . Children, the techno-natives, know that . . . In this they should be our masters !
26	Thank you!