21st CEO 1st Online Conference “Toward the Future of Learning” in 2020 (2)

Following the keynote, three guests introduced their new projects. The first was Mr. Alex Dutson, who participated from his home in the UK.

  

Mr. Dutson is the author of Thinking Experiments and a leader in teaching Philosophy. He was asked to participate in the conference this time to share his thoughts. "Philosophy" is a concept that infiltrates the three pillars: C1 English, PBL, and ICT. All of which are promoted by our organization. Philosophy will also ultimately become one of those pillars itself.

 

To date, the 21st Century Education Organization has promoted the use of ICT at member schools through accreditation. Under this requirement, the schools of the 21st Century Education Organization were the first to respond to online learning, because all students had tablet terminals and PCs, and teachers were ready to make effective use of them. At present, it can be said that our member schools maintain their superiority in ICT and online learning. However, technology is continually advancing. The advantage of using such tools will soon become obsolete, as it becomes easier for schools to implement them.

So what should we do with ICT tools? It’s the power of questioning that enables us to find a guideline for an unpredictable future, and it’s the power of dialogue that creates wisdom while collaborating with others. Philosophy classes foster such power. Mr. Dutson's Philosophy lessons are not only for returnees who make full use of their ability to think creatively in English, but also for students who want to develop their creative thinking ability, as well as for teachers who practice PBL.

Mr. Kohei Kuboyama is an engineer in graduate school at UCLA. He has put together a team of engineers, alongside a friend at the University of Tokyo. Together, they’ve built a unique system for searching online video content. With the spread of 5G, the next-generation communication system, the demand for video and online classes will continue to increase. It was suggested as well, that the 21st CEO promotes the thinking skills and that the video database corresponds to lesson activities, as it will be a great help to teachers.

Erin Batty is the administrator of the 21st century learning community "GLICC", and also a teacher of English studies for university students overseas. Ms. Batty introduced her proposal to conduct research that will be a helpful addition to Mr. Kuboyama's database, and which provides information to teachers at member schools. The purpose is to organize learning content already available online into categories, and share the information in the 21st CEO forum.

 

After the proposals from our three guests, we were divided into six subcommittees, and each school's teachers had discussions and dialogues on each theme.

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