tEchDU: Learn with Tech
The way that we teach children today is largely identical to the way that our grandparents and their parents were taught. The world has changed a lot since then not least because of technological advances, but education has not kept pace. In part, that's because of the slow-moving legislative process.
Today's technology creates challenges to policy-making in education, empowering people to try new education ideas themselves and to pave the way for new types of learning. All of this is being done in a rather agile way - a concept that we are very familiar with at Made by Many ;)
We have been involved in a few edtech projects. It's a rewarding and motivating space to be involved in and it has been interesting to watch as the private sector explores its possibilities. We learned, in our work on Skype in the classroom and School in the Cloud, what amazing co-design partners teachers and students can be. We also came across many other great projects and met people who wanted to do even more experiments in edtech.
In response, we decided to create something that brings all of this awesomeness together, that is local enough for the ecosystem to thrive but significant enough to matter. That’s how tEchDU came about.
On 5th April, we are hosting two amazing companies, Technology Will Save Us and Codasign, at an event that will bring together kids, their parents, and people interested in edtech to play, hack and learn together.
There are so many exciting tools that can help people realise the power of technology in learning, yet it feels like we are struggling to move beyond the innovators and early adopters. We are keen to challenge the traditional concept of technology and to advance edtech dialogue.
We want to help to motivate the people who are already in the space but also to stimulate the curiosity of the majority about the ways in which technology can help us to learn. To do this, we are using playful means to give people that much needed confidence, offering them an opportunity and space for peer support as our way of giving back to the community. What is more exciting and encouraging than seeing kids assemble their own gamer kits, building their own computers, and programming their own games?
tEchDU, is only a drop in the ocean but if we manage to change the perception of children and parents towards the use of technologyin learning, then we have done our job.
Art work created by Ana Aragao.
Continue reading
Designing a School in the Cloud
This is a follow–up to our post about launching School in the Cloud at TED2014, with a focus on the design approach we took.
The platform we built for S...
Granny card avoidance alert
I was talking with Paul recently about bad targeting. More specifically, about how it feels when you are badly targeted by a company. And we came up with ...
Relay: the best app ever?
Great news: there is a new way to waste time, a brand new shiny distraction to help us lose thousands of hours of our lives, hours that we will never, eve...