#ICOT2013 | International Conference on Thinking

No two ways about it. It was a massive week at ICOT2013, not just because I was helping the CORE Education events team roll out this huge event. I was on the media team, and had the privilege of interviewing some of the invited presenters, included Dr. Sharon Friesen, Ewan McIntosh and  …(drumroll)… Dr Edward de Bono. I also presented the first tentative soundings from my Masters research into social networking online as part of teachers’ professional learning – and am grateful to those who attended and helped me kick the tyres on it:-)

Big ideas

I tried to keep track of the ‘big ideas’ emerging through the week. I couldn’t attend many breakouts but I made it to most keynotes – and if I had to produce a piece of ‘thinking knitting’ that reflected what kinds of thinking approaches would best prepare young people for a complex future, these would be the three main strands in the weft and warp:

• Thinking processes and heuristics, in 2013, are firmly focused on helping participants make lateral, creative leaps, based on rich questions to which there is no easy answer. I’m thinking of….
  • Ewan McIntosh’s “Pose the UnGoogleable question“

• De Bono’s exploration of provocative, “interesting” solutions and avoidance of the either/or dichotomy

• Tap into those avenues that have real meaning and purpose for students. Help them pursue their passions, their projects – and if they can de designed to have impact on the community around them, so much the better. I’m thinking of….
  • Hana Olds, the young writer who uses her talents to support community projects
  • Kerry Spackman and Mai Chen, with their focus on social responsibility

• Deliberately focus on making thinking processes visible, spotlighting pathways and working collaboratively to meet transparent goals. I’m thinking of…
  • Pam Hook and SOLO Taxonomy
  • Dispositional development, as described by Prof. David Perkins
  • Ewan McIntosh’s tagging of assessment

• Design learning environments that foster design thinking, rapid prototyping and creativity. I’m thinking of…
  • NZCER’s role-playing workshop on futures-thinking through science fiction and process drama

• Ewan McIntosh and design thinking as part of curriculum design

And all of this doesn’t include the wonderful Gala dinner, celebrating the retirement of Sherry Chrisp (CORE’s amazing events co-ordinator) – and of course, the amazing connections with old and new friends (you know who you are).

Bilbao #ICOT2015 – here I come;-)

If you liked that, you might also like this:

• Shared Google docs from the keynotes in one place