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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Symposium for 21 Century Christian Educators


Asia Pacific Hall - Morris J Wosk Centre For D...
Asia Pacific Hall - Morris J Wosk Centre For Dialogue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The last few days at the Christian Educators' Symposium held at the beautiful Wosk Centre at SFU were incredible, inspirational and brain boggling times as Christian educators, met from around the world to share their thoughts on education in 2025.  How would Kindergarten students today, be ready for 2025? The Great Commission mandate of this symposium: to ‘make disciples of the nations,’ was the topic on the table.

 As we contemplated and prepared to share our thoughts, I was reminded of what an honor it was to sit at the table with so many illustrious and innovative leaders.  To listen to what others are doing in the way of missions outreach, biblical balance, and technical accolades encouraged us all to engage and share in the cultural changes which are impacting our students.  Steve Harris shared on his innovative school SCIL in Sydney Australia, along with virtual worlds and redefined learning spaces.  Mark Beadle Director of  Sevenstar and Dr Mosbacker shared on some of the latest and greatest tools in education and how we should be thinking about our student's changing needs.  The keynote speaker Dr Van Den Ark had us questioning our roles as online educators, with principles from his book Getting Smart.

But the main intent of the conference was to draw up a manifesto in three years, which will outline the impacts and influences that Christian educators can make in our global environment. Our visionary leader Greg Bitgood shared the process for devising the manifesto over the next year. 

To summarize our thoughts here is the Storify component (shared by Rita on Twitter:) of our last 3 days.  Ahh.. the beauty of Twitter and Storify which captured the heart of the conference, personal networking, and the beauty of social media used to benefit the kingdom of God. Making new friends from far off lands,  and then connecting on Twitter is the BEST.  Thank you God for a wonderful conference and time to share the Lord's working in our schools.

Blessings and inspirations to you as you prepare your youngsters for the future! How do you think education will change by 2025?  What will change and what will stay the same?  Textbooks, paper, writing, teaching?  Have we really emerged from the industrialized version of education yet?



This video was shared at the end of the conference by ACSI NEXUS.  Goosebumps!!
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2 comments:

  1. Hi Pippa! Thanks for your thoughts here - always nice to hear another person's take on what went on via face-to-face and online. I am really glad that there was a resounding voice speaking to the need for digital/media literacy & synthesis. I know these two are right up your alley - you are such a great advocate for literacy and do a great work in highlighting many new 21st century skills that our students and educators need to succeed. Keep up the great work! It is a pleasure to work along-side you.

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  2. Ah shucks thanks Paul! I love doing what I do and when work becomes part of your passion it is also your mission:) Thank you for your support and leadership in our learning commons! I just love our LC team!

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