Elliot Soloway University of Michigan United States

Brief Bio
Elliot Soloway, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Dept of CSE, College of Engineering, School of Education and School of Information, University of Michigan. For the past 10 years, Soloway's research has been guided by the vision that mobile, handheld – and very low-cost – networked devices are the only way to truly achieve universal 1:1 in schools – all across the globe. In 2001, the UMich undergraduates selected him to receive the "Golden Apple Award" as the Outstanding Teacher of the Year. In 2004 and in 2011, the students of the EECS College of Engineering HKN Honor Society awarded Elliot the "Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award."

Cathleen Norris University of North Texas United States

Brief Bio
Cathleen Norris, Regents Professor, College of Information, Department of Learning Technologies, University of North Texas. Cathie's 14 years in K-12 classrooms – and receiving Dallas' Golden Apple Award – has shaped her university research agenda: helping K-12 teachers move into the 21st century. Cathie has been President of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the leading international organization for technology-minded educators, and the President of the National Educational Computing Association (NECA), the association that organized NECC, the premier conference on technology in K-12.

Abstract

Singapore education is recognized the world over for its ability to produce students who score at the top on standardized tests. However, as the Ministry of Education (MoE) has observed, Singapore's direct-instruction pedagogy doesn't also produce imaginative, creative, entrepreneurial children.   To address this need, MoE has promoted its Masterplan3, a  five-year plan to move schools away from direct-instruction to an inquiry-oriented pedagogy.  Since 2008, then, we have worked with university researches, school policy makers, administrators, teachers, IT staff, parents and students at Nan Chiau Primary School, using mobile devices as the catalyst driving that pedagogical change. In our presentation, then, we will reflect on Nan Chiau's journey of change, highlighting how the 10 barriers to change have been addressed. We also report on the scaling-up efforts going on now in other primary schools in Singapore.  While education has its "local" components, there is much to learn from Singapore's experiences!