TEDx is not the name of a person but it is a conference devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. Speakers on the event came initially from the fields of expertise of Technology, Entertainment and Design (=TED). But since the start of TED in 1984 the topics of the talks became more and more diverse. Currently, TEDx gives fascinating thinkers and doers from all sorts of area's the stage to give the talk of their lives. TEDx events are locally organized events filled with creative, eye opening, surprising, or mind-blowing talks by inspiring speakers. In this way TEDx brings people together to share, listen to, and discuss about TEDx-talks presented live by invited speakers or watched via video. The x in TEDx represents that the events are independently organized.
TED talks can be about various topics, but a topic of some great TEDx talks that specifically appeals to me is ‘the future of education’. My interest arises from my study in educational sciences but also because it concerns the future of my daughter, who will attend primary school in a few years. Speakers who have presented talks on this significant topic are for example, Sugata Mitra, Ken Robinson, and Dan Meyer. Note that below this blog you can find more links to inspiring TEDx videos on education and teaching. Someone who will soon join this group of TEDx speakers is Marcel Kampman, who will present a talk at TEDxDelft about his self-initiated project named ‘project dreamschool’.
Kampman is a father of two and calls himself an independent directive creator on LinkedIn and a professional pancake on Twitter. His interests range from idea generation, concept development, new technology, to cooking and self-initiated projects. One of these self-initiated projects is his ‘project dreamschool’ in which the question "What if you could reinvent a school from scratch?" plays the keyrole. When you start thinking about this you naturally arrive at questions such as: What would the building look like? What learning methods will you use? Who will the teachers be? Which technology and ICT will be applied? These questions will be discussed in the light of the newest educational insights and trends. Subsequently, the formulated answers will form a solid foundation to design the ideal secondary school of the Netherlands, or maybe even of the world. The first dream school is planned to arise in Meppel in 2013.
Marcel Kampman
Kampman is a father of two and calls himself an independent directive creator on LinkedIn and a professional pancake on Twitter. His interests range from idea generation, concept development, new technology, to cooking and self-initiated projects. One of these self-initiated projects is his ‘project dreamschool’ in which the question "What if you could reinvent a school from scratch?" plays the keyrole. When you start thinking about this you naturally arrive at questions such as: What would the building look like? What learning methods will you use? Who will the teachers be? Which technology and ICT will be applied? These questions will be discussed in the light of the newest educational insights and trends. Subsequently, the formulated answers will form a solid foundation to design the ideal secondary school of the Netherlands, or maybe even of the world. The first dream school is planned to arise in Meppel in 2013.
Before I learnt that Marcel Kampman would be a speaker at TEDxDelft, I had never heard of him nor from his project dream school. After discovering what it was all about I found the ideas behind the project very intriguing. And now I am actually really curious to learn more about the project in detail and to see how this project eventually will work out. As you can imagine, I am really excited to be blogging about project dreamschool, Marcel Kampman and TEDxDelft!
Great TEDx talks on education and teaching
- Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms- Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education
- Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computer
- Mae Jemison on teaching arts and sciences together
- Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums
- Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education
- Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
- Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover
- Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, two years on
* See also the website of EmergingEdTech