The place of technologies in the school ecosystem according to William Rankin

The opening keynote for the uLead School Leadership Event, held in Banff April 24-27, 2016, was delivered by William Rankin, Director of Learning at Apple. Our collaborator summarizes it.

The uLead summit brought together directors, advisers, ministers of education and researchers from several countries. All workshops and conferences aimed to provide tools to meet today's expectations by exploring new trends in education.

From the outset, William rankin, Director of Learning at Apple, compared the effectiveness of learning to that of an ecosystem:

• in which a sustainable community flourishes through the diversity of individuals and relationships as well as the depth of relationships present therein;
• in which the context is reflective and generates the involvement of all individuals in a balanced way, involvement motivated among other things by healthy competition;
• in which content is controlled by a dynamic of perpetual change and where consumption never exceeds production;
• in which technology must occupy a large place since it reflects the evolution of the past, present and future society.

William Rankin, Multidimensional Learning: Growing a Successful Learning Ecosystem, Banff, 2016

By integrating ICTs into education, Rankin reiterates the responsibility of maintaining this precious balance between consumption and production. In his opinion, ICT will not bring any benefit to a group focused on the same task, the same image, etc. Its constructive impact will be increased tenfold when the collaboration and complementarity of the members of a team is exploited.

This brings me to the importance of developing a variety of skills for each student. This is why the school should allow the pupil to become aware of his strengths and to develop them to benefit the team with which he will work. Because the quality of a team will be based on the sum of the forces put in effective relation. An efficient work team will be complementary. We must therefore train multidimensional and collaborative learners rather than respondents to a common matrix. The entire evaluation paradigm must therefore be reviewed, as Todd Rose points out in this interview granted to  HarperAudio.

William Rankin, Multidimensional Learning: Growing a Successful Learning Ecosystem, Banff, 2016

Rankin suggests revising the current uniform and standardized valuation model with reference to a bag of M&M treats. The contents of the bag are delicious and no one dwells on the proportion of colors found in it. The sum matters more than the detail of the content. Likewise, the brain will develop skills by relating to others. The skills of each will provide a healthy and constructive competition, offering a climate conducive to sustainable and efficient learning.

William Rankin, Multidimensional Learning: Growing a Successful Learning Ecosystem, Banff, 2016

It is therefore necessary to orient the learning around the achievement of final objectives by going through different avenues, allowing the learner to start over and over again to ensure the best path to take to solve the problem. Also, Rankin brings to the fore the important part of sharing learning with those around him. Share his success, his discoveries, his questions, his mistakes! In addition, he recalls that in a learning situation, error is not an option, but an essential challenge to move forward and build on something solid. The school therefore becomes a learning community that will be able to extend its tentacles, and therefore its strength, thanks to technologies that promote collaboration, sharing, communication, etc.

ICT is ultimately an essential tool for today's leader and for training tomorrow's leader.