Campus Technology Insider Podcast November 2024
29:14
Critical thinking. Hello from Virginia. Okay, cool. All right, we can do that too.
29:21
Time management, prompt engineering, empowered to manage change effectively. Oh, wow. These are great. Stress management, critical thinking, AI literacy and understanding, prompting, the ability to think critically about the world around them. Adaptability, these are fantastic. Keep them coming. So let's talk about this a little bit more, right? Let's talk about some of the skills that we're thinking about our students. It's wonderful to see this, because not only it creates, you know, you have this sense of, again, we come in from all different backgrounds into this space, right? And we care about our students. And I think when we talk about social skills as well, right? When we talk about the role technology could play, we always think about some of these things too, right? We think about when we go to school, there's so many things that we need to do, that we need to accomplish for our students, but sometimes there's just one or two things that you're like, Man, if I could just do this for them, that will last them a lifetime, that will prepare them for the future of work, that will prepare them for the future that they care about, right? Because you know that that's what these students need. Because you're in the classrooms, you're in your community or in your school districts, right? And so again, when we talk about being part of the solution, being part of that, of that big answer that we want to have, these are type of things you can bring to the table, right? Because you know your students better than anyone else, you know your school district, you know your educators, you know your leaders better than anyone else. Again, as someone that's worked in tech sector, we are very passionate, just as passionate as sometimes our educators are. I like to think so, but I know, I know a lot of passionate educators, so it's really hard sometimes to meet up to their bar, but we try our best to bring the best technology solutions to the communities. Back in the day, it's all of you that could bring this to life. Technology for technology's sake is no different than just a laptop being a really good paper holder, right? But it's all of you that bring technology to life, and it's all of you that bring all these type of interests, and sense of fears, but sense of promise as well, into our communities. When we talk about the skills that we could learn today, I'm always reminded about a lesson that I learned from someone very dear to my heart, and it was my grandmother. You see, my grandmother believed in not only the potential of the human condition, but in the potential of su familia, of their family. You see, my Abuelita Pepa grew up in Guayaquil in Ecuador, and she grew up very poor. She grew up, a single mother, single mother of five, and she as she was growing up, sorry, as she saw her children deal with poverty, she realized something. She realized that education and learning was the way forward. Education and learning was the way out of the situation. And when she, when she started instilling this in her children, it became not only an expectation for her children, but eventually an expectation for her entire family. So much so that a few years later, she immigrated to New York, to Queens, where I think 50% of Ecuadorians immigrated, and in the 70s, and she had, she lived the rest of her life there in Queens. And of course, like I shared with you earlier on representation, I grew up in Houston, and so my relationship with my grandmother was a long-distance relationship. And I would get calls from her every other month or so, and I remember vividly in the first grade having a conversation with her and her asking me, mijo, how are you doing? How's school? Great, Abuelita. Are you learning? Yes, mijo, I'm learning, yes, Abuelita I'm learning. What are you learning? And I'd tell her what I'm learning. Great. A few months later, I'd have another conversation with her, ask me the same question. She comes home, she comes to Houston for Christmas. First thing she does when she walks in, she gives me a big hug, says, Mijo, how's school doing? Are you still learning? I said, yes, Abuelita. I'm still learning. And it so happens that I did that in the second grade, in the third grade, in the fourth grade. I moved to Ecuador, and I still have my conversations with my grandmother years later, and she's still asking me this, are you still learning? So I understood her passion for education. I understood that. I understood how important it was for her grandchildren to go to school because she didn't have that same opportunity. So eventually, when I graduate high school, you know, we fly her down so she could be part of my graduation. And then a few years later, I graduate my engineering degree, and here's a picture of me with my grandmother and my, in my college graduation at the University of Houston. And she was so proud of me. She was like, Mijo, adelante, right? Keep learning. And I remember, a few years later, I actually moved to New Orleans, I got my master's degree, and her health started to decline significantly, and she was unable to fly out to see my graduation for my MBA. And I remember still having the conversation with her, and her sharing with me how proud she was of that, of that event, but she kept asking me, Are you still learning? I said, Yes, Abuelita. You know, I just learned this in my last year of school, but we're good. And a few years later, I find out that her health is significantly declined. And so my wife and I decided to fly out to New York and join her in her final days. And there's a picture of her and her in her last months. We went to go and celebrate her birthday, and I remember, as I walked in, she looks at me, and she gives me a big hug as well, as strong as she could at that time. And she looks at me, she says, just like clockwork, mijo, are you still learning? And I remember looking at her and being like, well, maybe, you know, her health is in decline, I'll just remind her that her grandson is done, right? I'm done with, with, with my education. And I just friendly reminder, said, Abuelita, you know your grandson is done. I finished my MBA, and you know, you know, I'm good. I'm done with my education. And she sits up on her bed at that moment, becomes like a different person. She looks at me and she says, mijo, I'm asking you, are you still learning? I'm not asking you about your degrees. I'm asking you, are you still learning? And I realized there that for all this time that she was asking me, she never asked me for my grades, she never asked me for my certificate, she never asked me for my, for my diplomas. She was asking me, Are you still learning? And she was instilling in me this sense of being a lifelong learner, that to this day, I take that to heart. I had this flashback, out-of-body moment at that moment in time when I, when I had that conversation with her, and I realized that this whole time, what she was trying to do with our, with the grandchildren, with her family, was creating a generation of lifelong learners. And that's a superpower that we all have today. We have an ability to learn today better than ever before. And I think about how we talk about technology today in the classroom and in our communities, or even as an adult learner today that I am, I think about, what would she think about this generation that we're in today? What would she think about if she was in this world of 2020, in the 2020s, and saying, Abuelita, you know, I have this really cool thing in my pocket, and it could connect me with anyone on this planet, and it could give me access to pretty much almost any learning experience that I want. What would you, what do you think she would say? She'd be like, whoa, whoa, wait, you could do that today? So what are you doing about it to learn something new? I'm not saying the education system is going to go into our pockets. That's not what I'm suggesting. But I am saying our ability to learn something new and access some new knowledge and insights today is greater than ever. And I think about my grandmother being in this space today, and I think about how she would react, and the only thing that comes to mind is, you know, her unlocking this world for all of us. And she's probably feeling something like this, right? She's this "I know kung fu" moment in the matrix, right? That Neo just goes into this moment and says, Hey, you know, I want to go and learn this skill, and I could learn it. And again, don't get me wrong, I know we're not there yet, and I know I cannot go into the computer and learn a skill in the next three minutes. But for my grandmother, it probably feels that way. For the generations before us, and for the shoulders that we stand on, it probably feels that our ability to learn something new today, the barrier of entry of learning something new today, is greater than ever. And so I also leave that with all of you today, right, that as we think about how we're engaging our students with technology, what are some of those exponential moments that we could create for them, that could leave an inspiration in the sense of fulfillment of them learning something new. And what I love about the conversation we just had is that you also have this insight of what, what you want to teach them, and some of that could be taught in a matter of minutes or a matter of days, and sometimes might take years. But again, in this exponential era that we have, we have an ability to accelerate these changes as well and make a greater impact. With that said, this will be my final question for all of you. So with all that, what does the future of learning look like for you? You're here, you're in the forefront, you're in the front lines of this work, you're in our communities, you're with our students, you're in our classrooms. What does the future of learning look like for you? What is your promise? What would you like to see the future of learning look like? Let's see some of those answers. In one word: AI-enhanced. I love that. Individual choice. Wow. A much more personalized experience, it sounds like, yeah. Online, transformative, personal, flexible,