why why not years ago I never would have been able to predict what I would be doing today but looking back my journey makes sense I check in with myself by asking myself those two questions that have served me well throughout my life and my career why and why not I have four incredible nieces all under the age of 12 and they are all on their own journeys that are messy and exciting and so I check in with them to by asking them what do you want to do when you're older and I love the
responses artists scientists and sometimes I get a very thoughtful I don't know yet and actually this is very insightful because you see my nieces and your children are on paths for careers that don't even exist today let me say that again their careers in the future we never can predict what they're going to be and so they will need exceptional skills in order to face future challenges skills that we can help them learn by supporting them on their learning journeys but I'm not talking about just helping with homework I'm talking about helping them connect experiences
so that they know that their learning is something that grows and evolves as they create their own unique journeys my 11 year old niece Rebecca went to science camp last summer to learn operant conditioning actually she learned how to train rats during dinner we were talking about her camp and she expressed her concern for rats and that and that they have been misjudged in fact they're cuter and smarter than most people realize she was really persuasive she wanted others to know how she felt so I encouraged her to not give up and tell her story
so she created a 30-second video teaser on why we should give rats a second chance she was great she did everything on her own she searched for the content she created the video she edited it she selected the soundtrack all because her story was important enough to tell and today her 30 second teaser entitled are you sure you hate rats was posted by the Science Center on YouTube and has more views than she could ever have imagined possible by encouraging her to create a video she expressed herself artistically about something that she was learning at
the science camp she used technology to solve a problem and she created a new opportunity for someone else to learn something by sharing her original content with hundreds but what if I had not been there would she have been able to connect those learning experiences on her own I know you're probably thinking there is no way I can always be there well really why not what if Rebecca had used an intelligent system to help her journal about her feelings regarding rats being misjudged and what if this intelligence system could actually make recommendations and suggestions as
to how she could express herself artistically including making a video you see learners today have all kinds of options available to them and so by helping her and encouraging her to connect these two learning experiences her experience was intensely rich you see learning today is happening everywhere it's all around us we live in a world that is connected 24/7 and social our media habits are changing and our expectations of Technology are as well today we have the ability to have digital friends we use multiple screens and the real world is just one platform we use
to connect with content and each other we're moving beyond formal learning into a new paradigm that engages learners 24/7 this path begins with transmedia storytelling transmedia storytelling is a technique where you take a core experience or story and you expand it across multiple media with each medium making a contribution that can be experienced from diverse perspectives transmedia storytelling is not just about multiple media though it's about connecting with someone personally and emotionally enough so that they will want to create content share it talk about it and stay engaged and that is the goal for us
in terms of learning but what's wrong here this learner is obviously overwhelmed learners today find themselves in a situation where media all kinds of media are really thrown at them there really is no good framework for learning across technologies or diverse devices or systems is that the best we can do I don't think so and that's where our next generation learning ecosystems come into play next generation learning ecosystems that use transmedia storytelling are actually taking hints and using techniques from the entertainment industry consider a blockbuster film like Star Wars Star Wars in this case would
be our core experience imagine a web series that might be released months before the film introducing a new character and allowing fans to get to know a part of the film or a game that's released that allows fans to actually experience the real environments that the you they they will be seen in the films experience the real environments that they will be experiencing in the film and also play out roles in personas fans comment blog post tweet all on the topics related to the film they're so engaged in the story that they even tell stories
of their own you see learners are telling us how they want to learn if we listen to them they're storytellers and builders they're hands-on they love playing games and being immersed in a story and they are voracious consumers if we give them story driven multimedia content that is rich my niece Rebecca she took something she learned at camp added a new twist and shared it with hundreds not only can she tell you how to train rats she can also tell you why they're cute and smart and she can show you how to make a movie
scientists technologists and educators today are working together to support our lifelong learning journeys we're creating technologies that actually connect experiences in and out of the classroom we're facilitating social learning with peers all around the globe this is truly an exciting time we use data analytics to refine our systems and to make our technologies more adaptive to each individual imagine using a technology that helps you think remember and and even have complex ideas all based on the way that you learn but we have a way to go and while I may not know what unique futures
lie in store for my nieces I do know that we can all help our children stay hungry and curious about learning technology can help too but in order to do so our technologies should be culturally aware and able to really express genuine human experiences so the next time you're helping someone with their homework whether it's your granddaughter your son or your neighbor think about how you can connect that moment to other moments on their learning journey let them tell you how they're learning to learn trust them embrace the screen you will be entering into a
new world their world and you'll be much richer for it and who knows maybe by connecting one learning experience with another you'll be connecting your learning journey to theirs and opening up an opportunity for a new paradigm to take root in your household you
