EdCampMN 2014 Keynote: Steve Hoffman-The Collaboration Dilemma Notes

Steve Hoffman, was the keynote speaker at EdCampMN 2014, on "The Collaboration Dilemma: How the Rules are Changing." Here are my notes.

Rather than a keynote, Hoffman described this as a "rigorous conversation!"
He started by sharing Dr. Seuss's The Lorax and The Butter Battle, both of which have NO ending! 
He noted that Intelligence Squared, is a debate with no real ending...

How can Collaboration Happen if:

• Of the more than 100 people here, only 13 were men. Why is that? Hoffman noted that as of today, 40% of women are heads of household. Boy's Adrift- notes that young men today are unmotivated and underacheiving.
• Eid started today. There are no Muslim's here. (Why did Blogger think it was spelled wrong for that matter?)
• Where are our colleagues of color? Why aren't they here? "Hamline's a white campus!" In some ways, it is arrogant for us to be speculating about this question, when most of us here are white. I'm reminded of this article.

Hoffman noted that this recent post on "9 Roles For The Teacher That Leads" doesn't include collaboration!

I would argue that it would fall under the "Relationship Enabler."

He showed a business definition for collaboration that includes synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Hoffman believes that communication, leadership, attention, active action plan, investment, Interest, Individualize and Organizations are the key areas of emphasis currently when we talk about collaboration. 

Evidence that the rules are changing

• 10,579 Israeli students took the largest online civics class online in February, taught by Shimon Peres
• 1,645 bilionaires in the world today. Up 200 from last year.
• 10.7 hours of reading/person in India
• 425 million active users of Gmail as of April 14, 2014
• 144.5 million smart phones in US.
• 33% increase in global volume of electronic waste in the next 4 years.
• 828,773 albums sold of Beyonce's album on iTunes...in 3 days!
• 82% of working Americans over the age of 50 who feel they will need to work for pay when they retire.
• 9100 Tweets every second...
• 8,000 Americans will turn 65 each day for the next decade.
• Zero managers left in Zappos 1500 workers by the end of the year
• 11 saplings grown from seeds of the Chestnut tree

In a side conversation, one participant noted that until the teaching population matches the population of our country, we won't see real change!

Obstacles to Collaboration

1. Competition-between districts, schools, AP, IB, AVID, College-in-the-schools
2. Malaise-too hard to really collaborate
3. State and National Organization Deficit-NCTE, MCTM, NCSS, MEMO, ISTE
4. Change Leadership-NCLB waiver, RTI=MTSS, PBIS, new evaluation system, personalized learning
5. Demographics and Fear-gated communities, rise in gun ownership, Eid Said, 
6. Time, Technology, Training, Talent

So do we really WANT collaboration to happen? Will technology be a tool to get us there?

Is Starbucks model for training something others will embrace? 

Talent-mandated collaboration!

Hoffman is interested to see how these dilemma's impact education moving forward. 

Our table discussed the Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum, and how sometimes competition/high expectations and trust get in the way of true collaboration. Staff are reluctant to move away from "tried and true" curriculum content from publishers, rather than building their own.