MARC PRENSKY 2021 KEYNOTES
Virtual (live and pre-recorded) and In-Person — Titles, descriptions & audience takeaways
- Empowerment Keynote:
EMPOWERING THE HUMANS OF THE FUTURE — Vision + Hope for 21st c. kids
To have any hope for succeeding in the future, our kids need to become empowered. Empowerment comes NOT from nice-sounding lists of “21st century skills” but from a combination of: NEW BELIEFS, ACCOMPLISHMENT, UNIQUENESS and SYMBIOSIS WITH TECHNOLOGY. Becoming empowered allows young people not just to understand their world, but to improve it. Despite the threats of Covid and automation, the world is moving — through changing attitudes, evolving technologies and an increasing ability of the young to see and accept new visions of what is possible — in new directions. This inspiring talk — aimed at parents, educators, workers and politicians — is about seeing beyond the present to this new and better world for our kids. Prensky shows us both why it’s important to go there and how to get there more quickly.
Takeaways:
· Why empowering our kids is so important and so necessary.
· How to empower our kids today.
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2. Beliefs Keynote:
CHANGING BELIEFS — Why the BELIEFS DIVIDE is more important than the DIGITAL DIVIDE
Beliefs about the world are changing, and it is about to have a huge impact. Our beliefs, embedded — often unconsciously — deep within our minds, determine all our actions. On a huge number of important topics, kids today often have very different beliefs than their Pre-Internet teachers and parents. Areas range from education, to technology, to privacy, property, personal relationships, sexuality, race, security, power, kids, work and jobs, empathy, violence, religion, justice and injustice, money love, government, and even time and space. It is now time, says Prensky, for all of us to re-examine and see beyond our own 20th c. beliefs — such as viewing kids as powerless and incapable of real-world accomplishment — because such beliefs hold our kids back on their journey to the world of the future. Marc shows both why this is key and how to do it.
Takeaways:
- What are 20th c. vs. 21st c. beliefs?
· Why this understanding is key to teaching and raising young people.
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3. Future of Education Keynote:
SEEING BEYOND “EDUCATION” TO EMPOWERMENT AND ACCOMPLISHMENT What kids need in a tech-filled, AI world
As the world moves quickly into a new, tech-filled, AI world, we need to see beyond the education we provided in the 20th century — so successful for us– to an education that empowers our kids and permits them to accomplish in the real world — something that our current education does not provide. Merging the academic tradition in our schools with the far older accomplishment tradition that survives in our workplaces is a key future task. We need to improve not just individuals, but their world, and, to do this, a new, beyond-education-to-empowerment paradigm is appearing. Prensky shows both why this is so important for tomorrow’s kids and world, and how to go there.
Takeaways:
- Why 20th c. education can’t be “fixed”.
- How to build something better for the 21st c.
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4. Future of Work Keynote:
SEEING BEYOND “JOBS” TO THE PROJECTS OF THE FUTURE — Changing work in a tech-filled, AI world
As the world quickly moves into a tech-filled, AI future, the nature of work is changing dramatically. We will need to see work not as “jobs” that people get and hold as they do today, but as projects that people help accomplish. “We don’t do job descriptions anymore, we do project descriptions,” says an HR executive at IBM. Now more and more firms and — entire fields — are moving to this project — rather than job — organization. This means one now requires a specialty that can enhance many teams, and to be continually increasing one’s skill at that specialty, so one can move fluidly between projects at different organizations rather than climbing a hierarchical ladder of job promotions in any single one. Everyone who now works in — or is considering — a so-called “permanent” job needs to understand this, and prepare for this new version of “work.”
Takeaways:
· Why and how work will be changing (and is already).
· What the future model of work means for your kids and for you.
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5. Technology Keynote:
SEEING BEYOND “TOOLS” TO “SYMBIOTIC HUMAN HYBRIDS” Changing perspectives and strategies for a tech-filled, AI world
Many believe that as technology develops, we remain “the same people” — just with more powerful tools. Prensky goes beyond this thinking to seeing our kids becoming “symbiotic” and “hybrids” with all the powerful new technologies we have created. He believes technologies have essentially given humans new, helpful body parts — and we must learn to use them wisely and well. It is this “new symbiosis” — and NOT “addiction” — that makes our kids so reluctant to up their phones, argues Prensky. He sees us in the very earliest stages of figuring out how to do this well, but doing it is probably our most pressing task as humans — and educators.
Takeaways:
· Why we require a better way to look at ourselves and technology.
· What being a “symbiotic human hybrid” means that is positive for our kids — and for us all.
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6. Generational Change Keynote:
SEEING BEYOND THE “LAST PRE-INTERNET GENERATION” TO THE CONNECTED GENERATIONS OF THE FUTURE
We have gone beyond the terms “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” that Prensky coined two decades ago to massive generational change in attitudes and beliefs. Attitudes and beliefs are changing radically between the generations with regard to education technology, privacy, property, personal relationships, security, sexuality, power, kids, violence, god, justice, money, love, government, and even time and space. Today we are in the midst of a major transition from the beliefs and attitudes of the world’s “Last Pre-Internet Generation,” raised entirely in the 20th century, and the “First Internet Generation,” raised entirely in the 21st. The consequences are profound.
Takeaways:
· How beliefs differ between the generations.
· What this specifically means for adults and for kids.
· What are the best actions for us to take?
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Marc Prensky is an internationally-acclaimed keynote speaker in over 40 countries, and the award-winning author of 8 books, including “Beliefs for 21st c. Kids.” Marc currently works on Empowering the Humans of the Future through The Two Billion Kids Project, devoted to empowering every young person to better their world, and the Ministry of Empowerment, Accomplishment & Impact, dedicated to helping educators move into the 21st century. Marc is the founder of The Global Future Education Foundation, and coiner of the globally-recognized term “digital native.” He has taught at all levels, from elementary to college. Marc’s many talks, writings, interviews and videos can be found at www.marcprensky.com and marcrenskyarchive.com. Marc can be contacted at marcprensky@gmail.com