Did You Know?

Found an interesting video today via Yvonne Divita's Lipstick Marketing Blog. She called it "Shift Happens."

I think it has the ability to make any educator and any parent stop and think (and yes, worry) about their kids. I've embedded a copy of the video below.

While I was watching the video for the first time, I found myself hoping that it would end with a URL where people can get more information about the statistics that were cited, especially since the video was saying things that can generate a lot of hype.

I was really quite disappointed when there was nothing at the end. And if yesterday had not been a holiday here, I would probably have left it at that.

* * *

But since yesterday was a holiday, a series of Google searches led me to the blog of Karl Fisch (the man who came up with the original powerpoint presentation and video) and to Scott McLeod (who morphed Karl's work into the more generic video that's making the rounds on video sharing sites).

Karl explains the context for his original presentation, which I learned is actually entitled "Did You Know?"

MD's Note: These are excerpts only.

My administration asked me if I wanted to speak at one of our beginning of the year faculty meetings. I often provide updates on what's new and different with technology in our building and what teachers need to know to get the year started.

I put together a PowerPoint presentation with some (hopefully) thought-provoking ideas. I was hoping by telling some of these "stories" to our faculty, I could get them thinking about - and discussing with each other - the world our students are entering. To get them to really think about what our students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how that might impact what they do in their classrooms. It would also help the faculty that are not currently participating in my staff development join the conversation.

I told them that even though I would usually argue that just showing something and not discussing it afterward was a bad idea, that this time - since a meaningful conversation at the end of a long faculty meeting was unlikely - that's what I was going to do. But that I wanted them to hopefully think about this for their own classrooms, and then hold the conversation with each other over the next few days (and hopefully weeks and months and...).

To my delight, Karl's blog entry also offers a list of sources for the statistics cited in the video, although he admits that he had to modify some of the slides when he couldn't find all of his original sources. I only wish I had enough time to go through them all.

In his sources document, he also credits the video music to a mix of tracks from The Last of the Mohicans.

And so, with the context now properly established, here is "Did You Know" by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.



You can also find a link to the text-only version in Karl's original blog entry.

A final note: my Google search also led me to the website of James Feldman. Turns out that "Shift Happens" is a registered trademark and James Feldman owns it. I can only speculate that the phrase later became linked to the video because of comments people left in Karl Fisch's original blog entry.