New Zealand – School dropout now bestselling education author

From Scoop Independent News. Education. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0909/S00126.htm
Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 5:45 pm.
Press Release: CORE Education 

A Christchurch school dropout will present a workshop at ULearn after becoming an international bestselling educational author.

Well known to many for his radio and broadcasting work Gordon Dryden will speak to delegates at ULearn about the The seven keys to unlock the future of learning from his latest book Unlimited.

ULearn09 is an educational conference focusing on innovative teaching and learning for the 21st century organised by CORE Education that attracts about 2000 delegates and features 400 national and international speakers.

CORE Education’s director of development Nick Billowes said Gordon Dryden was an engaging speaker and his range of insights across the spectrum of innovative education had won him much acclaim.

“He is a proud and unashamed advocate for the quality educational opportunities within New Zealand.

“We are lucky to have such a high calibre of speakers in New Zealand to be able to tap into. Gordon will be well worth listening to along with the many talented speakers we have on the programme,” Mr Billowes said.

Dryden is so passionate about his latest book he has co-authored with American doctor of education Jeanette Vos that he is giving away a copy to everyone attending the conference.

The book Unlimited and subtitled The new learning revolution and the seven keys to unlock it is named after a Christchurch school of the same name.

Students at the Unlimited high school, and its associated Discovery One primary school, use all of Christchurch as their classroom — as they follow personalised learning pathways, Dryden said.

“This is a similar philosophy to my own that everyone has a different potential to be great at something — and it is up to schools to help find that something and develop it, using the entire world as their classroom, throughout life,” he said.

Dryden, who completed his primary schooling at Waltham, Phillipstown and New Brighton schools in the 1940s, dropped out of Christchurch West High School (now Hagley High) after only one year.

“I really wanted to be a journalist so I wanted to learn shorthand and typing but back then boys weren’t allowed to do it, so I left,” he said.

However, after dropping out of school he did not give up and the world became his classroom. He went on to become a well known broadcast journalist and bestselling educational author. In 1993 he met Dr Vos at an educational conference.

When they both realised they were working on similar things a collaboration was started — Dryden was editing 150 hours of professional videotape, on that subject, down to six one-hour New Zealand television documentaries; and Vos had just completed a seven-year research program on the same subject for her doctorate.

Their first work together produced the book Learning Revolution which went on to sell 10 million copies in China within seven months and has now been translated into twenty different languages.

Dryden has not long returned from a series of presentations and television interviews in Mexico, where Unlimited will shortly be published in Spanish.

While overseas he also made a pitch to the United Nations to use New Zealand schools as a role model for other countries to help bridge the gap between rich and poor.

Gordon Dryden and his co-author Dr Jeannette Vos came to global prominence with their book The Learning Revolution (first published 1993). By 2001 this book had already topped 10 million sales. It was jam packed with ideas, resources and case examples and inspired generations of teachers and parents. Indeed it is now available to read free online http://www.thelearningweb.net/learningrevolution1999.html

It will be interesting to catch up with their new work Unlimited… its sure to be worth a look. The contents of this book are detailed below…

Book Contents  Page
Author biography: Gordon Dryden 8
How to quit school at age 14 and end up writing the top-selling book on learning  
Author biography: Jeannette Vos 10
The frustrated teacher who spent seven years researching a better way  
Title page 12
Contents 13
Preface by Gordon Dryden 18
Welcome to the new world, with unlimited access to unlimited opportunities  
Foreword by Jeannette Vos 20
The more the new technology soars, the more the need for holistic balance
 
 
Introduction 22
History’s newest revolution and the seven keys to unlock it  
1. It’s personal: For everyone, everywhere, any time, in your own way 25
2. It’s interactive: Easy-to-use templates make it simple at any age 26
3. It’s global: The Web owned by no one, but used by almost everyone 27
4. It’s instant: Just in time, when you need it, as you need it 28
5. It’s mainly free: Or nearly free: often one low-cost click at a time 29
6. It’s easily shared: The new world of collaborative networks 30
7. It’s co-creative: To link your talents with multi-talented teams  31

Part one: The future 
Chapter one: The converging revolutions 36
The seven ways Web 2.0 is changing everything, everywhere  
Moore’s Law and Metcalfe’s Law 38
The converging revolutions 39
1. It’s global, national and local at the same time 41
2. It’s instant: any time, anywhere 49
3. It’s open, free or almost free 51
4. It’s mobile as well a personal 54
5. It’s interactive and enjoyable 57
6. It’s co-creative: the new era of mass innovation 61
7. It’s easily shared—with millions 64

Chapter two: The network revolution 68
A new framework for education in a new networked world  
Some lessons from history 71
The new framework for learning 77
Your seven interlinked networks 78
1. Your internal genetic and neural network 80
2. Your personal learning network 80
3. New interactive information networks 85
4. Your creative network 87
5. Your talent network 88
6. New organization networks 89
7. New global learning networks  91

Part two: Your future  
Chapter three: The talent revolution 94
How to develop your own unique talent through nature, nurture and neurons  
The basic structure of the brain 102
The brain’s main networks 104
1. The sensory networks 104
2. The transmission network 106
3. The physical network 107
4. The emotional, feeling networks 108
5. The social networks 110
6. The biological clock network 111
7. The thinking networks 112
How to unlock the brain’s unlimited power 113

Chapter four: The learning-styles revolution 124
How to find your own learning style and build on your own unique talent  
Howard Gardner’s multiple-intelligence model 126
Linguistic intelligence or talent 126
Logical-mathematical intelligence or talent 127
Visual-spatial intelligence or talent 128
Musical intelligence or talent 129
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence or talent 130
Interpersonal intelligence or talent 131
Intrapersonal intelligence or talent 132
Naturalist intelligence or talent 132
The possibility of existential intelligence or talent 133
Determining your learning style 135
How you take in information 135
How you organize and process information 136
Physical and biological needs that affect learning 137
How to determine students’ preferred learning styles 138
Now: online analysis of learning and working styles 139
Four types of thinking styles 139
Different ways to store and retrieve information 141
The implications for home study, schools and teachers 142
Chapter five: The learn-it-yourself revolution 144
How to take your talent and passion and keep adding other skills and abilities  
1. Start with the lessons from sport 144
2. Dare to dream—and imagine your future 146
3. Set a specific goal—and set deadlines 146
4. Get an enthusiastic mentor—fast 147
5. Start with the big picture first 147
6. Ask—and start with the Web 148
7. Seek out the main principles 150
8. Find the three best books by practical achievers 151
9. Relearn how to read—faster, better, more easily 152
10. Reinforce by pictures and sound 154
11. Learn by doing 155
12. Draw Mind Maps instead of taking linear notes 156
13. Easy ways to retrieve what you’ve learned 157
14. Learn the art of relaxed alertness 158
15. Practise, practise, practise 160
16. Review and reflect 161
17. Use linking tools and memory pegs 161
18. Have fun, play games 162
19. Teach others 162
20. Go digital 163

Chapter six: The creative revolution 164
A creative thinking course for teachers, students and innovators  
1. Define your problem 167
2. Define your ideal solution and visualize it 167
3. Gather the facts 168
4. Break the pattern 169
5. Go outside your own field 169
6. Play with various combinations 170
7. Sleep on it 171
8. Eureka! It pops out 171
Brainstorming checklist for ideas 173
When you’re looking for a new idea can you . . . 173
What could you substitute? 173
What new combinations can you make? 174
How can you adapt it? 174
What can you magnify or increase? 174
What could you reduce, reverse or eliminate? 174
What new forms can you create? 174
Edward de Bono’s methods  179

Part three: Revolution 1.0 
Chapter seven: The early-childhood revolution 182
How to enrich your child’s learning ability from birth to age eight  
1. The vital importance of step-by-step movement 186
2. Use your common sense 187
3. Build on all your senses 188
4. Use the world as your classroom 188
5. The great art of communication 189
6. Parents as first teachers 192
7. Model early childhood centers 194