I became driven by the question of how to keep learning relevant when the world was changing so rapidly. My curiosity led me to experiment with how to best leverage digital technology to meet that goal. In 2004, my administrators noticed those efforts and invited me to accept the position of school technology integrator. I was both thrilled and daunted by the challenge. How does one develop a curriculum for emerging technologies when there are so many variables?

With no map to follow, I turned to my students for clues on how to design a curriculum fit for purpose. I decided to follow their learning. I wanted to know which apps and devices they were choosing to use, outside of school. I wanted to understand how they were learning to use these technologies. Perhaps that knowledge would inform me how to build a digital technologies curriculum that would be relevant.

​

What I learned from students made me rethink everything I thought I understood about teaching and learning. My students taught me to:

​

• Let go of teaching content to learn. Instead, focus on supporting students creating content as a means to learn. 

• Trust students' ability to drive their own learning.

• Co-construct curriculum with students.

• Ask questions without knowing the answer.

• Embrace the messiness of real-world problem-solving.

​

Those lessons brought me to New Zealand to do a deep dive into the NZC Key Competencies and, subsequently, the Māori concept of Ako. The Key Competencies provide a robust framework on which to build the kind of learning necessary to prepare students to adapt to unprecedented change and face epic challenges. Ako provides the ground on which to build that framework.