It's probably been over 30 years since I've ever visited anywhere in east coast. I've been to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a kid once in the 80's. This time, I got to experience it for about three days. I arrived in Philly late at night on Sunday and came back on Wednesday night. This was generally for a business trip for my company as I was there to pick up an award we were nominated to win (our CEO had to attend a different trip). The conference was Reimagine Education, a global competition designed to identify the most innovative, novel approaches to higher education.
We won the gold award for Best Educational App, but not the coveted Overall Award, which went to Institute for the Deaf for their learning system. The food at the award ceremony was quite good. The ceremony was held at the Franklin Institute building.
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| The gala dinner/ceremony was held at Franklin Institute by the statue of Ben Franklin |
The conference was quote informative and despite that the majority of the products and ideas were more directly related to higher education, we were probably nominated because our product (which focuses on coding for pre-readers) represents the early building blocks that prepares kids for an earlier love of education to ultimately result toward a movement toward higher education. Some of the subjects were on AI and virtual reality, which was interesting (although nothing particularly that stood out). Majority of the talks were about importance of prior knowledge, personalized learning, project-based learning, and peer-to-peer pedagogy. Admittedly, though, this is probably more likely to be implemented based on the subject matter and the level of education of the peers. The role of the teacher becomes fuzzier as a result, and there have been lots of talks about the use of AI as part of the teaching tool--this is mostly talked about because of occasional lack of teachers to engage with students one-on-one.
Now, for the photos! While I was there, I got to walk around Philadelphia quite a bit. An education experience, certainly. I stayed at a Loew's Hotel near the Philly City Hall, which spreads out about 2 miles each way to different landmarks. The city is quite beautiful. To the east is the Independence Hall, after you pass by Chinatown. To the northeast, after you pass by Franklin Institute (like a science museum for kids) and Rodin Museum, is the Museum of Art (aka. "Rocky Steps"), where the famous scene from "Rocky" was filmed.
I arrived in Philly around 11:30pm. I took the SEPTA train from
the airport to Jefferson Station. Good to be careful at night.
View from the 23rd floor in the morning
View from the 23rd floor at night
City Hall
It got chilly. A tad rainy too.
Of course, I had to sketch it
Rocky Steps to the Museum of Art
George Washington Statue in the front of Rocky Steps
"Yoooo Adrian!"
"If I can change, you can change. Anyone can change!"
Philly Cheese Steak at a local deli. You eat it with ketchup around here.
Chinatown in Philly
Old House of Rep (16 states) chamber at the Independence Hall
Old Senate chamber at the Independence Hall
The Liberty Bell!
Sketching at Philly Airport
Taking off for home!
Passing by Las Vegas. Looks like an island at night
Back to Los Angeles, CA. Good to to be home!
Philadelphia was great. Things I've noticed were: People are a bit more rough, but genuine. People cross the street before the walk sign ever turns on. People smoke quite a bit. People are used to slightly less personal space. You put ketchup on your Cheese Steak Sandwich.
I'm back at home as I write this. I haven't traveled a lot this year so far, at least outside of Southern California. I did go to Santa Rosa to meet the Peanuts folks, and that was very memorable. In couple of weeks, I'll be off to South Korea and India for vacation, so that's on my travel menu. I'll be bringing my sketchbook as usual.
Traveling is great--makes you feel like a kid again. You are outside of your routine, and now have to be creative to survive in the new environment, just like a kid. You are spurred by curiosity and the love of exploration. Occasionally, you'll try to hire parents (tour guides) to guide you, but unsupervised learning (and some failures) can be great (assuming you're not doing anything dangerous).
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