Preparing for the Future

While researching futurist ideas in education, I came across an online article discussing experiential schools. The author explained that in this type of a school model, experts from across all sectors of life, come and present on their area of expertise.  For example, a statistician from a research firm comes and teaches about surveys and statistics, etc. A nutritionist would be a guest lecturer for PE courses.  The author explained that traditional teachers, as we know them today, would still be an integral piece of the educational system but the role would somewhat change.  They would be responsible for facilitating groups and helping reaffirm what the "experts” taught.

I think this idea is a step in the right direction but I would modify it.  Instead of the experts visiting the school, I would envision a school where the students visit the experts and their working environment.  This could mean taking more meaningful and purposeful field trips and learning from museum curators, artists, and scientists.  It could also be that it makes more sense to use technologies such as Skype or Google chat to visit places not readily accessible like a hospital operating room, or a theater across the globe.  A school model like this could be appropriate at every grade level to show the relevance of subject matter taught in the classroom to various workplaces.  At the high school level, this model could be used for vocational training and apprenticeships.  

The real world relevance is extremely important for students. I currently have an eighth-grade student who is quite the animal lover and doing an internship at a neighborhood dog walking business.  I asked her yesterday how she was enjoying her internship and she said, “I love it!  And did you know that I have to use math there?”  I asked her for more information and she shared that she has had to measure the medication and food and track walking distances etc.  So now, this real-world experience has reinforced to Alicia (not a math lover) the relevance and importance of learning fractions and decimals and comparing information over time.

1. If you were to implement this practice, strategy, idea today, what specialized skills, resources, and dispositions would you need to obtain for yourself, your colleagues and staff?

My colleagues and I would need to become well versed in various communication technologies.  We would also need to stay up-to-date as these technologies improve.  Another area would be public relations.  I think we would need to learn how to sell this idea to community members and professionals and create outcomes data to justify ongoing efforts.  We would also need to adopt the mindset, or disposition, that providing relevant and engaging curricula is important for developing real-world skills.

2. What skills will your colleagues and those you supervise need in order to be successful in this scenario? Of those skills, which ones are currently being supported through resources such as professional development in your setting? Which ones are missing or minimal? What is currently being supported in your setting that would likely be obsolete in 2020?

Skills that are currently being supported through resources in my setting include basis collaborating with one another and community members, facilitating peer collaboration, and promoting higher level inquiry.  A skill that is minimal includes curriculum design.

Individual standardized assessments, as we know them today, is something that I think could be/should be obsolete in 10 years. Instead, assessments should test real world problem solving skills, collaboration, etc.

3. In what ways are we unprepared, lacking in resources and staffing, or to what degree are our strategies and underlying values unable to respond effectively to the conditions this scenario represents?

We are a bit unprepared because we currently do not engage in deep or meaningful partnerships outside of the school environment. Technologically, we would also need a better platform to make communicating across town or across the globe seamless.

4. What could we be doing now to leverage this trend to our advantage?

In order to leverage this trend we could take advantage of the technologies currently available.  We could also begin working more closely with experts in the field.

5. What would need to happen internally and in the external environment for preparing yourself and those you lead to navigate in this strategic vision? What changes should your organization begin to make? What should it start doing? What should it stop doing?

I would need for all actors to buy in to the idea that  you this experiential learning model is important for our students.  If people do not see the importance of providing students this experience, this scenario will be difficult to accomplish.

At the present moment, we could begin making changes by creating more opportunities for our students to intern in the community.  This is a great opportunity for them to build job skills and earn high school credits. 

On the other hand, we'll need to stop posing only the simple/basic questions to our students.  We need to get to a place where students learn how to question deeply and independently.