education reform

Report from Davos: 5 million jobs to be lost by 2020 because of tech advances — from siliconbeat.com by Levi Sumagaysay

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

A new report predicts a loss of 5 million jobs in the next five years because of technological advances, but don’t blame it all on the robots.

The other culprits: artificial intelligence, 3-D printers and advances in genetics, biotech and more.

The World Economic Forum, which is holding its annual meeting in Davos this week, in its report details the effects of modern technology on the labor market, for better or for worse. It says “the fourth industrial revolution” will be “more comprehensive and all-encompassing than anything we have ever seen.”

The report actually estimates a loss of 7 million jobs in 15 economies that today have 1.86 billion workers, or about 65 percent of the world’s workforce, but it also expects 2 million new jobs to be created.

From DSC:
If this turns out to be true, how should this affect our curricula? What should we be emphasizing and seeking to build within our students?

PBS’ School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom <-- A well done, creative, objective, solid discussion of technology in the classroom

On 01/16/2016, in 21st century, active learning, Apple, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), change, collaboration, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, hybrid learning, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning theories, media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, online learning, organizational change, parents/guardians, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, research, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
If you can clear up just short of an hour of your time, this piece from PBS entitled, “School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom” is very well done and worth your time. It’s creative and objective; it offers us some solid research, some stories, and some examples of the positives and negatives of technology in the classroom. It weaves different modes of learning into the discussion — including blended learning, online learning, personalized learning and more. Though it aired back in October of 2015, I just found out about it.

Check it out if you can!

Also see:

Schools push personalized learning to new heights — from edweek.org
Excerpt:
For most schools, reaching the next level of digitally driven, personalized learning is far from reality. Still, some schools are extending their digital reach in significant and sometimes groundbreaking ways, as the stories in this special report illustrate. They are making moves to integrate a variety of technologies to track how students learn and to use the resulting data to expand the use of hands-on, project-based learning. The goal is to build never-ending feedback loops that ultimately inform the development of curriculum and assessment. Plus, big data and analytics are gradually making their marks in K-12 education. This special report outlines the progress schools are making to use digital tools to personalize learning, but also raises the question: Are they reaching far enough?
.
A Pedagogical Model for the use of iPads for Learning — from higheru.org

U.S. Department of Education Releases 2016 National Education Technology Plan [ed.gov]

On 12/20/2015, in assessment, education, education reform, education technology, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, open courseware and systems, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

U.S. Department of Education Releases 2016 National Education Technology Plan — from ed.gov

Excerpts:

The U.S. Department of Education announced [on 12/10/15] the release of the 2016 National Education Technology Plan and new commitments to support personalized professional learning for district leaders across the country working to improve teaching and student achievement through the effective use of technology.

Updated every five years, the plan is the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States. The 2016 plan outlines a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible. While acknowledging the continuing need to provide greater equity of access to technology itself, the plan goes further to call upon all involved in American education to ensure equity of access to transformational learning experiences enabled by technology.

“Technology has the potential to bring remarkable new possibilities to teaching and learning by providing teachers with opportunities to share best practices, and offer parents platforms for engaging more deeply and immediately in their children’s learning,” said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “It can change the experiences of students in the most challenging circumstances by helping educators to personalize the learning experience based on students’ needs and interests—meeting our students where they are and challenging them to reach even higher. This year’s update to the National Education Technology Plan includes a strong focus on equity because every student deserves an equal chance to engage in educational experiences powered by technology that can support and accelerate learning.”

The plan calls for schools and districts to:

Redesign teacher preparation programs to shift from a single technology course to thoughtful use of technology throughout a teacher’s preparation and minimum standards for higher education instructors’ tech proficiency.
Set an expectation of equitable access to technology and connectivity inside and outside of school regardless of students’ backgrounds.
Adopt high-quality openly licensed educational materials in place of staid, traditional textbooks.
Implement universal design principles for accessibility across all educational institutions and include these principles within teacher preparation programs.
Improve technology-based assessments to allow for embedded delivery within instruction and making near real-time feedback for educators possible.
Establish a robust technology infrastructure that meets current connectivity goals and can be augmented to meet future demand.

If students re-imagined school, this is what it could look like [Kenkel]

On 12/17/2015, in assessment, career development, education, education reform, education technology, personalized/customized learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

If students re-imagined school, this is what it could look like — from knowledgeworks.org by Mary Kenkel

Excerpt of 5 of the 11 ideas mentioned:

Cater to all types of learning. INTERalliance students recognized that not all of them learn in the same way. If they were to create a new system, they would consider all learning styles so everyone can thrive.
Measure mastery in other ways, besides high-stakes testing. Team members wanted choice in proving their mastery. Rather than only testing, their systems would give learners the chance to show mastery through presentations, portfolios, essays or projects.
Expose students to career opportunities. By creating partnerships with professionals from Silicon Valley to New York City, team members wondered if they could schedule video calls to allow learners to explore different fields and think more about future professional careers.
Put students in charge of their own learning. While the teams recognized the importance of teachers, guidance counselors, parents and guardians, they wanted to offer learners more control over their education experience. In their new systems, learners would have the opportunity to build individual schedules and explore interests.
Use technology as a tool to enhance learning. The teams suggested technological ideas beyond individual devices. They suggested using video calls to talk with students in other countries to learn about different cultures or study languages. They talked about an online platform to track subjects mastered, learn ways to improve learning, and choose classes.

Also, a quote from this posting:

The real scary idea is that our system of education – and the politics surrounding it – is not innovating even close to quickly enough to keep up with the reality of today, let alone the reality of 2025.

Reflections on “The teacher is not the most important factor when it comes to learning” [Nielsen]

On 12/04/2015, in education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, ideas, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, love of learning, participation, passions, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

The teacher is not the most important factor when it comes to learning — from theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.ch by Lisa Nielsen

Excerpt:

If we were honest about the reality — that the student is the most important factor when it comes to learning — we could actually improve student learning. Here’s how.

From DSC:
There are some solid, insightful comments here — especially when one agrees with Daniel Willingham that “memory is the residue of thought” (i.e., we remember what we think about.)

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of providing students with “more choice, more control.” Giving students more choice so that they can pursue items of interest to them will likely invite deeper levels of thought and ultimately better, more lasting learning. That said, I realize that some base layers of knowledge need to be built. I’d just like to see us really question when we can begin turning over more choice, more control to the students. I would like us to apply more scrutiny and justification for the courses/subjects that we require. Do most students really need to take this course? Why? And are there other courses that students might like to take in light of the workplace that they will be dealing with?

Finally, I’d vote for including a new ingredient of how we assess our own courses; and that is, “Did the students enjoy their learning? Were they engaged in the learning?” Why do I say this? Because we all need to be lifelong learners now. It’s easier to do that if we like to learn and have a positive perspective on it.

MoreChoiceMoreControl-DSC2

From DSC:
Some of the items that I see at Singularity Hub — and the perspectives held and lifted up by some of the authors therein — are over the top…at least for me they are. Nevertheless, at other times I think that there are some pretty solid articles at the site. Along these lines, the following two postings are worth a read.

Automation is eating jobs, but these skills will always be valued in the workplace — from singularityhub.com by Alison Berman
If you’d asked farmers a few hundred years ago what skills their kids would need to thrive, it wouldn’t have taken long to answer. General skills for a single profession that only changed slowly.

Excerpt:

Finland recently shifted its national curriculum to a new model called the “phenomenon-based” approach. By 2020, the country will replace traditional classroom subjects with a topical approach highlighting the four Cs—communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. These four skills “are central to working in teams, and a reflection of the ‘hyperconnected’ world we live in today,” Singularity Hub Editor-in-Chief David Hill recently wrote.

Hill notes the four Cs directly correspond to the skills needed to be a successful 21st century entrepreneur—when accelerating change means the jobs we’re educating for today may not exist tomorrow. Finland’s approach reflects an important transition away from the antiquated model used in most US institutions—a model created for a slower, more stable labor market and economy that no longer exists.

In addition to the four Cs, successful entrepreneurs across the globe are demonstrating three additional soft skills that can be integrated into the classroom—adaptability, resiliency and grit, and a mindset of continuous learning.

These skills can equip students to be problem-solvers, inventive thinkers, and adaptive to the fast-paced change they are bound to encounter. In a world of uncertainty, the only constant is the ability to adapt, pivot, and get back on your feet.

From DSC:
I’m glad to see that they added 3 additional soft skills to the 4 C’s mentioned above: adaptability, resiliency and grit, and a mindset of continuous learning.

These skills can equip students to be problem-solvers, inventive thinkers, and adaptive to the fast-paced change they are bound to encounter. In a world of uncertainty, the only constant is the ability to adapt, pivot, and get back on your feet.

Given the pace of change, I think that one of the most overlooked competencies that is quickly becoming critical is the ability to scan the horizons to see what’s coming down the pike. We often have our eyesight turned downwards, focusing on the tasks at hand. But we don’t always do a good job of looking up, glancing around the various relevant landscapes to one’s job/position, and ascertaining which of the developing trends might impact us. We often either don’t know how to strategize or we don’t take the time to come up with plans for what we should do if those trends might adversely affect us. Instead, we move forward with our eyesight pointing downwards — then we suddenly get blindsided.

Also see:

How would today’s smartest teens overhaul education? We asked them — from singularityhub.com by Libby Falck
What happens when you gather 14 of the world’s brightest teenagers at Singularity University and ask them to design the future of education? During last summer’s Exponential Youth Camp, we found out.

Excerpts:

The first thing that became very clear during our conversation was that our group of “Generation Me” millennials expect their learning to be highly personalized. It should be “my choice” to pursue “my interests” at “my pace,” they argued. Although this may at first sound childish, these demands are far from selfish. Why? Because personalization is necessary to compete in today’s intricately specialized world.
…
Nonetheless, our XYC teens told us they are looking for more than hands-on practice in the classroom; they want opportunities to work on projects in the real world as well. For them, contributing to the local community sparked engagement and motivation in a way that classroom work couldn’t match. Furthermore, the teens told us that most tests “just don’t make sense.”
…
The teens told us online courses are “great for educated specialists” but don’t cater to beginners. They cited a lack of time to complete online coursework and internet connectivity issues faced by many schools as additional issues. Mostly, the teens didn’t like the idea of “going it alone.” The problem wasn’t that online learning content was bad, the students simply desired guidance in navigating the material.
…
The teens told us they value traditional subject matter, but opportunities to build more practical skills were lacking. Interest in learning more about money management and soft skill development — like teamwork, problem solving and conflict resolution — was mentioned multiple times.

U.S. Department of Education Launches Campaign to Encourage Schools to #GoOpen with Educational Resources [ed.gov]

On 10/30/2015, in change, digital learning, education, education reform, online media, open courseware and systems, by Daniel Christian

U.S. Department of Education Launches Campaign to Encourage Schools to #GoOpen with Educational Resources — from ed.gov, with thanks to Sheila Soule for this resource
Department proposes rule requiring educational materials created with federal grants to be openly licensed so that any school has access

Excerpt:

The U.S. Department of Education announced [on 10/29/15] the launch of #GoOpen, a campaign to encourage states, school districts and educators to use openly licensed educational materials. As part of the campaign, the Department is proposing a new regulation that would require all copyrightable intellectual property created with Department grant funds to have an open license.

“In order to ensure that all students – no matter their zip code – have access to high-quality learning resources, we are encouraging districts and states to move away from traditional textbooks and toward freely accessible, openly-licensed materials,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “Districts across the country are transforming learning by using materials that can be constantly updated and adjusted to meet students’ needs.”

Could/should some of these things be leveraged in the public schools as well?

On 09/17/2015, in attention, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, using teams, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I don’t care for the title here, but there are some valuable items that can be found by digging around in this article entitled, “Silicon Valley billionaires are appalled by normal schools — so they’ve created this new one” — from businessinsider.com by Melia Robinson

Excerpts:

A typical day at Altschool, the Bay Area-based school system that raised $100 million in venture capital in May, is anything but typical.

Kids take attendance on an iPad, complete a “playlist” of activities, and learn 3D modeling software to design a playhouse for the class pet.

Founder and CEO Max Ventilla previously helmed the personalization team at Google, where he helped build Google+ and other products that make the internet feel more personal.

His latest venture aims to transform the outdated, early-1900s model of elementary education for the digital age.

In May, we spent the day at AltSchool‘s Fort Mason location in San Francisco to see its revolutionary teaching style in action.

From DSC:
Is there anything here that public schools would find attractive and/or could implement?

AltSchool divides students between the ages of 4 and 14 into three groups: lower elementary, upper elementary, and middle school. There are no traditional grade levels.
A typical day at AltSchool begins with attendance. As kids arrive, they sign in to the school’s attendance app on a dedicated iPad.
The attendance app is one of a dozen or so tech tools developed by the school’s 50-person product team, which includes former employees of Apple, Uber, Zynga, and Ventilla’s alma mater, Google.
The PLP is the foundation of the AltSchool experience. Teachers collaborate with families and students to design a set of goals for the learner based on the student’s interests, passions, strengths, and weaknesses.
Each child receives a weekly “playlist” of individual and group activities that are aimed at achieving those goals. This student is writing an entry for his blog on coin collecting.
Teachers pick activities for their students by creating items in their playlists or searching the My.AltSchool library to find items that other teachers have made.
This 8-year-old demonstrates a game of Pac-Man using MaKey MaKey — a simple circuit board that transforms everyday objects into touchable user interfaces …he attaches alligator clips to four mounds of clay and tapes one clip to himself. When he taps the clay and completes the circuit, the computer interprets the input as arrow key actions.
This streamlined instruction time frees up the teacher to walk around the classroom and interact face-to-face with students.
The lower elementary students spend the morning knocking a shared item off their playlists: “writing the news.” These guys are chronicling a recent trip to the park.

Many of the younger kids wear headphones during playlist time to drown out distractions.
Technology isn’t necessary to complete all activities, but it is used to document students’ work. This student takes a picture of her news clipping using an iPad and uploads the image to her playlist.
The classroom, like the tech, fosters AltSchool’s individualized learning approach. Students sprawl across the room on carpets, beanbags, and even lofts of their own construction.

Classrooms are treated like stations, rather than designated areas for particular grade levels, and students move from room to room throughout the day. It’s especially important for micro-schools to maximize space so that a four-room schoolhouse doesn’t feel cramped
Craft and cleaning supplies are stored where the smaller kids can reach them, giving them a sense of agency.
After lunch and PE in the nearby park, students put aside their playlists and work on more integrated group projects.
The middle-school students were tasked with a classroom redesign. This 11-year-old, who was wearing an Iron Man T-shirt, built a parkour course. He’s writing a parent permission slip on his Google Chromebook now.
His classmate learned from online tutorials how to use the 3D-modeling software SketchUp, and she designed an urban-garden-inspired seating area for the unused deck on the second floor. There’s an obstacle course inside the benches for a class rabbit to tunnel through.
Another student, who wants to be a veterinarian, lawyer, writer, and manga comic-book writer, grew an indoor tea garden. She says she loves how the assignments “bend to your ability.”
If Silicon Valley’s favorite elementary school has its way, personalization will remain king.

The future of education demands more questions, not answers — from edsurge.com by Jay Silver; with thanks to EDTECH@UTRGV for their Scoop on this resource

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Technology alone can’t educate students. It’s not some mystical, magical ingredient one sprinkles over core curricula like salt on a meal. The magic is inside the child.
…
A Pedagogy of Answers
Too many schools apply a paint-by-numbers approach to tech: “Let’s cover this fixed information, in this exact way, in this set amount of time, and judge ourselves as educators and students based on standardized test results.”
…
A Pedagogy of Questions
Our national teaching model has for too long been a pedagogy of answers. In its place I’d like to suggest a new pedagogy of questions—one that prizes interest-driven, project-based, exploratory studies. Personal gardens of learning with no single pathway through them. More open play and less rote memorization. More learning by discovery than following set instructions.
…
As an inventor and father, my advice to those looking to make digital in-roads into our nation’s schools is this: promote learning that encourages kids to choose their own problems and solutions rather than a single, siloed system.
…
Tech isn’t the answer, but it can help us create a new pedagogy of questions.

From DSC:
I can relate to Jay’s thoughts and perspectives here — we need to provide our young learners with more choice, more control. More play. More time for experimentation. More project-based learning that’s based upon what students want to learn about.

How many parents wouldn’t give their left leg (well…almost) to hear their kids say, “I can’t wait to go to school — I love going to school! I love learning about new things that I want to know about!”? To see such excitement, engagement, and a love for learning would be mind-blowing, right? If your son or daughter has that perspective, I’d guess that you value that attitude and that learning situation a great deal.

This morning a faculty member said something that’s relevant here. [Paraphrasing what he said:] “There’s a paradigm shift occurring these days in how to get information. We need our students to understand and react to this paradigm shift and we need to help them make that shift. They need to be more proactive in how they get information; and not go along with the “Feed me! Feed me!” approach.”

A final comment here…my kids balk at having to learn so many things that they have little interest in; it’s force-fed learning surrounded by — and shaped by — standardized tests. The list of things they actually want to learn about is either very short or non-existent (depending upon their grade levels). I understand that they are at different stages in their ability to make judgments about what they need to learn about; they need foundational skills to build upon…and that they don’t know what they don’t know. That said, it would be an interesting experiment for each of them indeed, for them to be able to self-select/choose some more topics, projects, and assignments and then pursue them on their own or with other small groups of other students. How might that impact their engagement levels? How might that improve their views of learning? Perhaps I’m off here..and too Hallmarkish, too Pollyannaish; but I’m tired of hearing the moaning and groaning again about having to do this or that piece of homework.

————–

Addendums on 9/16/15:
I just ran across this item from Larry Ferlazzo out at edutopia.org that has a section in it — Autonomy — that addresses ways that more choice, more control can be introduced.

Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves — from edutopia.org by Larry Ferlazzo
Excerpt:
My previous post reviewed research on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and described the four qualities that have been identified as critical to helping students motivate themselves: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. In this post, I’ll discuss practical classroom strategies to reinforce each of these four qualities.

The idea of asking better questions doesn’t just belong in K-12. Check out Jack Uldrich’s posting, A Framework for Questioning the Future.

Excerpt:

In today’s era of accelerating change, “answers” about the future are becoming more scarce. As a result, a premium is being placed on asking better questions about the future.

Unfortunately, because most business leaders, CEO’s and senior executives view themselves as action-oriented “problem-solvers,” they have a bias for “answers” instead of “questions.” As such, they don’t really know how to ask better questions.

In an effort to help individuals and organizations overcome this bias–and in the firm belief that it is better to have an imprecise answer to the right question than an exact answer to the wrong question,–I have put together a simple framework to help companies, businesses and organizations begin asking better questions about the future.

The eleven questions posted below are design to jumpstart the thinking–and questioning–process:

What the Future Economy Means for How Kids Learn Today [Price]

On 09/10/2015, in attention, economics, education, education reform, future, global / globalization, K-12 related, motivation, open courseware and systems, participation, student-related, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

What the Future Economy Means for How Kids Learn Today — from kqed.org/mindshift by David Price

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

While this myopic and somewhat irrelevant argument takes place, the gulf in motivation between the learning that our students have to do, and the learning that they choose to do, grows ever wider. Meanwhile, the implementation of standardized testing and high-stakes accountability leaves a devastating legacy of what Yong Zhao calls side effects: increasing student (and staff) disengagement; perceived irrelevance of formal education; and the loss of autonomy and trust in the teaching profession.

If we want to re-engage learners, re-professionalize teachers, and re-think how we prepare students for a globally competitive working life, we need to follow the learners, and develop more open learning systems.

From DSC:
Are we neglecting to ask some key questions within higher education? I’ll get to those questions in a moment, the ones that came to my mind after seeing the following posting:

The robots are coming for your job! Why digital literacy is so important for the jobs of the future — from theconversation.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In a report released this week, the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) claims that up to 70% of young people are preparing for jobs that will no longer exist in the future. The report also raises concerns about decreasing entry-level occupations for school leavers and the impacts of automation.

In another recent report, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia predicts that:

almost five million Australian jobs – around 40% of the workforce – face the high probability of being replaced by computers in the next 10 to 15 years.

…

The FYA report also makes the case for increased emphasis on developing digital literacy and the implementation of a digital technologies curriculum in primary school.

Digital literacy includes skills such as coding, data synthesis and manipulation, as well as the design, use and management of computerised, digital and automated systems. Success in the new work order requires these skills alongside lateral thinking, innovation, problem-solving, collaboration and entrepreneurship. Add these to the traditional literacy skills of reading and writing and you have a very complex picture of what literacy is.

With automation a real threat to future jobs, school curricula have to keep up with the times.

From DSC:
The article raises an important point: “At the same time, the question of how we are preparing students in our schools for the new work order also bears serious consideration.”

I couldn’t agree more, as there are enormous ramifications to this topic/question: Are we, in fact, preparing our students for the future that they will inherit?

I suppose I could have also titled this posting, “More reasons to support the liberal arts,” as the liberal arts lay a strong foundation for many of the twists and turns that our students (and ourselves) will encounter down the road.

However, I fear that even within our liberal arts programs, we aren’t offering quite enough new courses that would help our students deal with a rapidly changing world. For example, I would like to see more courses on futurism offered — training students to look up and pulse check a variety of items that could impact them, their families, or their businesses in the future. Also, I don’t think they are going to know how to run their own businesses or to effectively freelance, something that 30-50% of them are going to need to do (depending upon which articles and reports one reads).

Also, why aren’t we offering more online-based opportunities for students to encounter learning opportunities and discussions that involve people from all over the globe? Won’t they be on project teams like that in the future? Isn’t that occurring already?

What do you think…how are we doing here? How are things in your city, state, or country?

The future of learning spaces is open ended [Vattel]

On 08/27/2015, in active learning, collaboration, creativity, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, innovation, K-12 related, learning spaces, maker movement, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, project-based learning, by Daniel Christian

The future of learning spaces is open ended — from eschoolnews.com by Lucien Vattel

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The spaces we inhabit have a profound effect on how we inhabit them. Space induces a particular way of feeling, of being. What are we saying to our children with we line them up in 5×8 rows facing the same direction toward a voice of authority? What do we say about desks that lock us in place, where the majority of movement within our gaze is eyes forward, eyes down? I remember my surprise when I walked into first grade for the very first time. The change from kindergarten to first grade was extreme. I looked at the arrangement of desks and thought, “what game is this?” It was a game I would play for the rest of my developing years. I was disappointed. I knew it could be better than this.

We look inside current learning spaces and look at the world; there is a big disconnect. It’s not reflective. We as a society have agreed by doctrine that our children will come together in a building and learn, and yet we allow our kids to be behind desks for a majority of their developing years. We evolve behind desks. Think of that! Students don’t need places to sit, listen and write. Instead, they need places to connect, explore, discover and relate. They need places of support. We spend over a decade being conditioned to receive and compete, imagine if space invoked us to support each other, everyday and in every way.

We need environments that help realize that within us there are unbounded treasures. We need environments that shine a light on our potential and provide opportunities to express ourselves.

Schools at their heart should be human potentiality incubators.

Reflections on “Can we interest you in teaching?” [Bruni] & “Teacher shortages spur a nationwide hiring scramble (credentials optional)” [Rich]

On 08/13/2015, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, future, K-12 related, leadership, strategy, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Can we interest you in teaching? — from nytimes.com by Frank Bruni; with thanks to Jim Lerman for his Scoop on this

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Teaching can’t compete.

When the economy improves and job prospects multiply, college students turn their attention elsewhere, to professions that promise more money, more independence, more respect.

That was one takeaway from a widely discussed story in The Times on Sunday by Motoko Rich, who charted teacher shortages so severe in certain areas of the country that teachers are being rushed into classrooms with dubious qualifications and before they’ve earned their teaching credentials.

It’s a sad, alarming state of affairs, and it proves that for all our lip service about improving the education of America’s children, we’ve failed to make teaching the draw that it should be, the honor that it must be. Nationally, enrollment in teacher preparation programs dropped by 30 percent between 2010 and 2014, as Rich reported.

To make matters worse, more than 40 percent of the people who do go into teaching exit the profession within five years.

Also see:

Teacher shortages spur a nationwide hiring scramble (credentials optional) — from nytimes.com by Motoko Rich
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — In a stark about-face from just a few years ago, school districts have gone from handing out pink slips to scrambling to hire teachers. Across the country, districts are struggling with shortages of teachers, particularly in math, science and special education — a result of the layoffs of the recession years combined with an improving economy in which fewer people are training to be teachers. At the same time, a growing number of English-language learners are entering public schools, yet it is increasingly difficult to find bilingual teachers. So schools are looking for applicants everywhere they can — whether out of state or out of country — and wooing candidates earlier and quicker.
…
In California, the number of people entering teacher preparation programs dropped by more than 55 percent from 2008 to 2012, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Nationally, the drop was 30 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to federal data. Alternative programs like Teach for America, which will place about 4,000 teachers in schools across the country this fall, have also experienced recruitment problems.

From DSC:
Teaching is very difficult. If you doubt that statement, you probably haven’t taught in a while (or ever). Finding ways to engage 25-35+ students at once — while trying to provide a personalized, customized learning experience for each learner — is no small task.

I’m grateful for the solid teachers I had growing up. We need solid teachers. This is our future – no matter what nation that we’re talking about. Yet, as the article mentions for those of us in the United States, “It’s a sad, alarming state of affairs, and it proves that for all our lip service about improving the education of America’s children, we’ve failed to make teaching the draw that it should be, the honor that it must be.”

This is a major shot across the bow. We need action. We need to listen to the teachers/administrators/reformers out there now, and we need to listen to — and address in concrete fashions — the former teachers who have left the profession. Why did they leave? What would they recommend changing? After listening, we need to take action.

But even as I write this, I get a glimpse of the immensity and difficulty of the task. For example, who has solid ideas? What are solid ideas? Which direction should we go in? How will we get enough people on board with the proposed changes?

I’m grateful for all of those folks out there who are working to address this situation. Who work day after day to implement positive reforms and address these concerns — who are helping prepare our students for the future they will inherit. To those folks, I say thank you and may you come across reasons to be encouraged today.

“The whole point of things like curricula and classroom instruction, for example, is to prepare students for what they need to know tomorrow, not what yesterday’s students needed to know today.”

Source

The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition is now out.

Description:

What is on the five-year horizon for K-12 schools worldwide? Which trends and technologies will drive educational change? What are the challenges that we consider as solvable or difficult to overcome, and how can we strategize effective solutions? These questions and similar inquiries regarding technology adoption and transforming teaching and learning steered the collaborative research and discussions of a body of 56 experts to produce the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition, in partnership with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). The NMC also gratefully acknowledges ISTE as a dissemination partner. The three key sections of this report — key trends, significant challenges, and important developments in educational technology — constitute a reference and straightforward technology planning guide for educators, school leaders, administrators, policymakers, and technologists. It is our hope that this research will help to inform the choices that institutions are making about technology to improve, support, or extend teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in K-12 education across the globe. View the wiki where the work was produced.

> Download the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition (PDF)
> Download the report preview (PDF)
> Download the interim results (PDF)

This is a solid, wise question: “What should graduates look like in 10 years?” [Norris]

On 06/26/2015, in career development, curriculum, digital learning, education, education reform, future, global / globalization, ideas, K-12 related, languages and translation, new media literacies, student-related, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

What should graduates look like in 10 years? — from eschoolnews.com by Rachel Norris

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Superintendent Richard Carranza of San Francisco Unified School District and the board of education considered, for instance, that graduates will need to develop and manage their local, global, and digital identities, and be comfortable separating and switching between the three. Graduates will benefit from being bilingual or multilingual; a 2025 graduate must be technologically fluent as well as college and career ready, with the added challenge that many of those careers have yet to be created.

Community participants looked at trends and data to create a 2025 “Graduate Profile.” They also, in large and small groups, engaged creatively with each other, with research and with information gathered from field trip observations to design possible future learning environments.

Then they started a pilot program to begin to bring that vision to life — starting in first grade.

Learning Ecosystems

U.S. Department of Education Launches Campaign to Encourage Schools to #GoOpen with Educational Resources [ed.gov]

Categories

Tags