Education for Tomorrow: Connecting Instruction to Our Childrens Future

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Education for Tomorrow Connecting Instruction
to Our Childrens Future
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Passing through the window

• Addressing the Gap
• What are the gaps that must be addressed for
  student success?
• Achievement
• Digital
• Skills
• How do we prepare students for success in their
  future?

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Factors impacting education?
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Leading to Knowledge

• Web 1.0 (1995)
• Information Age ( e.g. Internet Surfing and
  e-bay)
• Web 2.0 (2005)
• Participatory Age (e.g. My Space, Facebook, You
  Tube, and Second Life)
• Web 3.0 (200?)
• Knowledge Age (e.g. Open source world)

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Our Future Workforce
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New Economy Requires Old New Basics
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Wired Students

• Todays students are considered digital natives
  meaning they have only known a digital world.
• Characteristics of digital natives
• Are capable of parallel processing and
  multi-tasking
• Prefer graphics over text
• Prefer random access
• Function best when networked
• Thrive on instant gratification and frequent
  rewards

Source The Future of Education in America A
Structured Response to Uncertainty, McREL,
November 2005
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An Educated Student

• Today and Tomorrows children need
• Cognitive skills to work with new and evolving
  technologies
• Thinking and reasoning skills to make sound
  decisions and demonstrate values inherent in a
  democracy
• Interpretive skills to sift through, analyze, and
  synthesize information
• Dilemma resolving skills that involve multiple
  perspectives and
• Interpersonal skills and flexibilities to live
  peacefully and productively in a global society.

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The Learning Economy
(Knowledge Works Foundation, 2007)
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Learn by DoingTo become a scientist, architect,
or computer programmermust learn to think and
practice like one
MIT iLabs
Surgery Simulator
Discover Babylon
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Media Rich Pervasive Learning
(Knowledge Works Foundation, 2007)
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Immersive Teaching and GamesLearn through
structured play
Federation of American Scientists Immune Attack
World Without Oil Alternate Reality Simulating
Oil Shock
Second Life
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New World Economy

• Four Features of New World Economy
• It is bent on speed, so you have to be agile.
• It flows across national boundaries, so you must
  be plugged in and good at networking
  internationally.
• It is highly knowledge intensive, so you must be
  good at constantly learning.
• It is hypercompetitive, so you must be 100
  reliable or business will shift to someone else.

Source High Noon 20 Global Problems 20 Years
to Solve Them, J.F. Rischard, World Bank Vice
President for Europe
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What do we know?

• Trends regarding the future related to jobs
• Work or College Readiness
• Where do we go from here?

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More Interesting Statistics

• Fewer than 40 percent of the nations largest and
  fastest-growing job classifications require
  four-year college degrees.
• Fewer than 30 percent of all jobs demand college
  degrees a figure that has barely budged in the
  last two decades.
• www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/06/ Paul Barton
  article

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More than 80 percent of respondents in the
2005 National Association of Manufacturers
Skills Gap Report indicated that they are
experiencing a shortage of qualified workers
overall with 13 percent reporting severe
shortages and 68 percent indicating moderate
shortages. Career and technical education plays a
vital role in helping American business close
this gap by building a competitive workforce for
the 21st Century. The Association for Career and
Technical Education (ACTE) www.acteonline.org
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More trend data
Nearly 40 of today's postsecondary students
are self supporting adults age 24 and up, almost
half attend part-time, more than 1/3 work
full-time, 27 have children 44 of Americans
dont believe they have the education they need
for the jobs they want 32 states do not have
enough young adults in the pipeline to replace
college-educated, retiring Baby Boomers There
are 32 million adults who started, but did
not complete, a college education
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The Future College or Work Readiness

• Sides of the Debate
• All students must be prepared for college
• OR
• Students must be prepared for work after high
  school, should they choose not to go to college

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From Education Week, 2007, Diploma Counts
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Side A College Education for All

• Vast majority of jobs in the future are
• In zones 3, 4, or 5
• Require post-secondary preparation
• Better paying jobs

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Side B Prepared for work after high school

• No longer what statistics you look at, there are
  students that will not go to college
• According to results of a study on workforce
  readiness, graduated high school students are
  currently not prepared, being deficient in
  writing, math, reading comprehension, critical
  thinking, problem solving, and professionalism.

Mid-continent Research for Education and
Learning http//www.mcrel.org/futureofschooling
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Finding Common Ground

• Preparation for post-secondary readiness
  regardless of what pathway is chosen
• What skills are needed in the workplace AND
  college
• basic knowledge and skills in written and spoken
  English, mathematics, science, humanities,
  history, economics and foreign languages
• development of applied skills such as critical
  thinking and problem solving, oral and written
  communications, leadership, personal
  responsibility and work ethic, innovation, and
  the ability to use technology

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Post-Secondary Readiness

• Learning and employment trajectory no longer
  follows a linear matriculation, in which
  education results in a long-term job which
  eventually leads to retirement and leisure.
• Today and in the future people are following a
  cycle of learning, work, and leisure where the
  need and interest to learn new skills to pursue
  new jobs is the norm rather than the exception.
• U.S. Department of Labor analysis found that the
  average worker has held more than 10 jobs by the
  time he or she is 40 years old.
• K-12 graduates must be prepared for their
  immediate future in work or collegeand
  successful preparation for each may look
  identical.

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Impact and Opportunity

• Out of clutter, find simplicity.
• From discord, find harmony.
• In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.
• - Albert Einstein