Future of Learning Top Reads for week of Apr 9 2018
Photo by Mark Daynes on Unsplash
"One More Way Independent Schools Can Ward Off Disruption," by Michael Horn / @michaelbhorn, in Forbes
"Yet it's not all that hard to imagine a school identifying a Job—helping students be entrepreneurs; helping students attend and excel in liberal arts colleges; helping students to excel in collegiate and professional athletics—and integrating and discarding unneeded services and facilities accordingly. Does the school need big, expensive, state-of-the-art athletic facilities? Depends on the Job. Is a fancy new science center critical? Depends on the Job."
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Michael Horn, cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute and NAIS trustee, writes extensively about the future of higher education. Here he turns his eye to independent schools. Rather than try to be all things to all families--a trap that most independent schools fall into--schools should consider Horn’s recommendation to apply the logic of "Jobs To Be Done." The answer may be simpler than you think, but "integrating and discarding unneeded services and facilities" in alignment with that Job is a transformation project fraught with peril.
As independent schools continue to struggle with affordability, we will need Horn's logic model. We will also need changemaking strategies, because it is never as simple as cutting costs and consolidating resources.
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"Higher Education's Push Toward Lifelong Learning," by Jeff Selingo / @jselingo, in The Atlantic
"Now a third wave in education and training has arrived, argue economists, educators, and workforce-development officials. The level of preparation that worked in the first two waves—adding more time to education early in life—does not seem sufficient in the 21st-century economy. Instead the third wave is likely to be marked by continual training throughout a person's lifetime—to keep current in a career, to learn how to complement rising levels of automation, and to gain skills for new work. Workers will likely consume this lifelong learning in short spurts when they need it, rather than in lengthy blocks of time as they do now when it often takes months or years to complete certificates and degrees."
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Selingo seems to be suggesting that the future of learning will involve teaching students to play the infinite game of learning how to learn, and not the finite game of "getting into college."
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"Designing Higher Ed: The Search for a Process to Innovate," by Sean Hobson / @seanhobson, in EdSurge News
"By serving as the initial point of contact for new opportunities, D&D [Design & Development] provides ASU with the flexibility to explore emerging opportunities without disrupting core operations; puts promising projects on the right trajectory; and informs the university about projects that should be discontinued or time-boxed."
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
As the rate of change in education continues to accelerate, schools with R&D or D&D programs will find that their investments produce non-linear returns. This article provides a starting point for conceptualizing the D&D work that schools can do to support their Mission and Vision.
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Question of the week: What is the #1 "Job" families expect your school to do?
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