New Year in Education

This interview features a small panel of experts and highlights important considerations related to the future of education. With Professor Paul Kim, CTO of Stanford University; Professor Tony Valley, representing charter schools; and futurist James Breaux.

KM Q&A: What is your background and experience as related to education?

Professor Paul Kim:

B.S. in C.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Edu Psyc & Technology, Over 15 years as a higher ed executive

Professor Tony Valley:

I have 30+ years experience working in public education (teacher and administrator), as well as 9 years teaching experience at the university level. I hold a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Portland State University. The general topic of my dissertation was Oregon charter schools.

James Breaux:

I am not an expert in the field of education. I am a graduate student of Futures Studies at the University of Houston College of Technology MS program. I am a current consumer of HE (Higher Education) and have a BS in Industrial Engineering, 1990 and am a professional engineer – although these opinions are not offered as engineering. I have put three children through high school and one through a BA in Economics, one through an AA in Business, and one through Fire Academy. Also, I have an interest in the futures of education and have done considerable reading and have attended presentations on the topic.

KM: What are the most pressing issues facing education today?

PK:

Social DNA issue, resistance to change, teacher qualification for the 21st classrooms

TV:

There is significant tension between the convergent (standardized education/common core state standards) and divergent thinking (critical and creative thinking/differentiated instruction) forces in education. I am persuaded that the move toward standardization is not effective—We should probably be thinking about educating children/adults to be able to work in jobs that have not yet been invented. Critical and creative thinking get us there—Standardization does not. Yong Zhoa (2009, 2012) has a lot to say about this.

JB:

Value Relevance Educators

KM: What are your immediate thoughts and concerns about the future of education in general?

PK:

School systems are actually limiting factor for students to reach their full potentials.

TV:

My immediate thoughts/concerns are these:

1. We need to shift dramatically away from the standardized approach we are currently taking. In the end I do not believe it will get us where we need to be.

2. We need to stop politicizing education—Education is property of neither of our two major parties, nor is it an issue for either party to demagogue to gain votes. Education should be an area of political agreement.

3. I am concerned that we do not do enough for students who are not academically inclined, but have skills in other areas. We need to do more for them, which is where the DIY/Makerspace movement can help.

JB:

Addressing the value proposition issues.

What if the Commercial model swings back to in-house R & D – by a change in tax laws or some other unintended driver?

KM: Where do recent DIY movements such as Makerspaces fit into the future of education?

PK:

Will help transform and mold future education space

TV:

I think it has a lot of potential. It is interesting that this is a movement that seems to have risen independently of schools, but is one schools should be moving to adopt. It addresses some of the issues I referenced in items 2 and 3 about critical/creative thought and the need to attend to students who have other talents and skills outside of traditional academics. Moreover, this movement taps into the American cultural DNA—We have always been a nation of tinkerers and inventors.

JB:

I believe that the splintering of the post industrial education model will see many trials of alternate skills development methods, venues and processes. Someone has to fix the plumbing – even on the way to the stars, even in the future.

KM: How do you feel about the Common Core Standards initiatives set by the US Department of Education?

PK:

Quick patch work without clear vision or appropriate ICT innovation

TV:

I understand their attraction and purpose—It seems to be a drive to make a “one-size-fits-all” system even more so. Once again, we are looking for the magic education bullet that does not exist. I am not convinced that this is the right move to make.

JB:

In general I am in favor of benchmarking and performance metrics. I well understand that unintended consequences are often the result of well meant rule sets and process tweaks, but in general, setting thoroughly thought-out and widely agreed standards can be helpful if we don’t lose sight of the mission to be accomplished and are willing to adjust as poor results come to light.

KM: What are your thoughts on open educational resources?

PK:

Can be good, but not close from being enough to make a dent in current flawed education systems

TV:

I really like what Academic Earth, Khan Academy, MIT, Stanford, iTunes University, et.al. are doing. It gives people a chance to learn things they might not otherwise be able to learn. Moreover, this highlights the idea that learning does not always take place in a classroom under the guidance of a teacher. And the materials I have looked at closely (specifically Academic Earth and MIT courseware) are terrific.

The Digital Badges movement (with Mozilla and UC Davis as exemplars) is also a very interesting idea. Done right, it could revolutionize education how we view academic credentialing. It would not surprise me that some universities are exploring it, and that some entreprenuers are looking for ways to promote, monetize, and profit from it. The movement ultimately could be a good or a not so good thing—It is too early to tell on that.

I have read a bit about Massive Open Online Courses, but do not know enough about them just yet to offer a real opinion, other than to say if it promotes greater access to learning and ideas, then I say it will be a great thing.

JB:

I like the idea. The main issue I see with OE and MOOC is accreditation. What does the accomplishment mean to those that would engage the student? If you have a traditional degree in a specific field from one accredited college or another the training of the student can reasonably be supposed to be similar. This is an issue that is under consideration and its solution will add value to open ed.

KM: What are important considerations for the future of educational technologies?

PK:

Learning analytics, mobile technology, global classroom technology

TV:

I think there are four considerations/questions here:

1. Access—Every student needs full, at home, on demand access to get the most out of their education. The digital divide is real, and has to be addressed in a real way.

2. Curriculum—How can we leverage technology to make curriculum better? Some online schooling companies I am aware of (Aventa and K-12 are two examples) are making sharp gains in this area.

3. Learning skills—Students need to know/use good learning skills to make the most of their technology access. This requires good teaching.

4. Teaching skills—Teachers need to know/use good teaching skills to help students make the most of their technology access. Right now, that is often not the case: The vast majority of teachers are just scratching the surface with their knowledge/use of technology. As young people enter the teaching ranks, this will change—the concern here is for the people who are already teaching—How will they gain the skills (and the confidence to use them?)

JB:

Delivery to many platforms Censorship Overcoming social interaction barriers inherent in technologies today Credibility Relevancy

KM: Do you have any advice for future students and parents of students?

PK:

Learn beyond classrooms, keep up to date with technology and leverage

TV:

I have three pieces of advice:

1. Take your schooling seriously. Learn your basic reading, writing, and math skills very well. And, learn all you can about critical and creative thinking. This will be a constant need for any future employment opportunities.

2. Learn all you can about technology and how it enhances learning. Technology will likely be a constant need in any future employment opportunities, and having those skills will matter.

3. Work to develop good character skills—Integrity, honesty, reliability, etc. This makes you a good future employee and a better person.

JB:

Listen to each other.

Know why you are going to school – your reason; be able to say it and write it down. If you believe it you will accomplish what you want and when what you believe changes you will know what to do.

Find an advisor at the school that you trust; don’t settle for anything less – go to the head of the department if you can’t find that advisor.

Debt is like cancer – you can recover from a little bit if you catch it early enough.

KM: Do you have any advice for future teachers?

PK:

Embrace the wind of change, be as proficient as students about available technologies

TV:

I have three pieces of advice:

1. Learn all you can about good teaching methodology (particularly differentiation of instruction). This sets the baseline for your teaching practice. Then, put it in motion in your classroom with your students.

2. Take your ongoing professional development very seriously. Read widely (and not just in education), attend conferences and workshops, travel, volunteer, learn new technology skills, etc. The world is changing and what you learn in education courses about teaching just scratches the surface. There is always more to learn.

3. You should be ready for anything—Anything can happen.

The “Agile Mind” wins.

JB:

Teaching is hard – make sure that you set your life up to balance the hard with the rewarding.

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

Do not stop learning – not just the required continuing education stuff, but the gee whiz, ah ha, I wish I had known that years ago stuff too.

KM: Do you have any closing thoughts you would like to express?

TV:

Thanks for the opportunity. These are big ideas and we need to talk about them, and act upon what we decide to do.

JB:

The topic of education is on everyone’s mind right now, but it always is. It is a worthy topic.

We live in an age of the monetization of everything, but education contributes many valuable intangibles as well.

KM: As you know, a small panel of experts are helping to compile these interview questions. Do you have a unique question that you feel is important to ask our panel?

PK:

When teachers are resistant to changes and can no longer able to facilitate the kinds of new learning activities possible in today’s classrooms, what do we do with them?

TV:

Not really--These were good questions.

JB:

Yes. Thank you.

A train leaves Pittsburg at midnight going 70 miles per hour…

Just kidding, but seriously – what do you think about the math/sciences deficit between the US and other countries? Does our imagination/creativity/risk-taking culture continue to trump this creeping educational advantage or do we begin to fall behind in the intellectual economy and wind up back in our manufacturing economy?