What School Should Be

I vividly remember the first World Book Encyclopedia set my parents bought for the house in the early 1980’s. It was a sight to behold as what seemed like an infinite amount of knowledge was alphabetically organized, just waiting to be consumed. Housed in the dining room for ease of access by all, the copper and cream books with gold trim were a staple resource for my brothers and me when we had to do any research for school work. I even found myself perusing through the set randomly, looking to glean more insight into things that interested me. Without the encyclopedia set, our world was not very big. Little did we know, however, that the second these were published, they became irrelevant as new editions were already in print to keep up with the pace of new knowledge.

The Internet was still over a decade away, and when I got my first taste in the mid-1990s, I didn’t know how society would change forever. Flash forward many years, and we now have instant access to what seems like endless sources of information, which is both a good and bad thing, depending on perspective. I am of the opinion that endless scrolling through TikTok and over-snapping on Snapchat don’t always yield the best results when it comes to leveraging connectivity to learn. I digress. The rise of artificial intelligence has now put us in a new frontier of knowledge acquisition. You can even claim that the world is in the palm of our hands.

While the Internet drove the encyclopedia as we knew it to irrelevance, emerging technologies are having the same exact impact on traditional schooling. Virtually any student today can access knowledge and information. It’s what they can do with it in a meaningful way that they crave. This was reinforced to me recently when I met with a group of high school students in New York. During our conversation, they stressed the need for relevant learning and a more significant purpose, something that isn’t always emphasized in the curriculum. The image below captures the essence of what school should be in the eyes of those we serve.

Now, I am not saying that knowledge and recall don’t have their place. They certainly do, especially at the lower elementary level. However, we need to ask ourselves what was gleaned of value from our experiences being “schooled” and then put ourselves in the shoes of our learners who have powerful computers in their pockets, access to AI, and can create elaborate content on a drop of a dime. Yes, they still need teachers, even more so than in the past, who can help them construct new knowledge, self-regulate, overcome challenges, and see connections to what is learned in a real-world context. What they need less of is content dissemination, where passive consumption and regurgitation of facts have limited value in a disruptive world.   

Change is hard. Without honesty and vulnerability, it becomes even more difficult. While present challenges still remain in the form of time and a focus on standardized test scores, we must look for opportunities to honor students' voices and help them develop the competencies to engage in work that matters. This means personalizing the curriculum in ways that connect to what matters. While the tasks depicted in the image above are certainly important, we can’t discount the importance of competencies that will allow learners to thrive now and well into the future. In Disruptive Thinking in Our Classrooms, I identified six of these, which you can see below.

As I reminisced about the bygone era of encyclopedias, the purpose was to chart our journey to the present, where the Internet and artificial intelligence have revolutionized access to knowledge. It’s time for a fundamental transformation in education from the passive intake of information to a system emphasizing relevance, purpose, and the practical application of knowledge. Conversations with students confirm the craving for education that aligns with real-world needs and enables meaningful contributions. The time is now to evolve beyond traditional roles, fostering competencies that empower students to proactively navigate and shape the future. It calls for personalized curricula that respect and amplify student voices, preparing them for a world where adaptability, creativity, and critical thinking are paramount. Are you in?

A Literate Learner

A great deal has changed since I was in school.  I vividly remember getting a TANDY laptop from my parents when I graduated high school.  It was a considerable upgrade from the Apple IIe that we all shared in the guest room.  I was mesmerized by the black screen with orange text, the fact that I didn’t have to toil over an electric typewriter anymore.  Simplistic games were also available that I could now play without being tied to a desktop monitor or television set.  Even though it didn’t connect to the Internet, as I believe it either had not been invented or was readily available yet, this was my first foray in becoming literate in a bold new world.  

As disruptive forces continually reshape and influence the world we all live in, being literate is of utmost importance.  For a long time, the term has referred to the ability to read and write.  While without question this is still accurate, we must expand our view and recognize that literacy also corresponds to competence or knowledge in a specified area.  UNESCO provides a relevant description below:

Beyond its conventional concept as a set of reading, writing, and counting skills, literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich, and fast-changing world.

Future-proofing learning is contingent upon a focus on developing competencies as opposed to just skills.  I shared the following in Disruptive Thinking:

Skills focus on the “what” in terms of the abilities a student needs to perform a specific task or activity.  Competencies take this to the next level by translating skills into behaviors that demonstrate what has been learned and mastered in a competent fashion.  In short, skills identify what the goal is to accomplish.  Competencies outline "how" the goals and objectives will be accomplished.  They are more detailed and define the requirements for success in broader, more inclusive terms than skills do.  To succeed in the new world of work, students will need to demonstrate the right mix of skills, knowledge, mindsets, and on-the-job ability.  A skill is a practical or cognitive demonstration of what a student can do.  Competency is the proven use of skills, knowledge, and abilities to illustrate mastery of learning by solving problems. 

Learners of today, and tomorrow for that matter, need to be able to replace conventional ideas with innovative solutions to authentic problems.  Ownership and empowerment result when we create meaningful opportunities for kids to explore, interact, design, and create in real-world contexts while being about to think disruptively.  A pivotal question for any educator, school, district, or organization to ask is how is this being achieved, or where do we begin?  To bring more clarity to the concept of developing a literate learner I created the following chart in Disruptive Thinking.  

The chart identifies five key Learner Mindsets that will help learners prosper now and in the future.  Beneath each of the five overarching mindsets are five more specific Learner Behaviors our students need to acquire now and continue to refine tomorrow and throughout their learning and living journey.  To what extent are you developing the mindsets and behaviors depicted above within your learners?

Competencies for a Post-COVID World

It seems as of late that we are always in the midst of difficult times. As I am writing this post, the world is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. The challenges that this is placing on society goes without saying.  In classrooms, educators continue to grapple with the impacts this is having on both remote and hybrid learning models. It's not easy, and many people are at a breaking point, but who could blame them.  The silver lining here is that we will get the pandemic under control at some point through more stringent social distancing requirements and a vaccine.

When the dust settles, we need to look carefully at critical lessons learned. The world of work has, and continues to, fundamentally change. There is a necessary shift emerging right before our eyes. More and more employers are moving away from physical spaces and embracing remote environments while providing greater levels of trust. What this equates to is less of a focus on the number of hours put into a day and more on getting the work done at a high level.

In my view, the future is bright, and these changes will be welcomed by many. The fact of the matter is that reporting to an office or being required to put in a set number of hours each day doesn't necessarily result in success. So, what does this mean for education? A greater emphasis on productivity in the future of work will require our learners to have a refined set of competencies. It is important not to get caught up in the hoopla about needed "skills." While these are important, they focus on the "what" in terms of the abilities a learner needs to perform a specific task or activity. Competencies outline "how" goals and objectives will be accomplished. They are more detailed and define the requirements for success in broader, more inclusive ways. In a previous post, I shared this:

Competencies, therefore, may incorporate a skill but are much more than the skill. They include a dynamic combination of abilities, attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge that is fundamental to the use of a skill aligned to a learning outcome. 

Now, and in the future, our learners will most likely need to be competent in the following areas to succeed.

• Self-regulation: Process by which people plan for a task, monitor performance, and reflect on the outcome.
• Remote collaboration: People work together, regardless of their geographic location, to achieve organizational goals using a variety of digital tools.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving: The ability to think in complex ways and apply knowledge and skills acquired in relevant ways. Even when confronted with perplexing unknowns, people are able to use extensive knowledge and skill to create solutions and take action that further develops their skills and knowledge.
• Emotional intelligence (EI) – A person's capacity to be aware of, control, express one's emotions and handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. A person who is competent in EI can understand, manage, and use their own emotions to communicate effectively, relieve stress, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict in positive ways.
• Time management: Process of organizing and planning how to divide the time you have available between specific activities or delegate tasks to others depending on organizational structure. In a nutshell, it's about working smarter, not harder, to achieve goals.
• Creativity – The ability to develop and successfully implement innovative ideas to develop solutions to complex problems while connecting seemingly unrelated phenomena.

It is essential for educators to develop their own sense of what is critical for learners going forward. The curriculum might dictate what has to be taught, but the art of teaching is all about how we teach in ways that inspire meaningful learning. As the world continues to change in ways that we could never have imagined, it is imperative that learners have what they need to succeed.

The Future of Work

The future of work should be on the top of everyone’s mind as it is smacking us right now in the face.  As I have previously written, we are in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where rampant innovation and exponential advances in technology are changing the societal landscape.  We are seeing professions being redefined or outright eradicated.  Here is a fact.  Millions of jobs are and will continue to be, lost as a result of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and automation.  So, what does this all mean? Below is a synopsis from the World Economic Forum (WEF):

As technological breakthroughs rapidly shift the frontier between the work tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms, global labor markets are likely to undergo significant transformations. These transformations, if managed wisely, could lead to a new age of good work, good jobs and improved quality of life for all, but if managed poorly, pose the risk of widening skills gaps, greater inequality, and broader polarization. In many ways, the time to shape the future of work is now. 

The WEF goes on to summarize five trends that everyone needs to know about to be ready for this paradigm shift.

1. Automation, robotization, and digitization look different across different industries
2. There is a net positive outlook for jobs – amid significant job disruption
3. The division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms is shifting fast
4. New tasks at work are driving demand for new skills
5. We will all need to become lifelong learners

There is a great deal to unpack here.  To begin, let’s focus on the most critical overreaching element. Change is not only on our doorstep, but it is about to kick the darn door in.  As a parent, this terrifies me as both my children will be thrust into this world very soon. There is some good news, however.  In the midst of the 4th and eventually the 5th Industrial Revolution, there will be millions of new jobs.  Will our learners be ready?

The question above is meant as a catalyst for reflection.  The future of work requires new skills, and it is up to K-12 education to lead the charge in this area.  Skills are not enough, in my opinion.  Yes, we want learners to have the requisite skills to meet the needs and demands inherent in the 4th Industrial Revolution. More importantly, it is our duty and the role of education to ensure that they are competent. Here are some of the thoughts I shared on this in a previous post:

Competencies outline "how" the goals and objectives will be accomplished. They are more detailed and define the requirements for success in broader, more inclusive terms than skills do. There is also an increased level of depth that considers skills, knowledge, and abilities. To succeed in the new world of work, students will need to demonstrate the right mix of skills, knowledge, and on-the-job ability. A skill is a practical or cognitive demonstration of what a student can do. Competency is the proven use of skills, knowledge, and abilities to illustrate mastery of learning by solving problems. 

The image below outlines the critical competencies (left side) that students will need in the future of work and how educators can make sure they develop them (right side).

Empowering our learners to think critically and solve real-world problems is paramount. However, as the WEF notes, lifelong learning is a must for all of us, not just the kids we serve. To meet the demands and expectations for work now and in the future, we must commit to professional growth. It is vital to make the time to learn and grow as opposed to finding the time. If we rely on the latter, chances are it will never happen.  Lifelong learning can come in many forms, but in my opinion, the most practical and time-friendly option is the creation and use of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Using social media allows all of us real-time access to the most relevant ideas and knowledge that can be immediately implemented into practice to prepare learners for their future better.

The time is now to move the needle on needed change. The longer we wait, the greater the risk for those we serve – our kids. 

What Learners Really Need

A great deal has changed since I began writing this blog back in 2009. For starters, my primary device to connect on Twitter was a Blackberry.  I didn’t even have a Facebook page until a year later.  Additionally, my views on education regarding teaching, learning, and leadership were beginning to evolve in ways that would eventually help my school experience innovative success while also pushing my professional practice into a whole new dimension.  As my thinking shifted so did my views as to how education had to change to better prepare learners to survive and thrive in a disruptive world.  The same old thinking typically leads to the same old results, which does not benefit anyone.

When it comes to education, I now view it through two distinct lenses. On the one hand, there is my professional lens as I work with schools, districts, and organizations from all over the world. By looking at the rapid pace of change due in large part to advances in technology, past and present research on what actually works, and evidence of the impact that purposeful innovation can have on learning outcomes, has given me valuable insight on what learners genuinely need.  Then there is my parent lens. It is here where I try my best to look at the world through the eyes of my two children who are both in middle school. It is impossible to predict what type of career path they will pursue at this point, which is why it is essential that their education helps them to develop critical competencies needed for success in an unknown world. 

As I reflect more and more on this, I am always drawn to an image created by MMI independent educational consultancy. The premise of the image aligns with work that I help facilitate in that there has to be a focus on sound pedagogy while creating a culture that truly prepares learners with the qualities they need now and well into the future.  We call this Quad D learning based on the Rigor Relevance Framework. It is here where learners have the competence to think in complex ways and to readily apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired. Even when confronted with perplexing unknowns, learners can use extensive knowledge and expertise to create solutions and take action that further develops their skills and knowledge. What I really like about the MMI image is not only how it aligns to Quad D learning, but also how it lists the qualities, outcomes, and dispositions that present and future learners really need.

Image credit and more info

I have taken the liberty of writing out each of the descriptions on the outermost part of the image.  The innermost circle represents knowledge taxonomy, the second key verbs, and the third sample activities that can be linked to each. As MMI explains, the categories on the periphery are added as an independent external wheel which can be applied to any section of the taxonomy.

Creative thinkers think creatively by generating and exploring ideas making original connections. They try different ways to tackle a problem, working with others to find imaginative solutions and outcomes that are of value. 

Reflective learners evaluate their strengths and limitations, setting themselves realistic goals with criteria for success. They monitor their performance and progress, inviting feedback from others and making changes to further their learning. 

Team workers work confidently with others, adapting to different contexts and taking responsibility for their own part. The listen to and take account of different views. They form collaborative relationships, resolving issues to reach agreed outcomes. 

Self-managers organize themselves, showing personal responsibility, initiative, creativity, and enterprise with a commitment to learning and self-improvement. They actively embrace change, responding positively to new priorities, coping with challenges and looking for opportunities. 

Effective participators actively engage with issues that affect them and those around them. They play a full part in the life of their school, college, workplace, or wider community by taking responsible action to bring improvements for others as well as themselves. 

Independent enquirers process and evaluate information in their investigations, planning what to do and how to go about it. They take informed and well-reasoned decisions, recognizing that others have different beliefs and attitudes.

As someone who has transitioned from the public to the private sector, I can tell you without hesitation that the qualities and outcomes listed above are critical to my current role. A strong case can also be made that our learners would benefit greatly if these were emphasized across the curriculum.  Standardized tests, standards, and curriculum do not hold anyone back from focusing on what kids really need. If it is important, then a way will be found. If not, then an excuse will be made. Our learners are relying on us to provide them with an education that will withstand the test of time.

Think about where you are with each of these, but more importantly where you want to be. How does learning in your classroom, school, or district help learners become creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers, effective participators, independent enquirers? Where is there an opportunity for growth?

It is also important to remember how these qualities and outcomes are just vital to you as well.  As you reflect think about where you can grow in these areas to benefit professionally and personally.

Competencies vs. Skills

The 21st Century skills discussion and debate has waged on even prior to the onset of this century.  The ensuing conversations have provided an opportunity for schools, districts, and organizations to critically evaluate what students need to know and be able to do in order to succeed in the new world of work.  As we have moved further into this century the number 21 has less of a meaning, but the skills are still important.  Thus, many educators, including myself, now refer to these as essential skills.  Over time they have evolved beyond just communication, collaboration, creativity, and global awareness to include entrepreneurship and emerging technological proficiency.

The other day I was speaking with Rose Else-Mitchell, a wickedly smart educational leader, who pushed my thinking on the whole skills conversation. As I was reviewing a talking point for a webinar that I was to facilitate later in the day, I brought up this image and discussed the skills that students needed to be critical thinkers in the 21st Century and beyond. After looking at what I had on the slide and listening to my analysis, she commented that I was (or should be) referencing and explaining competencies, not just skills, which students will need. This really got me thinking. 

As I reflected on her feedback I began to dive deeper into what the difference is between competencies and skills as well as their implications on learning.  Below is an image that until my conversation with Rose I would have just viewed as another catchy way to visualize digital skills that students (and adults) need. However, I am now more focused on how we can begin to address these as competencies to really prepare students for success in a disruptive world.

Image credit: www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/8-digital-skills-we-must-teach-our-children/

While skills are an important part of learning and career paths, they’re not rich or nuanced enough to guide students towards true mastery and success. Skills focus on the “what” in terms of the abilities a student needs to perform a specific task or activity. They don’t provide enough connection to the how. Competencies take this to the next level by translating skills into behaviors that demonstrate what has been learned and mastered in a competent fashion. In short, skills identify what the goal is to accomplish. 

Competencies outline "how" the goals and objectives will be accomplished. They are more detailed and define the requirements for success in broader, more inclusive terms than skills do. There is also an increased level of depth that takes into account skills, knowledge and abilities. To succeed in the new world of work, students will need to demonstrate the right mix of skills, knowledge, and on-the-job ability. A skill is a practical or cognitive demonstration of what a student can do. Competency is the proven use of skills, knowledge, and abilities to illustrate mastery of learning by solving problems. 

In order to really see the difference between a skill and competency I came across this great communication example provided by HRTMS. 

A person can become a good presenter through practice, learning from others, and education but in order to be a strong communicator one must rely on a combination of skills PLUS behavior and knowledge.  A person can learn how to be a good presenter but only a strong communicator has advanced language skills, the knowledge of diverse cultures, and behaves patiently when communicating.   In short, skills are specific learned activities like mopping the floor, using a computer, and stocking merchandise, while competencies are skills + knowledge  + behavior like problem solving, communication, or professionalism.

Competencies, therefore, may incorporate a skill, but are much more than the skill.  They include a dynamic combination of abilities, attitudes, and behaviors, as well as knowledge that is fundamental to the use of a skill aligned to a learning outcome. The Rigor/ Relevance Framework helps us move from a focus on skills to competency-based learning. The acquisition and application of diverse skills is foundational, but moving to Quad D requires the use of skills, knowledge, and abilities to illustrate cognitive growth and authenticity through solving real-world problems that are unpredictable in nature. 

Success in a digital world will rely on much more than skills.  It's time to shift our focus an energy on developing and assessing core and innovative competencies that will serve all students now and in the future.