PROCESS POST: Brittany Wenger, TEDxAtlanta, and Re-Imagining School

Posted on September 26, 2012 by boadams1

Live like you’ll die tomorrow. Learn like you’ll live forever.

– Ben Dunlap, The life-long learner, #TED

Yesterday, on September 25, I lived on an edge with a number of inspiring people gathered on a common edge – people who are living like they could die tomorrow and learning like they could live forever. Gathered in Unboundary’s TED Dome, more than 300 movers and shakers came together for TEDxAtlanta “Edge of the South.” We lived and learned with “12 Southerners who are breaking new ground. In art, filmmaking, media, and fashion. In business, social innovation, energy production and the sciences.” I grow giddy with excitement and anticipation about these TEDxAtlanta days…

Here’s a quick Storify that captures a bit of the incredible experience for me:
tedxatlanta-edge-of-the-south-empathize-go-do-conn

Once again, though, I failed to ask my most burning question:

“So, in what ways did your formal schooling propel you on your current path, and in what ways did your formal schooling impede your current path?”

I remain optimistically frustrated by this question. Certainly, most everyone with whom I’ve ever talked can remember a moment in school or a particular teacher that contributed to his or her unique path in life. Of course, all of those same people can also name an aspect of formal schooling that existed as an obstacle to their journey, too.

We can learn so much about how to continue improving school by exploring this question.

I could recount more than a thousand stories or thoughts inspired at TEDxAtlanta “Edge of the South.” At this particular event, however, one stands out…

“Brittany Wenger, 17, Wins Google Science Fair Grand Prize For Breast Cancer Diagnosis App.”

If you missed Brittany’s talk, I cannot wait for you to see it when the videos are processed and uploaded to the TEDxAtlanta site. Yes, she spoke of being inspired and supported by a biology teacher and a computer science teacher. And she spoke of the project that she undertook as an independent study – partly due to the fact that her school does not engage in a science fair system, partly due to the fact that her work did not “fit” into her required coursework.

Motivated by a passion to make a difference in the lives of others and in medical science, Brittany combined biological biopsy processes with cloud-based artificial intelligence to create an app – Cloud4Cancer – that could just be a revolution for breast cancer detection, prevention, and treatment.

And Brittany worked on this primarily “outside of school.”

Why couldn’t this BE school? Let me ask that in a more positive manner…

How might we re-imagine school so that a veritable army of learners – students and teachers together – might contribute to the problem identification and solutions-finding for our world’s grand challenges and issues?

[Out of time to write, for now! There are deep connections among the TEDxAtlanta “Edge of the South” speakers…and educational transformation. There are deep connections between Ben Dunlap’s talk and re-imagining schools.]

Contrarians and rebels in your organization – are you nurturing them or neglecting them?

Posted on September 25, 2012 by boadams1

For schools that aim to innovate and improve, the people who work in such schools will have to grow comfortable with internal opposition. Schools live at an interesting and paradoxical intersection. All at once, schools tend to be excellent at building conformity, while functioning in such a way that breeds sub-system metamorphosis.

Much of the structure of traditional school exists to create conformity. Bells, dress codes, grading systems, faculty induction, etc. – they function to establish standardization and uniformity. However, most schools continue to practice a brand of professional development that breeds “rebels.” We send faculty to conferences, and the faculty return with great excitement to try something new and relatively non-conventional. Just yesterday, I attended an SAIS (Southern Association of Independent Schools) event on flipping the classroom. A few teachers from a smattering of schools attended, and they will return to their hives to disrupt the norm.

How might schools better create honey-production systems for these worker bees that return to the hive with new pollen? How might we grow more accepting and even promoting of internal opposition?

A recent article on Fast Company’s Co-Design, “How To Nurture Your Company’s Rebels, And Unlock Their Innovative Might” by Tim Leberecht, offers great insights in this regard.

Similarly, I would argue, the contrarians and rebels, the people on the fringes of organizations who question and deviate from the status quo, which so often leads to inertia and inflexibility, are huge assets for any organization. Those who disagree with the present often see the future more clearly.

How are you nurturing the contrarians and rebels? How are you tapping into the future seers within your organization? Are you feeding their curiosity and factoring in their ideas to your pedagogical master plan, or are you intentionally or unintentionally squashing their experimental energy and enthusiasm?

Market research for schools – studying how people learn for final 3/4 of life

Posted on September 24, 2012 by boadams1

It’s been a long time since I earned an undergraduate degree in economics and a concentration in marketing and management studies. To be honest, off the top of my head, I don’t remember a ton from my lessons on market research…but I remember that it’s important to do some. Of course, I am more than willing to refresh and extend my knowledge and understanding in market research, especially because I think it might be very important for schools.

I’m curious how schools might engage in some important market research – or something closely akin to market research.

How do people learn during the final three-quarters of their lives? Doesn’t that make for a strong research question for schools?

I’m taking some liberties here and oversimplifying a lot of data. Let’s assume that an average lifespan in the U.S. is about 80 years. Let’s approximate that formal education represents close to one quarter of our learning life. [I know formal education could be more or less than 20 years.] Using this admittedly oversimplified data, we can assume that about three quarters (3/4, or 75%) of a person’s learning happens “outside” of formal education.

Wouldn’t it be great market research for schools to study how the learning occurs in this 75% of our lives?

Consider that most schools state as a mission that we are trying to prepare students for something called “real life.” In order to enhance our ability and capacity to prepare students for “real life,” shouldn’t more of school actually look like “real life,” smell like “real life,” sound like “real life,”…?

For nearly a decade, I have been immersed in a research question of my own: If schools are supposed to prepare students for “real life,” then how come more of school doesn’t look more like “real life?” I’m a bit embarrassed that I never thought of the other market-research question until now.

Why aren’t we studying more about how people learn in the other 75% of their lives? How might school be adjusted and adapted to look more like this other 75%? Isn’t that an obligation we face, if we are serious about preparing students for “real life?” Just imagine how much more relevant and engaging and even preparatory school could be with such market research. We could even pool our efforts and contribute our market research to a common repository of findings. Then, we could all get better.

[Note: I keep putting “real life” in quotations because I think school IS real life for the students. In other words, school is not just preparation for “real life,” but school IS real life. It should reflect that fact to a great degree.]

Dr. Jason B. Huett, GPEE, #EdReform Themes and Catalysts

Posted on September 18, 2012 by boadams1

Today, I had reason and opportunity to dig deeper into GPEE – the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. As I was digging, I took time to explore Dr. Jason B. Huett’s keynote at GPEE’s recent August 2012 event. Dr. Huett is the Associate Dean of Online Development at University of West Georgia.

During Dr. Huett’s presentation, he highlights five themes in educational change and ten catalysts for these shifts.

5 Themes in Educational Change from Dr. Jason B. Huett

Education will be more technology-advanced.
Education will be more accessible.
Education will be more flexible.
Education will be more social.
Education will be more affordable.

10 Catalysts for Educational Change from Dr. Jason B. Huett

Loss of information control.
Promise of open education.
Rise of apps culture, cloud, and wireless.
Bye bye books.
Coming of brick and clicks.
Rise of the competition.
Buyer’s market.
Time as the new variable.
Power of collaboration.
New world of work.

Dr. Huett’s talk is very much worth the listen. He puts very interesting flesh on the 15 interconnected bones listed above. In the embedded video below, his speech begins at 18:05.

Disruption, GOOD #FutureLearning

Posted on September 13, 2012 by boadams1

In “Graduating All Students Innovation-Ready,” Tony Wagner ended his piece with this question about courage:

Our students want to become innovators. Our economy needs them to become innovators. The question is: As educators, do we have the courage to disrupt conventional wisdom and pursue the innovations that matter most?

Recently, GOOD published a piece about a few of the disruptors – those who are pushing us to consider the bigger possible (r)evolutions in education. It’s great material for a bit of optimistic brain stretching…

Future Learning Short Documentary (12:50)