So what is purpose is at the heart of this Summit of innovators and forward-thinkers in business and education that inspired me and so many others? The Summit website states:
Education and Talent Technology is a $76B global market that is growing rapidly. Education Tech and HR Tech addresses the urgent need for scaled innovation to achieve vastly improved educational and career outcomes. It is through education and human capital technology advances, we believe, that the "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" (BHAG) of every person having access to the future can be achieved. The ASU + GSV Summit is a conference dedicated to elevating innovation at scale.
There’s that word again - FUTURE. Dr. Joseph Aoun, President of Northeastern University, lifted up two ideas in a keynote panel entitled, “Future of Talent: What it Means to Transcend Work and Transform Education,” that resonated with me about preparing students for the lives they will be leading. He began by discussing the way in which we need to prepare all children for the future. Dr. Aoun said that we used to think of our lives as temporal: first we learned, and then we worked. Now we must prepare children to integrate learning and work throughout their entire lifetimes in three different literacies: technology (robotics, artificial intelligence . . .), data (compilation, analytics . . .) and human (empathy, collaboration . . .).
Dr. Aoun then made an assertion that sang to my educator’s heart. He posited that none of the literacies have meaning without the direction and guidance of a teacher. He said, “While we may not remember what we read in third grade, we probably can remember our third grade teacher.” The mastery of literacies - whatever their category - will not be relevant without the caring adult who helps children make connections that having meaning to each individual student. “Personalized Learning” cannot happen without the PERSON who helps children construct meaning that grows in to lifelong learning and passions.
And then there is the second word, which I find more intimidating than FUTURE, and that is SCALE. How do we make this future of lifelong learning and personalization SCALE to all children in South Carolina? I left the Summit with a tremendous sense of urgency born out of this notion of SCALE because, to me, that means accessibility for all children. I can manage the idea of implementing personalized learning for growth toward mastery in a classroom, even in a school - but how do we do it in a state, in a nation?
We do it collectively. Educators commit to being lifelong learners themselves who work to provide the education that every child needs, every child deserves. We must be SCHOLARS, defined as both learners and experts, to employ technology, data and human literacies that support our children toward mastering their FUTURES. John Legend, another ASU + GSV keynote speaker, said, “The future started yesterday, and we are already late.” Our job, on behalf of all children, is to work as hard as we can to catch up.
Dr. Aoun then made an assertion that sang to my educator’s heart. He posited that none of the literacies have meaning without the direction and guidance of a teacher. He said, “While we may not remember what we read in third grade, we probably can remember our third grade teacher.” The mastery of literacies - whatever their category - will not be relevant without the caring adult who helps children make connections that having meaning to each individual student. “Personalized Learning” cannot happen without the PERSON who helps children construct meaning that grows in to lifelong learning and passions.
And then there is the second word, which I find more intimidating than FUTURE, and that is SCALE. How do we make this future of lifelong learning and personalization SCALE to all children in South Carolina? I left the Summit with a tremendous sense of urgency born out of this notion of SCALE because, to me, that means accessibility for all children. I can manage the idea of implementing personalized learning for growth toward mastery in a classroom, even in a school - but how do we do it in a state, in a nation?
We do it collectively. Educators commit to being lifelong learners themselves who work to provide the education that every child needs, every child deserves. We must be SCHOLARS, defined as both learners and experts, to employ technology, data and human literacies that support our children toward mastering their FUTURES. John Legend, another ASU + GSV keynote speaker, said, “The future started yesterday, and we are already late.” Our job, on behalf of all children, is to work as hard as we can to catch up.
