Prototype and test
- 2. Problem Statement • Mary Ellen needs a way to encourage universities/graduate programs to foster learning situations that require 21st century skills because students need to be prepared to work in environments that expect collaboration, creativity, and innovative thinking.
- 3. Solution #1 • Practical Idea - I think it would be practical and necessary to encourage colleges and universities to make internships a critical requirement to earn a bachelors degree in the field of your passion. This would allow young students to practice these 21st century skills in the workforce. Also, this would give many students a foot in the door to a company or business of their liking. This would also allow businesses to form and maintain a valuable relationship with the university systems.
- 4. Prototype #1 • I went back to the person I interviewed and shared with her my practical idea for my problem statement I created from the data she gave me. She liked the idea of talking to some of the local universities about developing a relationship and hopefully starting some internship program with them. We drafted a letter (which she asked me not to share with the public) and she “tested” it with some of the doctors and fellow colleagues in her office. They liked the letter but most thought it was a bit much to ask universities to make having an internship a mandatory requirement to get a bachelors degree.
- 5. Prototype #1 cont. • We took their opinion and drafted another letter with that part out of it. Given only the week to work on it, that is as far as we got. Hopefully, with time, she can form strong relationships with the local universities to get MORE college students that real world experience needed to help them be successful in their future profession.
- 6. Solution #2 • The most disruptive (and also necessary) is to re-think K-12 and the undergraduate educational environment and curriculum. Right now, we are preparing students to be memorizers rather than innovators and this is hurting their chances of being a valuable member of the 21st century workplace where these skills like creativity and collaboration are absolutely required.
- 7. Prototype #2 • I am currently apart of a leadership team who has been given the challenge to “change the way we do school” in San Diego. We are a k-8 school (the first in the district) and we will be opening up in the Fall of 2014. We will spend a year planning, prototyping, and designing a different learning environment for students. As a school in a very traditional district, we will be pushing the limits as we try to develop something radically different because the current system of “factory model” of education needs to change.
- 8. Prototype #2 cont. • We have worked on our guiding principles that include things like creativity, collaboration, design thinking, growth mindset, inquiry, integration of content, digital citizenship, connecting globally, and personalization of learning. Our current mission is: we are a collaborative community of learners who nurture the natural curiosity and creativity in everyone. We think deeper, dream bigger, and connect globally, with the courage and intellectual mindset necessary to change the world.
- 9. Prototype #2 cont. • We have tested our initial thinking and ideas with the superintendent of the district and he loves where we are heading. He has basically given us the freedom to do what we need to do to change education for the better. His bigger hope, outside of our school, is that we can change as a district. We have also tested our thinking with the community as we have held many community chats with parents and they are thrilled to have a school like this coming to their community because most of them are tired of the traditional schools they are currently attending.
- 10. Prototype #2 cont. • They stress to us the importance of their kids learning 21st century skills that will prepare them for their future. During the community chats, we ask for lots of questions so we can better meet their needs. We take those ideas and find ways to incorporate them into our own thinking. We want to create a place where students learn through inquiry and critical thinking. We hope to incorporate many real world projects that get kids working collaboratively in order to solve problems. Our teachers will be removed from the front of the classroom, as their main role will be to help guide learning rather than deliver content. Over the next year, we plan on continuing our prototyping of ideas as we develop this school.