t’s now been several months since COVID-19 caused schools and universities around the world to rapidly shift to remote learning. During this shift, technology has played a critical role in enabling students to stay connected, engaged, and motivated. Several key factors determine the effectiveness of online learning for students, such as access to a quiet study area, a connected device for school work, and teachers with the technical and pedagogical skills to integrate digital experiences into instruction. And while some students have thrived in a more self-directed remote environment, others have faced difficulties without the structure and benefit of direct teacher-student engagement in an in-person classroom. Education leaders ask, “What’s next for our students, faculty, and staff?” The answers may be as varied as individual institutions’ responses to the pandemic. While there are many challenges that need to be addressed, we have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the past few months, reimagine how learning happens, and create a system that empowers all learners regardless of ability, background, or economic group.
Health and safety, equity, well-being, and quality learning are critical when looking at the next school year and beyond. Microsoft Education worked with international education experts Michael Fullan, Joanne Quinn, Max Drummy, and Mag Gardner from New Pedagogies for Deep Learning to produce “Education Reimagined: The Future of Learning.” The paper outlines best practices for managing the challenges of remote education and provides a framework for deepening the learning of all students, including the opportunity to reimagine the education system.
The strategy is outlined in three phases, each of which prompts educators with a series of questions to identify where they are in the journey and help them chart a workable path forward.
Phase 1 is Disruption, which we all experienced when the pandemic first struck. Within the Disruption phase, there are three zones that individual schools and systems faced while they navigated the initial challenges: The Unsettled Zone, the Learning Zone, and the Growth Zone. These zones don’t present a linear path forward but identify where individual institutions are while helping them determine appropriate next steps. An institution is in the Unsettled Zone when it is determining how to adapt its curriculum and delivery systems for continued learning. An institution enters the Learning Zone when it gains insights on the situation and determines how to move forward. It enters the Growth Zone when it begins developing methods of moving to the second phase, which is the Transition phase for reopening schools.
During the Disruption and Transition phases, technology is crucial to connect both society and students. It can support the twin pillars of humanity: well-being and learning. In this model, technology shifts from being simply a vehicle for delivery to one that facilitates collaboration, discovery, understanding, and action. If teachers and students in a particular school are already prepared to use some form of remote learning, they may move out of the Unsettled Zone quickly. If not, they may take longer or move out of it then back into it when further unforeseen circumstances arise.
In the Transition phase, organizations begin the process of planning for reopening. It’s a time when extreme flexibility is necessary; institutions are continually adapting to the changing needs of students, faculty, and staff, ensuring quality learning under unusual circumstances, and paying close attention to creating safe and healthy spaces and operations. This is also a time to reflect on lessons learned from the Disruption phase. The identification of issues and opportunities around improving well-being, equity, and learning for all emerge from this reflection.
Institutions craft a vision for the future during the third phase: Reimagining. Educators reflect on difficult questions that will help set priorities for a specific school, system, or institution while engaging students, parents, families, educators, and community partners. Some of the key questions are:
1. What knowledge, skills, and attributes do our students need to thrive in this complex world?
2. What kind of learning is needed for this current and future complexity?
3. How do we ensure equity?
4. How do we attend to well-being?
5. What have we learned from remote learning?
6. How can technology be best leveraged for learning in the future?
The move to remote learning has demonstrated that with the right tools and technology, students can (and do) learn anywhere and anytime. Learning can grow into a student-centric, personalized, and collaborative model that puts the focus on students and motivates them to seek topics of interest.
The concept of reimagining education is not new. Well before the pandemic, many educators expressed interest and desire to consciously evolve the existing system into one that better integrates well-being, future-ready skills, and equity. Driving systemic change across districts, regions, and entire countries is challenging. However, COVID-19 and subsequent remote learning impacted more than 90% of students worldwide. Now seems like an appropriate time to work together for systemic growth.
Every child has the right to a great education. Across the globe, there is growing recognition that education systems have the opportunity to build on the successes of traditional, remote, and online learning models to create a new mix, a hybrid approach that enables every student to achieve their goals and become a contributing member of the global community. To help ensure the well-being and academic success of all students, reimagining curricula, teaching and assessment practices, and the role of teachers and students in the learning environment and more, is critical.
a global affairs media network
Reimagining Education for the Future of Learning
Photo via Unsplash.
July 31, 2020
It’s now been several months since COVID-19 caused schools and universities around the world to rapidly shift to remote learning.
I
t’s now been several months since COVID-19 caused schools and universities around the world to rapidly shift to remote learning. During this shift, technology has played a critical role in enabling students to stay connected, engaged, and motivated. Several key factors determine the effectiveness of online learning for students, such as access to a quiet study area, a connected device for school work, and teachers with the technical and pedagogical skills to integrate digital experiences into instruction. And while some students have thrived in a more self-directed remote environment, others have faced difficulties without the structure and benefit of direct teacher-student engagement in an in-person classroom. Education leaders ask, “What’s next for our students, faculty, and staff?” The answers may be as varied as individual institutions’ responses to the pandemic. While there are many challenges that need to be addressed, we have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the past few months, reimagine how learning happens, and create a system that empowers all learners regardless of ability, background, or economic group.
Health and safety, equity, well-being, and quality learning are critical when looking at the next school year and beyond. Microsoft Education worked with international education experts Michael Fullan, Joanne Quinn, Max Drummy, and Mag Gardner from New Pedagogies for Deep Learning to produce “Education Reimagined: The Future of Learning.” The paper outlines best practices for managing the challenges of remote education and provides a framework for deepening the learning of all students, including the opportunity to reimagine the education system.
The strategy is outlined in three phases, each of which prompts educators with a series of questions to identify where they are in the journey and help them chart a workable path forward.
Phase 1 is Disruption, which we all experienced when the pandemic first struck. Within the Disruption phase, there are three zones that individual schools and systems faced while they navigated the initial challenges: The Unsettled Zone, the Learning Zone, and the Growth Zone. These zones don’t present a linear path forward but identify where individual institutions are while helping them determine appropriate next steps. An institution is in the Unsettled Zone when it is determining how to adapt its curriculum and delivery systems for continued learning. An institution enters the Learning Zone when it gains insights on the situation and determines how to move forward. It enters the Growth Zone when it begins developing methods of moving to the second phase, which is the Transition phase for reopening schools.
During the Disruption and Transition phases, technology is crucial to connect both society and students. It can support the twin pillars of humanity: well-being and learning. In this model, technology shifts from being simply a vehicle for delivery to one that facilitates collaboration, discovery, understanding, and action. If teachers and students in a particular school are already prepared to use some form of remote learning, they may move out of the Unsettled Zone quickly. If not, they may take longer or move out of it then back into it when further unforeseen circumstances arise.
In the Transition phase, organizations begin the process of planning for reopening. It’s a time when extreme flexibility is necessary; institutions are continually adapting to the changing needs of students, faculty, and staff, ensuring quality learning under unusual circumstances, and paying close attention to creating safe and healthy spaces and operations. This is also a time to reflect on lessons learned from the Disruption phase. The identification of issues and opportunities around improving well-being, equity, and learning for all emerge from this reflection.
Institutions craft a vision for the future during the third phase: Reimagining. Educators reflect on difficult questions that will help set priorities for a specific school, system, or institution while engaging students, parents, families, educators, and community partners. Some of the key questions are:
1. What knowledge, skills, and attributes do our students need to thrive in this complex world?
2. What kind of learning is needed for this current and future complexity?
3. How do we ensure equity?
4. How do we attend to well-being?
5. What have we learned from remote learning?
6. How can technology be best leveraged for learning in the future?
The move to remote learning has demonstrated that with the right tools and technology, students can (and do) learn anywhere and anytime. Learning can grow into a student-centric, personalized, and collaborative model that puts the focus on students and motivates them to seek topics of interest.
The concept of reimagining education is not new. Well before the pandemic, many educators expressed interest and desire to consciously evolve the existing system into one that better integrates well-being, future-ready skills, and equity. Driving systemic change across districts, regions, and entire countries is challenging. However, COVID-19 and subsequent remote learning impacted more than 90% of students worldwide. Now seems like an appropriate time to work together for systemic growth.
Every child has the right to a great education. Across the globe, there is growing recognition that education systems have the opportunity to build on the successes of traditional, remote, and online learning models to create a new mix, a hybrid approach that enables every student to achieve their goals and become a contributing member of the global community. To help ensure the well-being and academic success of all students, reimagining curricula, teaching and assessment practices, and the role of teachers and students in the learning environment and more, is critical.
