I love thinking about the future, particularly how it will impact how we learn. I love thinking up possible scenarios in the K12 space that might exist as a result of new technologies, and have previously written about how strategic foresight should be considered a new leadership competency. Because of this passion, I was drawn recently to a new book release by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, The Future is Faster than You Think: How Converging Technologies are Transforming Business, Industries and Our Lives.
Included in chapters on the future of shopping, advertising, healthcare, longevity and food is a chapter on education.
It’s 2030 and school is in session––only what does school 2030 actually look like? Turns out, our first glance at that future actually arrived in 1995, when science-fiction author Neal Stephenson published the novel The Diamond Age. This coming-of-age story is set in a neo-Victorian future where nanotechnology and AI are woven into the fabric of everyday life, and education is handled by the book––that is the Young Women’s Illustrated Primer.
The primer is an AI-driven, individually customized learning companion disguised as a book. The book answers questions in a contextually relevant and engaging fashion. Packed with sensors that monitor everything from energy levels to emotional state, the primer creates a rich learning environment aimed at producing a specific transformation. Rather than molding children to the needs of society, the primer has more humanist aims: to produce strong, independent, empathetic, and creative thinkers.
The authors go on to share that the Primer is no longer science fiction. Stephenson is “now chief futurist at Magic Leap, helping use augmented reality to birth his illustrated primer, version 1.0.” How will this technology develop over the next decade into one tool that transforms how we learn in our schools?
Science fiction is becoming science fact, and school leaders must understand these signposts in order to shape the future––most commonly through our strategic planning processes which need major transformation. The students in our early grades will be starting their post K-12 lives in the early 2030s. Will they be ready? Are we preparing them for whatever that world holds?
So how can a school leader begin reframing how they think strategically about the future? You don’t have to become a futurist. You can easily tap into the work of others for that, but you can most easily begin by scanning the landscape for potential drivers of change, becoming more aware of the what’s happening now and how those signals might shape the future of learning.
Here are some of my go-to resources:
- World Economic Forum – The WEF has lots of great video content on The Fourth Industrial Revolution and published articles and white papers on education. Some content I’ve used most recently…
- KnowledgeWorks – K12 resources on the future of learning and personalized learning, specific to the K12 context. Be sure to check out the Forecast 5.0: Navigating the Future of Learning. And also these supporting resources…
These are just a sample of possible starting points. Looking for more? Check out this resource page from a recent presentation.
Once you’ve spent time scanning the current context of education, share several of your favorite resources with your community, your staff, your colleagues. Engage in inquiry. How might the drivers of change impact education in your unique context over the next decade and beyond? How does your new learning impact how you approach the strategic planning process?
This simple tweak in the strategic planning process has helped us in our school district develop our Profile of a Graduate and refine our vision for learning to be learner-centered. Understanding the trends in the world outside education has helped our community understand that to be a productive member of society, now and into the future, will require more than content knowledge tested on state assessments. “Success” requires a set of broader aims that extend far beyond what is tested and reported. Our exploration of trends has also helped us realize the standardized, push model of learning no longer is a fit for a rapidly transforming world We now know we need a pull model of learning, one that is truly learner-centered.
How might you use elements of strategic foresight to reshape how you approach strategic planning?
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