As the KnowledgeWorks team celebrated the launch of our latest 10-year forecast on the future of learning, Navigating the Future of Learning, we took a moment to think ahead to 2021 by creating our own 2018 future of learning time capsule. Each of answered questions and reflected on what change we may or may not see in education, and how history will frame what we’re experiencing now.
We made a commitment to open this time capsule at the end of 2021 to look back and see if we were correct about what we were thinking in December of 2018.
As I was filling out my predictions, it occurred to me that 2021 is not that far away. It will go by in a blink of an eye. In 2021, my son will be 11. He will be starting the sixth grade and we will be thinking about transitioning to middle school. Will he be the same kind, empathetic, silly and curious kid he is now as a third grader? Will the periodic anxieties about his own abilities to succeed in school grow into big ones, or will he begin to see these as opportunities to learn or grow? Will the world around him instill fears and worries that no eleven-year old should have? Will his teachers have the support they need and the freedom to help him and each of his classmates as individuals?
A lot can happen in three years that we cannot accurately predict. But just thinking about what we hope for the kids in our lives, their teachers and ourselves gives us the perspective on the things we can do every day to help point us to where we hope we will be.
While setting your personal resolutions for 2019, consider creating your own time capsule and using this as an opportunity to think ahead to what you hope the future of learning will be like in one, two, three and even 10 years:
- In three years, what do you think will be different about education?
- What do you think will be the same?
- What do you think will be top of mind for educators, parents and others who have a stake in how students experience school?
- What do you hope will be true of education in 2021?
- In 2021, when people look back on education in 2018, what do you think they will be surprised by?
- What actions will you take in 2019 to help point the future in the direction you hope for?
In Navigating the Future of Learning, you can discover how current trends could impact learning ten years from now and consider ways to shape a future where all students can thrive.
