This tech tip will be a little different. Rather than providing a list of fun, new tech tools, I'd like to focus on the "why" and the "purpose" of tech-rich learning environments based on ideas that came from two sessions at the 2018 TIES Conference in Minneapolis. Both sessions were presented by Jaime Casap, the chief education evangelist at Google: his keynote address, "The Problem Solving Generation," and his breakout called "Principles of Inquiry Based Learning."
In both sessions, Jaime emphasizes the skills our Generation Z students will need in our new tech-infused economy. Here are a few highlights.
The future (and present) economy
In short, he says, "The future is about digitization," which is impacting everything. He goes on to mention that "Change happens gradually and then suddenly. We are in the suddenly part."
Much of this change will be fueled by technology and robotics. He points out that jobs that can be replaced by robots will be replaced. Essentially, this means that many of the repetitive, basic labor jobs that currently do not require a great deal of specialized skill will be automated, and workers who have traditionally been in these positions will need to transition to jobs that require more complex, higher order thinking skills that cannot be easily automated.
New skill sets
According to current economists, our students will need the following skills in this evolving economy:
- Problem solving
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Ability to learn
These skills sets are nearly identical to the 4 Cs model we've been implementing at ISD728.
Because problem solving will be at the core of these job skills, the big questions our students need to prepare for are . . .
- What problem do you want/need to solve?
- How do you want to solve that problem?
- What do you need to learn to solve that problem?
Embedding these skills into our classroom
To prepare our students for this, we need to embed these skills into our educational system. Casap argues that education is "no longer about finding information . . . Information is a commodity that has no value. It's about what we do with that information. It's about turning that information into intelligence."
Indeed, we need to be asking students questions that they can't just Google. We need to push them beyond recall of facts to problem solving and creativity.
Based on his research, Casap claims that "creativity will drive work. Creativity is what will separate us from the robots."
Collaboration is another key
As educators, we also need to build in opportunities in our classrooms for students to become better collaborators.
"Education is set up as a single player sport," says Casap, "The problem is that we live in a team based world."
He goes on to explain that when Google hires, they look for "leadership," which to them means "collaboration, consensus building, problem solving and the ability to step back and evaluate." These are skills our students need to develop.
What can we do?
We can begin transforming our classroom with a few key strategies.
- Create opportunities for our students to identify and solve problems with others.
- Build in opportunities for students to seek out and find answers to their questions.
- Allow students to create.
In fact, if students are allowed to problem solve and create with others, they gain nearly all of the skills their future employers are seeking.
Reminder: Your building media specialists are ideal resources to help you embed these types of activities into your classroom. This is their speciality, and they'd love to work with you!
Interesting facts about computer science education and employment in Minnesota:
- There are currently 13,477 open computer science jobs in MN.
- The average computer science graduate makes $91,000/year.
- In 2015, there were only 195 computer science graduates in MN (only 15% female).
- In 2017, there were only 1201 AP computer science AP exams taken in MN (only 20% female).
- Only 59 schools currently offer a computer science course in MN (only 18% of schools).
**Stats shared by Casap during his 2018 TIES keynote (December 2018).
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