Activity 3: Contemporary trend in education

Students as creators

Worldwide, education is undergoing major change. The pressures of increasing population, changing economies, declining natural resources and space for living and rapidly evolving technologies all have a flow-on effect to each other and to education. In order for us to develop an education system that can cope with this change, we need to identify the global trends that will influence it and be influenced by it. Of course, we cannot predict the future with 100% certainty but by looking at current and possible upcoming trends, we can at least get an idea. This, naturally, is not a clean-cut process.

A trend can be defined as “a general direction in which something is developing or changing” (Google dictionary, 2017). Trends can be transitory or lasting and the longer they ‘trend’ the more of an effect they have on society. The challenge is to cope with these global trends in a globally coordinated way in an era where ‘self’ and the individual are continually championed and encouraged through the media and education.

One of the emerging trends in education is that of students as creators where students become active in assisting to create their own learning rather than being mere consumers of it. This is a far cry from the type of education I received when I was at school. Back then we were what I like to call ‘fliptop’ learners where we ‘opened our heads and the teacher filled us up’ with the required knowledge!

This will no longer do in a world where all the information you could want is a mere click of a button away. What is needed now is education that allows students to select and learn what is important to them, balanced with the skills they will need in the 21^st century. In the words of Shelley Wright (2012), “Powerful learning begins to manifest when students take responsibility and ownership for their learning, when they become co-creators of their learning experience, rather than their education being something that is done to them.”   

However, some of the barriers to this could include things such as a reluctance to let go of control over curriculum and pedagogical design (Bovill, 2011) at classroom, faculty and school levels, meeting the current academic requirements for NCEA or other qualifications as well as the fact that our teaching fraternity has an average age of 46 (Education Review, 2013), or even mid-50s at secondary level (Dooney, 2017). This last point illustrates the fact that for a large number of teachers within our schools, this trend of allowing students to create their own learning is not something we grew up with so will require professional development and support if we are to engage students more deeply with their learning while ensuring it is relevant to them.

While the majority of teachers would be willing to move with and further develop this trend, it isn’t without its challenges. The NMC/CoSN Horizon Report (2016) describes this challenge as that of “scaling teaching innovations” where schools are yet to become efficient at adopting teaching innovations such as students creating their own learning. Possible barriers here are a lack of incentives for teachers to innovate when we are still constrained, at least at secondary level, by the requirements for NCEA for example. Does this in fact, come down to assessment? Do we need to take into account the skills that both employers and tertiary institutions are asking for?

One thing is certain, change is already here whether we like it or not. Now we need to adapt and collaborate with our students in order to educate them as fully as possible for the world beyond our school gates.

References

Bovill, C., Cook‐Sather, A., & Felten, P. (2011). Students as co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers. International Journal for Academic Development, 16(2), 133-145.

Education Review, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.educationreview.co.nz/magazine/april-2013/feast-or-famine-the-supply-of-new-teachers/

Dooney, L., 2017 Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/92733482/secondary-schools-facing-a-perfect-storm-as-teacher-shortage-deepens

Google Dictionary, 2017.

NewMediaConsortium, (2016, September, 12). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition. [video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=wmiLrK-nF7k

 Wright, S., 2012. Deep learning isn’t about technology. Retrieved from Powerful Learning Practice blog http://plpnetwork.com/2012/09/24/deeper-learning-technology/