The Future of Learning

By Michael Meiners and Jonathan Matta

What if? How might? Why can’t we…

What if the first day of school was something that we sprinted to, regardless of grade? And what if we raced towards that first day because what lived inside of the school was a system so well designed that it biased towards a student of one, and his or her authentic pursuits for that academic year?

Again, why can’t it be like this?

Constraints. Not just the ones we can see, like cinder block walls and asbestos laden floors, but the hidden, latent constraints, that really rattle the vision of true, human centered learning. It is the culture of learning itself. A culture that dates back to an industrial revolution that we are so far removed from.  It is the fear of change, a fear of surrendering authority, a fear so paralyzing we fall prey to the promise of easy gimmicks and quick fixes and buzzwords.

While the constraints are real, there are ways to overcome them. But here’s the bad news: They are hard. Anyone wishing to really transform anything better be ready to fight for it. And they’d better be ready to struggle, to be thought stupid, to be knocked down...and to get back up.

We, as two evangelists for human-centered learning in the 21st century, see the possibility of change. We know, from the research (and from our own experience) that a child in school now hoping to navigate the world beyond their classroom walls will require connection to purpose, the ability to risk, to think flexibly, to reflect honestly, to prototype, to bounce back from failure, to collaborate naturally, and to recognize and seize the opportunity to contribute to something larger than themselves. And they’ll have to do it by solving real problems where no one knows the answer ahead of time and do it without anyone else setting it up for them. If this is what the ‘real world’ is like, then everywhere we look we’ll find raw materials for deeply meaningful, highly effective learning and growth.

The problem is: in our current cultural understanding of “school,” the skills listed above aren’t primary to the experience. At best, they’re touched on occasionally in the classroom. If we’re lucky, they’re extracurricular. Most often, they’re not there at all.

Lack of experience in the skills needed in the “real world” puts unnecessary pressure on the student, and on society as a whole. We consider this an emergency. So we’re writing to recruit more evangelists.

Below is Mike’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Education” (it’s incomplete because we’re always learning). These are the guiding principles that spurred the creation of Hackstudio, a “support system for authentic pursuits” that operates in Evanston, IL. These principles are intended to prod the stewards of learning environments to begin the hard work necessary to make learning more meaningful and effective by connecting their institutions’ goals and purpose to those held by the students they serve.

We don’t have all the answers. What we have are ideas and the will to test them. If you're reading this article it's because you have a connection to the world of education. Join in. Now, more than ever this world needs contributors. Whatever your role in this industry, whatever your feelings about what's presented below, promise us one thing: That you'll do something about it.

--AN INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR EDUCATION--

CONNECTION BEFORE EVERYTHING

We’re all different and we’re in this together. A student is not free to thrive if they’re struggling to survive. Make the space between people your first priority. When everyone can reasonably expect to be seen, accepted and valued as they are, when they have the freedom to fail publicly and feel encouraged to share their unique personality and value with the community, then-and-only-then can we worry about what they’re learning. If you lose your grip on this culture (or you’ve never had it), STOP EVERYTHING and cultivate it. No time? You don’t have time NOT to.

“ISMS” FALL SHORT

Orthodoxy is attractive because we get a sense of security from the idea that we’ve found THE ANSWER. But when you decide you’ve got it all figured out, you stop growing. The world is always changing. We are always gaining new insight. Instead of hitching our wagon to the NEXT BIG IDEA, let’s apply the best available ideas to each student in front of us.

FORGET STANDARD EDUCATION

Standardization is for making repetitive tasks more efficient. Actual learning is not repetitive and it’s not linear so it’s not standardizable. Imposing “efficiency” on the natural process of learning requires the replacement of real learning with repetitive tasks that produce the appearance of learning. See “Rote is an accelerator”.

PROVIDE CUSTOM EDUCATION

Everyone’s different. There aren’t 6 intelligences, there are 7 billion. A student in her element is focused and inherently motivated. Customize the experience to fuel, and get out of the way of, the student’s internal learning engine.

PURPOSE FOCUSES LEARNING

When you have a burning desire for something, your brain automatically seeks out and absorbs what it needs to get there. Ignite that fire.

“AHEAD” IS A MYTH

A deeply fulfilling life is not a zero-sum game. It comes from a good relationship between:

- you and yourself,

- you and others,

- you and your work,

- you and something larger than yourself.

No one can keep you from getting these things by getting there first. They all start with you.

TECHNOLOGY IS AN ACCELERATOR

1) Technology for its own sake is a closed loop. It doesn’t move anything forward.

2) If you know where you want to go, however, the focused use of technology can get you there faster.

3) School is a technology.

4) (See 1.)

FIND MEANING

A teacher can’t make a lesson mean something to the student. She can only present a lesson that already does. 

SCHOOL ISN’T A DESTINATION. IT’S A VEHICLE

Like a car, it’s of little use …

- If you don’t have anywhere you want to go,

- If it doesn’t take you where you want to go,

- If you can get where you want to go without it.

SCHOOL IS LIFE. LIFE IS NOW

School isn’t preparation for college. It isn’t even preparation for life. For students, school is life. Don’t waste it “preparing.” If school can help a student with something she needs right now, it’ll mean more to her and she’ll learn more.

BUILD STRENGTHS. MANAGE WEAKNESSES

Building weaknesses results in a world of mediocrity. Everybody’s different. This is good. If we build strengths, we’ll build a world where everybody’s an expert in something different. Then we can fill each other’s holes.

DO IT FIRST, FIGURE IT OUT SECOND

Wherever possible, let students act on their ideas. If they’re wrong, they’ll find out faster and the knowledge will stick better. Abstractions are derived from concrete experiences in the world. The real world does not present itself in abstract problems. It presents itself in real problems. Wherever possible, let students discover the rules by running into them, then they can abstract them for use in other real problems.

STOP IMPARTING INFORMATION; TRAIN RESOURCEFULNESS

Today, information moves faster than school. Stop trying to stay ahead of your students and fall in behind them. The world we’re “preparing” them for will be ancient history by the time they graduate. Instead of giving them information to store and regurgitate, direct students to find and make use of it. If anything, grade them on resourcefulness. When they graduate, they’ll need to be able size-up situations, determine what they need, find the right partners, build their own knowledge and skills and apply them all in real time. Better get started now.

ROTE IS AN ACCELERATOR

Memorization helps you solve routine problems faster. It’s for quick output when the solution is known. New problems require creativity. Creativity requires understanding.

FAILURE IS A GIVEN! (It’s QUITTING that’s not an option)

The famous words, “Failure is not an option,” were uttered by Gene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission, talking about the ultimate goal of bringing the astronauts home alive. When you’re doing something no one’s done before, interim failure is a given so the path to the goal has to stay open so you can find your way. Watch the movie Apollo 13 and count all the failures they overcame to get the astronauts home. Because they knew how to acknowledge, absorb and process and iterate these failures in the interim, they were able to succeed in the end.

FIXED GOALS NEED FLEXIBLE PATHS

…so they can absorb the bumps along the way. Fix the goal. Put the path in the hands of the student. Let them go anywhere. Just insist they arrive at their goal.

STUDENTS HAVE THEIR OWN GOALS

They’re not always the goals of the school, but they’re there. And that’s where they’re learning, whether you like it or not. Discover, understand, and teach to the student’s goals.

PEOPLE ARE NOT LIKE MACHINES, THEY’RE LIKE PLANTS

Anyone who’s tried knows you can’t build them to spec. But if you provide the proper conditions and nourishment and then wait, they’ll grow healthy and strong on their own. However: no mix of conditions and nourishment will turn a hydrangea into a boxwood.

EMBRACE THE MESS

Real learning is messy. As the mess meets the world, the world pushes back naturally. Things that work, work. Things that don’t work, don’t. It’s as simple as that. Nothing needs to be added or removed. The mess just shows the student’s natural and appropriate point on her journey toward order. Removing the mess means removing the medium for growth. Anxiety over the mess makes things messier.

CHILDREN ARE NOT SHORT ADULTS

Children have different needs for healthy growth than adults (and 5 year olds have different needs than 7 year-olds have different needs than 14 year olds).

NO HOMEWORK

Human beings are meant to “pulse.” Research has shown that people function better when intensity is followed by recovery. If school time is used well, the student will be heavily engaged. After school is a time to recover, connect with family and explore other things. Tomorrow’s another big day.

PLAY

It accelerates learning. That’s why human beings do it instinctively.

PLAY ISN’T THE OPPOSITE OF WORK IT’S A HIGHER FORM OF WORK

You play basketball. You play chess. You play a character in a play. The people who engage in these endeavors have no lack of desire to work and can be very serious and intense. It’s not frivolousness that makes it play, it’s autonomy, sense of purpose and opportunity for mastery that makes it play. Play builds you up where drudgery depletes you. What if more people played math?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jonathan Matta is the Vice President of Education at KI, a contract furniture manufacturer that invests mindfully in education-based solutions. Jonathan champions a human-centered design mindset that frames authentic transformations in the future of learning.  His investment in creative leadership and designing for behavioral change within education is born from his own children, which we will oft reference as “NoElle+”. www.ki.com

Mike Meiners is founder of Hackstudio, a “support system for authentic pursuits”.

Hackstudio is a TEAM of people working together to inspire each other to get DONE. Everyone agrees to take responsibility for achieving what matters to them and to share the million little setbacks along the way. By sharing generously as we work, we learn that what stops us stops everyone. Then we use that understanding to push ourselves and each other over, through and around our obstacles. www.hackstudio.com