Important shifts are happening in education today. With access to a world of knowledge online and opportunities to obtain degrees and certifications from countless schools and institutions, modern students are empowered to take ownership of their learning.
What does this mean for your trade school?
To be effective, schools need to shift their focus towards developing students as engaged learners. Educators must stray from irrelevant, dated systems of education and develop new ways to prepare students for the ever-evolving workforce.
According to Gallup, only a third of business owners say students are graduating with the necessary skills to succeed in their companies. How can you reverse this trend and differentiate your school as an innovative educator? Will Richardson and Bruce Dixon, both recognized as thought leaders in education and learning technology, recently published a whitepaper entitled, 10 Principles of Modern Schools. These 10 principles detail how education providers can adapt to today’s modern world and help students live up to their potential as learners:
- Have clearly articulated and shared beliefs about learning that are lived in every classroom.
- Live a mission and a vision deeply informed by new contexts for learning.
- Have cultures where personal, self-determined learning is at the center of student and teacher work.
- See curriculum as something that is co-constructed to meet the needs and interests of the student.
- Embrace and emphasize real-world application and presentation to real audiences as assessment for learning.
- See transparency and sharing as fundamental to a powerful learning environment.
- Use technology first and foremost as an amplifier for learning, creating, making, connecting, communicating, collaborating, and problem solving.
- Develop and communicate in powerful ways new stories of learning, teaching, and modern contexts for schooling.
- Encourage community-wide participation in the equitable, effective education of students.
- Embrace and anticipate constant change and evolution.
To learn more about creating a culture of modern learning at your trade school, check out Modern Learner’s e-book below.