In a future trends of education discussion last Thursday, Dr. Joseph Pascarelli provided a Map of Future Forces Affecting Education, developed by KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Institute for the Future (IFTF). The map is a forecast of forces that could affect learning in the next decade. The predictions are worth pondering for our future and how we should be changing the way we educate, manage, lead, and produce and market services and products.
I am using the map like this: If I believe the predictions within the map are true, how should education, management, leadership, and marketing change to adapt to these forces? For example, one prediction is that there is Community Value Networks. How do we make visible tangible and intangible assets (like knowledge, trust, reputation, loyalty) to create richer relationships of exchange? Addressing public education:
Lower network-coordination costs make it cost-effective to meet the needs and desires of “long-tail” niche markets in industries as diverse as music, health, and education. Numerous and diverse niche markets of learners become targets for all sorts of providers of learning experiences in the expanding learning economy (public, private, parochial, charter, home and other informal schools, and commercially based providers). Value network mapping becomes an important tool for tracking the exchange of tangible and intangible learning assets that flow between public schools and the rest of the learning economy. These exchanges create richer relationships between public schools and the community
Specifically, how does this change the way we provide higher education and Cooperative Extension education? Including and engaging community members, in both physical and online communities, to contribute in our educational efforts help learning spread more quickly and more effectively.
Other trends predicted are also provided. Pick one trend and reflect how that trend affects what you do.