In one of our last sessions Prof Mitra shared with us the idea of Projection, Prediction, Prophecy, Fantasy when it comes to thinking about education and learning in the future.
We eventually met on Thursday and talked about so much! Typical SOLE (I imagine) we scrapped the 4 group idea and moved into 1 big group. Although it was a slow start we had interesting conversations.
We’re looking at 20 years ahead in the future and I think we’re in between predication and prophecy (only somewhat). 20 years isn’t that far away and I think most of the group thought that schools were very likely to look the same so much so that learning would take part in buildings and classrooms.
We looked at a school which would have a ‘community administration’ where parents would play a role in the running of the ‘school’ along with professionals, teachers and government (as funders and providers of infrastructure).
Classrooms would be multipurpose where students could sit, stand, lie down in a way that helped them to learn comfortably. Smart walls and sustainable spaces such as gardens and farms would feature in our open space, campus style ‘school’.
The role of the teacher is fluid as a facilitator/mentor/councillor depending on the environment and needs of the students. Teaching would be customised with continuous ‘invisible’ assessment and classes would be flexible in terms of age and ability. Peer learning could feature as part of learning opportunities and elements of this Sophisticated Virtual Learning Environment (SVLE) (Credit to @DanHowardGames).
The curriculum will probably look the same as it does now incorporating literacy/numeracy/life and critical thinking skills, but will be fluid enough and have an element of choice involved for students. We also thought an ‘Introduction to Learning’ might be a good starter at the beginning of term. A portfolio detailing leraning could be used as evidence of continuous learning throughout the years.

Of course this is totally made up and is only one s idea of what the future  of learning could look like!

I’ve been reading a few blogs and there are some deep criticisms of Prof Mita’s work on SOLEs. I’m probably a bit biased already because I really like SOLEs and see their value from my own professional experiences with children and young people in informal environments like youth work.
I think there’s a misconception somewhere that SOLEs are an attempt to replace the current learning and schooling system but I don’t see it that way. I see it as an opportunity to enhance learning experiences and/or provide an alternative.
I’ve seen many elements of SOLEs in youth and community work settings. It may be different with primary school aged children but I’m openly uncomfortable with not having any structure whatsoever in a SOLE, maybe it’s because I am an ‘adult’ and my learning experiences have led me to want structure but the experiences I’ve had in youth and community work mean that I think a bit of (even a tiny bit) of structure can be helpful and not a hindrance to participants.
Enhancing the role of teaching and learning through the use of technology isn’t a negative. Technology plays a huge part in our lives, even if we don’t like it. Technology may be a key player in developing countries, in areas where there are few opportunities for children to learn. 

Even in the UK I don’t see the use of technology in the classroom replacing but enhancing the learning experience.
Maybe I’m to laid back but using harsh words such as ‘damaging’ seems a little over bearing. Of course talking about education brings out the passion in people.
Prof Mitra has a cool and calm persona and deals well with questioning, he has an answer for everything which I can only imagine annoys his critics.
One things for sure is technology, and advancements in it is not going away and there’s a need to have discussions about our teching and learning environments.

Question: What will a ‘school’ look like in Chilpancingo, Mexico in #2035?
Ok, so after Tuesday’s session I’m completely muddled. After randomly choosing, we were given the task to build a ‘school’ in #2035, in Chilpancingo, Mexico, we pretty much had 1 hour to start this process.

Now comes the difficult part… do SOLEs work with adults like they do children? Well, from my experience on Tuesday we spent more time trying to decide what we were going to be doing and where to start, there was lots of confusion.
Adults already have numerous learning experiences where everyone has an opinion or wants to be the leader, which may well be a barrier that children don’t have.
We really struggled to come together as one class and decide how to move forward so naturally we just started to work together in our small groups.

Towards the end of the SOLE session we did start to move into two groups to share our ideas, maybe it just takes longer for adults to comfortably move into the SOLE experience.

We discussed quite a lot from facts and figures in educational attainment in Chilpancingo to the history and economy. The design or ‘bricks and water’ of schools probably will look the same in #2035, but with technological advancements i.e. iPads replacing books.
I’m actually a fan of SOLEs, especially with children and young people because I see the value of this tool for learning, I just think we’re missing a tiny bit of structure.
We’re meeting today to discuss further because we’re definitely not ready to present our school in Chilpancingo #2035.

  
Back from flying the 🇮🇹 Italian flag 🇮🇹 in Rome, I find myself back at University one step further in our quest to the future of learning. I find myself reflecting on how interesting (and different) this module is to the norm…

The next question posed in Provocation 2 is ‘How will children acquire their knowledge and skills?’ which follows on from our earlier session of the skills and knowledge a 12 year old needs and how we can assess it.

  
Prof. Mitra opened the session with a round of what we have done so far and we questioned whether or not we need literacy and numeracy, would we really not learn if there were no schools or educational institutions the basic things we need. When I think about my education, it was only flexible enough from a list of pre-approved subjects.

  

  
Schooling (as we know it) is such a big part of ‘life’ that it’s hard to imagine education and learning without this model. One thing I’m beginning to realise is it’s tough to get an answer to these questions.
We got booged down with whether a friend was a mentor or a facilitator, could you be one, both or all? Good teachers (or facilitators, mentors and friends) are flexible enough to adapt to different learning environments, and as school is one way that children acquire knowledge and skills is an important contribution.
Children acquire their knowledge and skills from many people, their peers, their teachers, their parents, themselves, societal influences which shape their lives.
We heard at the end of the class that we have to create our own school. It’ll be interesting considering what we have been talking about so far and how.

Another situation where we didn’t answer the question. More to follow…

  

  

 

I couldn’t attend the class group discussion on questions for Sugata on Tuesday so I thought I’d write a blog and reflect.

What I find myself hearing here is that there is a feeling that if we introduce the internet and technology into educational and learning contexts it will take over and replace what we might commonly see in school classrooms, teacher led learning.
I don’t see the internet or technology as this monster which will infiltrate our classrooms and take over our teachers, but see it as a contributory tool for learning where teachers and learners learn from each another.

The dominant current system of assessment (where you are taught and tested at the end) is tailored towards moving young people from education straight into employment, as if they must have these skills in order to succeed and must be taught it in the current way. Having a certificate to say you ‘know’ doesn’t really mean you understand or have really learnt anything.

  
I see the most important area of learning in the process so totally agree that how we assess the impact of learning and what has been learnt should be flipped on its head and assessment should be continuous and practitioners should have the opportunity to ‘test’ the strength of learning continuously to identify gaps.

I like the idea of Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs). It reminds me of the art of conversation as a tool for youth workers when engaging with young people in youth work settings, this can produce and open up access to knowledge.

Conversation (something I should think is used in SOLEs a lot) is often dismissed as a skill as it is something we all do anyway. Like the skill of conversation, children and young people are often dismissed as too young to know or understand.

  

  Thinking about the future of learning reminds me of my undergraduate studies and reading Mark Smith’s book on Local Education where he points out ‘Talking, listening, thinking, respecting: listed in this way it is clear that conversation is a fundamental activity. It is easy to see why it can be a problem: we do not always listen, engage with what is being said, and treat each other with respect. (Smith, 1994: 32)

Conversation is a skill which I that I think a 12 year old should have acquired. I don’t think we’re at a stage where we can categorically say this is what a child should have learnt by 12 but we’re looking at what learning is about and the different ways that it can it can be delivered and assessed, which can only be positive.

Malala Yousafzai was a child when she campaigned for a girl’s right to education in Pakistan and said, “I don’t want to be thought of as the girl who was shot by the Taliban but the girl who fought for education. This is the cause to which I want to devote my life.”

  

References
Smith, M. (1994). Local education. Buckingham. Open University Press.