Summary
Highlights
The speaker explains that traditional curricula focusing on literacy, numeracy, subject disciplines, and technical skills are no longer fit for purpose. The shift is towards students becoming producers of learning, not just consumers, and developing human competencies like social skills, communication, collaboration, empathy, and drive, which are crucial for living in a digital world.
Chris from Arizona State University (ASU) discusses their philosophy of 'inclusive excellence at scale.' Unlike universities driven by exclusivity, ASU aims to include and support every learner globally. They leverage technology to scale access, with 100,000 online students and 700,000 learners upskilling/reskilling, touching 25 million people annually with learning technologies. This mindset, combined with technology, drives social transformation.
Michael from MTC (a network of secondary schools) addresses significant problems in U.S. high schools: chronic absenteeism and lack of preparedness. He theorizes that the shift to online learning during COVID-19 changed permissions around school attendance, and traditional schooling can feel irrelevant. MTC schools embrace project-based, interdisciplinary, and self-directed learning, engaging students in real-world problem-solving with local businesses and nonprofits.
The speaker emphasizes that widespread adoption of new educational approaches is harder in countries with entrenched traditional academic ambitions like Australia, England, and the US. Changing the system requires addressing teachers, parents, and students' mindsets. The key lever for change lies in altering assessment and credentialing systems, as these set the rules and influence behavior.
Chris shares ASU's 'Universal Learner' program as an example of radical inclusiveness. Inspired by a young woman in Afghanistan seeking education, ASU offers 60 online courses. If a student achieves a B or higher, they pay a fee, and the course is transcripted. Four such courses guarantee acceptance into ASU, offering a pathway to a university degree for anyone, regardless of background, including incarcerated or rural individuals.
Michael discusses the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), which developed an alternative credentialing model: a physical digital transcript that is competency and evidence-based. This transcript has been accepted by over 600 colleges and universities in the US, allowing learners to gain admission based on demonstrated competencies and evidence of learning, rather than traditional grades or credit hours.
The speaker addresses the challenge of measuring competencies and building trust in new credentialing systems. While teachers can create rubrics, the crucial factor for employers and universities is trust in what the representation means. Efforts are focused on defining clear standards for transferable competencies, incorporating 'trust factors' like moderation, comparability, and calibration to ensure reliability.
The panel discusses the future of education, hoping it won't be the same as today. They envision an 'and, and, and' approach, where traditional learning coexists with integrated work and learning, non-traditional transcripts becoming more common, and technology serving as a personalized learning agent for competency building. They emphasize that failing to evolve would mean failing to tap into human aspirations.
Mike's key message to policymakers is to rethink how credit is assigned. Instead of counting exposure hours, the focus should be on demonstrated abilities. He advocates for looking at portfolios of student work, acknowledging past issues with reliability and scalability. However, he expresses optimism about technology, citing MTC's acquisition by ETS and a joint initiative to develop scalable ways of assessing student portfolios and inferring skill development.