Conference Background

The digital era is accelerating change in the world today. Likewise, it is challenging how educators prepare students as future-ready learners. We are all witnesses to the societal, economic, and environmental transformations brought about by globalization, advances in technology and communications, social networking, access to information and volume and speed of knowledge. Alongside are the changes in the nature of work, mobility, and need for skills and competencies – equipping learners to become ready for the world of work.

While organizations are expected to address social and environmental issues, educational institutions need to reform and innovate to provide new knowledge and solutions to real-world problems.

These changes conjure to pose a challenge for educators to innovate and design school curriculum to equip a new generation of students for this significantly changing world. This is the best time to design holistic learning experiences to develop interrelated competencies and provide a learning environment that is operated by technology to support the lived experience of the students in the digital era.

The new generation of schools should promote authentic learning to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and solutions and to develop 21st-century skills among students of today.

With this, this conference aims to draw educators, school leaders, scholars and practitioners to discuss and understand these changes. It also aims to address various challenges by creating the next generation of schools.

Dr. Jay McTighe is an experienced educator and noted author, having co-authored 16 books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design series with Grant Wiggins. Jay has an extensive background in professional development and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and workshops. He provides consulting services to schools, districts, regional service agencies and state departments of education. He is well known for his work with “thinking skills,” having coordinated efforts to develop instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment procedures for improving the quality of student thinking.

Developing the 21st Century Skills of Critical and Creative Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration

Dr. McTighe’s presentation will zero in on teaching for understanding which involves engaging learners in making connections and constructing their own understanding of big ideas and essential questions. He will discuss how to design a coherent curriculum and assessment system to integrate 21st-century outcomes and collect evidence of students’ understanding and ability to transfer their learning. His talk will also focus on those educational practices and school structures which are likely to support the attainment of critical 21st-century skills.

David Price is a learning futurist and an expert in organizational learning for a complex future. He is an experienced facilitator, having led creative workshops with CEOs, public sector leaders, educators, and social enterprises.

David has led numerous international education projects. His conclusion is that every business, every school, and every public institution needs to learn from the ways in which we engage with knowledge socially, because therein lies the answer to how to re-engage employees and students, and remain competitive, and relevant in a fast-moving world.

Education and the Workplace of the Future

Mr. Price will share his thoughts on Education and Workplace of the Future. The talk will focus on how we should prepare students for the future and the resolute interest of employers on whether our students know what to do with what they know. The talk will also emphasize the importance of the learning environment in social learning.

Mr. Price will also share his thoughts on the changes in the way we work amidst automation, Smart Robots, and Artificial Intelligence. Emphasis will be on the readiness of learning institutions as well as the prevalence of 19th-century models of learning at work.