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"We have to admit, this is extremely close to how we once imagined the near future to look. However, the future has a tendency to pick strange and exciting paths that few would have predicted. We think this Corning Incorporated version of the future is just too touch heavy. Not too surprising given Corning's core business."

"Last year, in the height of the election season, the Obama administration quietly released a national strategic plan for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development. The plan was the beginning of a national effort to prepare Americans for a future with AI-a future some computer scientist believe our nation is ill-equipped to handle. AI has become a part of the American fabric for some time. Siri and Alexa are already taking orders, self-driving cars have hit some streets, and the concept of interconnectivity is now a reality through the Internet of Things. But experts assert that in order for the society to fully embrace AI, learning machines should not replace human workers, but complement them. So to prepare the future workforce for a computer coworker, there must be a shift in teaching and learning-a change that should begin in the classroom."

Rather than focusing on future jobs, this report looks at future work skills-proficiencies and abilities required across different jobs and work settings.

"Coding is, apparently, the new language we all need to learn. It's billed as essential by the likes of Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking. General Motors CEO Mary Barra calls coding a "core skill" that you need to learn if you want a high-paying job. But what if this emphasis on coding is distracting us from teaching kids about other, more important things that they'll actually need for the jobs of the future? Marina Gorbis, executive director of the Institute for the Future, sees this obsession with coding as the equivalent of putting all our eggs into one basket."

The Future of Education is a topic often discussed, and at the recent gathering of educators in Florence, it was the title and theme for the conference. Now in its ninth year, The Future of Education is an international conference that attracts educators from around the world and across all domains touched by education. The conference is an inspiring two days of discussion and sharing, with the city of Florence, the centre of the Renaissance, providing a constant reminder of what might be possible when creativity and critical thinking combine. Here are my key takeaways from this event.

"Since as early as the 1800's, fears of robots taking over human jobs has been a reality. As we enter the true age of robotics, those concerns are resurfacing, and educators are unsure about what jobs their students will be competing for. For example, IT jobs will grow by 22% through 2020 and jobs in STEM are said to see similar growth. Educators are expected to equip their students with skills that will translate into careers and yet they have no idea what these skills should be. While timeless skills such as critical thinking, languages and mathematics aid in every career they do not provide the specialized skills that "jobs of the future" may require. So, what are the jobs of the future and how can be best prepare students for them?"

There's no doubt that the world looks far different today than it did just a year ago. For so many of us, the outbreak of COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way we live our daily lives. Now, more than ever, we're using the internet not just for communication or for entertainment. We're relying on it to help us survive and grow, from working at home to learning at home. But what does the transition to the digital world mean for our children who are having to adapt to remote learning? How might this affect not only their education today, but also their hopes and dreams for the future? Are we dooming this generation to a lifetime of academic struggle because of the "learning loss" they're ostensibly facing now? And, if so what does that mean for their futures? For their career prospects?

"GOOD is a global community of, by, and for pragmatic idealists working towards individual and collective progress. They have created a great documentary on the views of key educators on what they think the future of learning is. There are some positive examples of using educational technology and how it can be a powerful pedagogical tool."

"Hi everyone, I have been looking at the future of play for about 5 years and have spoken about the topic at MIT and written about it in Fast Co. Design, Parents Magazine and The Atlantic. Recently, I summed up the research into a poster for parents and teachers to help them frame the value of play in education (see below attachment). I think this excerpt from my Atlantic article said it best, "Someday, rather than measuring memorization as an indicator of progress, we will measure our children's ability to manipulate (deconstruct and hack), morph (think flexibly and be tolerant of change), and move (think "with their hands" and play productively). Standardized aptitude tests will be replaced by our abilities to see (observe and imagine), sense (have empathy and intrinsic motivation), and stretch (think abstractly and systemically). We will advance our abilities to collaborate and create." The future favors the flexible. And that's another reason this poster has + signs at the top of each category - because the superpowers of play we will need for a constantly evolving world is always changing and it encourages everyone to add their own powers of play. I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Laura http://www.lauraseargeantrichardson.com LinkedIn: laurasgt "

"Figuring out what the future of education is going to look like is downright impossible. Startups have a very difficult time cracking into the education world because many schools either don't have the money or the time to devote to integrating the best edtech tools into the classroom. So what kind of future are we all in store for? While we may not know the future of online learning, we do know that innovation is a constant. Education is a bit resistant to change when it comes to technology and large-scale adoption of innovative products. However, there are some key trends that you should know about as a student or teacher looking to be ahead of the curve."

The following blog post is part of the Alliance's Future Ready blog post series. The Future Ready initiative working...

The following blog post is part of the Alliance's Future Ready blog post series. The Future Ready initiative working...

"Beyond Distance is teaming up with the Australian Digital Futures Institute at the University of Southern Queensland for the 2011 Learning Futures Festival. The festival is a celebration of innovation in teaching and learning in higher education, and offers a chance for practitioners and policymakers to share their visions for the future. With handovers between Leicester (UK), Seattle (USA), and Toowoomba (Australia), Follow the Sun will beginin Leicester on Wednesday 13th April and conclude in Australia 48 hours later."

"TEDxOslo speaker Torgeir Waterhouse is on a crusade to make coding an integral part of students' early education, especially in his home country of Norway. "I'm driven by the fact and the knowledge and the hope and the dream that we can empower kids with technology," he says at the event. "Technology in the hands of the right people can change everything." Kids are those right people, he believes. "[Kids are] those people who will someday wake up and say, in the words of John Perry Barlow, 'I am from cyberspace … I am all about the future.'" A future, Waterhouse says, that will present new demands and challenges to this new generation, challenges that will very likely have to be tackled with technology. "If they are going to build that future for us," Waterhouse says, "they have to learn to code.""

"Every day on Twitter, media outlets, and through my inbox, I am lambasted with arguments as to the essential elements of 21st century learning and teaching and its merits. Most of the skills and knowledge associated with 21st century learning begin with "C" for some strange reason, and deal with notions of creativity, collaboration, citizenship, etc. Here is a very popular framework. While I do acknowledge that we need a perpetual debate as to what learning is and what excellence in teaching might be, I think that much of our focus as educators has been diverted to thought experiments where we are trying to predict the future. We are told what skills students will need in the future as if we have a crystal ball. How can we presume to prepare young people for any kind of future? Will they need lasers are on their heads?"

"The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) - the post-secondary institution recognized for integrating education and industry - is announcing a partnership with Microsoft Corp. and its Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program to teach foundation computational skills for BC high-school students. This partnership recognizes the value of exposing young learners to the jobs of the future while equipping them with the appropriate knowledge and skills for success in the future tech workforce. With support from the BC Ministry of Education and BCIT, the BC branch of TEALS has already educated more than 400 students across four BC high schools. Credit: Microsoft Microsoft TEALS exists because many high schools want to offer computer science courses but often don't have teachers who are trained on the subject. To fill this gap, TEALS volunteers work with classroom teachers to team-teach students, and to equip instructors with the knowledge to teach students on their own."

"In 21 years in education, I have seen many trends come and go. I am on a mission to keep makerspaces from being added to that list. That's at the core of everything I do now. Makerspaces are an educational philosophy, foundationally solid, and we can't allow them to be cast aside by cynics who might suggest they were just a fun fad that has run its course. We must work to secure the future of makerspaces. Their fundamental purpose is too important, the impact on students too significant. A true makerspace offers student-driven opportunity for open-ended exploration for everyone. Makerspaces are a mind-set, a culture. It's about the pedagogy. A great makerspace has seven key attributes: It is personalized, deep (allowing deeper learning), empowering, equitable, differentiated, intentional, and inspiring. If you have all of that, you can call your space a makerspace-maybe even a great makerspace. So what's next? What is the key to the future of makerspaces? Sustainability. That requires proper planning. I am not just talking about the initial planning that is vital to creating the right makerspace for your school. This planning is for the future, and it requires looking back."

"The terms "fail forward and computational thinking" are trending recently, but what does that really mean? Computational thinking is a method of reasoning that teaches students how to solve real-world, complex problems with strategies that computers use. Computational thinking and the Design Thinking Process are frameworks for problem-solving to help address the need for 21st century skills across our nation's K-12 school system. To make 21st century skills easier to comprehend and teach, Tata Consultancy Services and Discovery Education have teamed up to introduce "Ignite My Future In School," a free resource offering professional development, educator guides, model lesson plans, and curriculum connector resources that provide educators and students with 24/7 support. Aligned to national standards, "Ignite My Future in School" provides teachers, including Learning Leaders, with exclusive, cost-free, professional development experiences across the country and the initiative inspires educators to adopt a transdisciplinary approach. As part of Ignite "My Future In School," we've identified seven effective thinking strategies to equip young innovators with valuable problem-solving skills:"

Mr. G Online inserts Maria Anderson's Prezi into his blog and provides a summary and highlights. Overview of necessary skills to future-proof your learning in the Prezi touches on the necessary skills divvied up differently than the Conference board of Candan's list.

"Five Big Changes to the Future of Teacher Education"

"My argument, here and in my book, OPEN: How We'll Work, Live and Learn in the Future, is that the discourse surrounding formal learning is becoming ever further detached from the lessons we see when learning happens outside formal boundaries. The grades that individual students receive for their school projects matter little compared to the comments found on their blogs, or their Vimeo accounts. Rising numbers of parents, frustrated by the worksheet culture of their child's classroom, are self-organizing and co-creating local home-learning networks. Learning which is "open" - outward-facing, highly collaborative, co-created and purpose-driven - offers the promise of addressing the two biggest, yet largely overlooked, challenges facing educators."