We know leaders in education meet together in various venues across the internet… Teachers find teachers, admins find admins, human resource experts find other human… you get the picture. We think that’s great!

However , K12Leaders.com is a un樂威壯 ique community where leaders in ALL roles <犀利士 strong> across education come together to collaborate, share, and grow.

If you are a member – we’re so glad you’re here! Invite a friend from across the hall, across the district, or across the country to join our conversations!

I was fortunate this week as an education leader: I spent two full days working with students. Our graduating students are working hard on their Senior Projects, all of which are interesting and impactful. I was asked to help with one senior’s project in particular; training a cadre of younger students to take over running the A/V booth in our performance theater.

Let’s get this straight – I know about 10 buttons to work the A/V booth. This was not my training. I was there to assist, supervise and observe. Our senior student (assisted by his good friend and fellow Class of 2022 member) designed a full two-day course to teach mentees all they would need to know as production assistants. He developed a schedule, a syllabus and training materials. He provided information, demonstrations and hands-on opportunities for students to learn. Finally, he stepped back and gave them time to use the equipment in a supportive environment.

For hours, I worked on my laptop with an eye and ear tuned into their work. I was impressed by the commitment to excellence, the level of respect and the variety of lessons taught. I learned a WHOLE lot more about our A/V capabilities!

After lunch on Day 2, students started working together to run “productions” on the stage. At times the auditorium was filled with the sounds of music. At other times, the theater was so dark, I could only see my computer screen. As students grew in their knowledge and comfort level, I started to see their skills gel and the theater came to life.

At the same time, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Singing along from my seat, tapping my feet, smiling as students got up, sang and danced to give those in the booth something to track.

Soon… I was starting to think I wanted to get up and sing. It would not be the first time I’ve wished to do something similar. I love to sing. I LOVE LOVE to sing. However? I am not a singer. Since my strokes? I am REALLY not a singer. I usually chicken out and just enjoy the show, always wishing later that I at least spoke up. Today, I went up to the booth and asked the kids if I could sing. After their surprised reaction, they gave me a mic, helped me find the track I wanted and I headed to the stage.

I’m sharing this video with you… NOT because I’m awaiting a record deal. I am sharing because of how it models vulnerability, community building, risk-taking and having fun with students. In my role, I have limited ways to build relationships with our students. During these two days, I observed them coming out of their shell, creating a small community, taking risks and having lots of fun together while LEARNING. I wanted to be part of the experience!

I’ve decided to share the experience here for many reasons… Leaders need to find ways to spend quality time with those whom they serve. Find ways to have fun. Find ways to model vulnerability and facing fears. Laugh at yourself; don’t just TELL students everyone makes mistakes. SHOW them.

It makes me feel wicked uncomfortable and super proud to watch this video. I sound WAY better inside my head. I keep up with the rhythm singing along from my seat. I remember EVERY single word when singing in my car. I felt as silly and awkward and self-conscious as I look on stage. But listen to and watch the students in this video. Teaching and learning is going on all around me, without my having to teach a thing. In the end, this experience wasn’t about me. It was about building the capacity of students.

I think that’s magical.

What are you teaching your students, or your staff, when you aren’t teaching at all?

Simply,
Suzy

Want to see part of the song we did together after this?

Teachers and school leaders have been through the wringer during the pandemic. First they were praised for spinning up remote learning in mere days. Then, they were ostracized for not making the remote experience as good as the in-person one. After that, it was COVID protocols, CRT, and fights about what books our kids should read. The cavalcade of over the top school board meetings have become so commonplace, Saturday Night Live did an entire skit about it.

At some point you have to laugh or be forced to cry. On top of all of this mounting pressure is the harsh reality that our teachers are SEVERELY underpaid. This is not anything new, as many states in the union pay less than $60,000 a year which after health care and taxes equates to around $3300 a month to live off of. That’s a little less than $20/hour and that’s just for those that pay $60k a year! There are 34 states that don’t hit that mark in terms of average pay.

We are facing a time famine

Let’s take the money out of the equation for a moment. You can always figure out ways to make more money, but you can’t make more time. We are facing a major TIME FAMINE in our classrooms. More curriculum is packed into our school day as we try and cram instruction in between book battles and school board takeovers. The lack of flexibility and substitute teachers means no extra time for planning engaging lessons or having meaningful professional learning.

In a recent survey published by K12Leaders.com, 67% of respondents said they are “moderately” to “highly” dissatisfied in their current role. Of that group, 88% said they would leave their job with less than 1 month of notice if another job came along. While compensation (74%) and lack of flexibility (70%) came in as high reasoning, the highest was lack of respect (77%). One educator shared the following quote:

“I don’t feel valued in our culture in a general way…. I will always be asked to do more and more and more with less and less. I don’t feel like I have room to advance and I definitely can’t afford to stay in a classroom long term. It gets worse each year. At this rate I will never be able to retire.“
Anonymous educator

“Back to Normal” is not the answer

Schools and communities have been rushing to return things “back to normal” for their students. Removing masks and doing away with social distancing as quickly as possible. Putting technology back in the closet with the belief that was only useful for remote learning and isn’t necessary during the school day. Discarding any flexibility or asynchronous learning options and forcing all students back into synchronous in-person learning. The truth is, this “normal” way of doing school doesn’t serve all children, it only serves a few in the middle.

Students in traditionally underserved communities have struggled with the “Game of School” which is more about making the A and less about actual learning. It’s about getting the best scores on mandated tests and less about longitudinal learning and reflection in a portfolio. We are teaching kids to fill out bubble sheets when we should be filling their minds.

Last year, my oldest child went to middle school completely online. She got most of work done between 10am and noon. Remote learning wasn’t good for many kids, but for some like my daughter, they excelled. Returning to in-person school for this year has led to some struggles that she didn’t encounter before. The school bell schedule is very much gospel in schools. You go to one class for a set amount of time and then onto the next class. The child’s mind and ability to process new information isn’t taken into account when making these schedules.

Time to Eliminate Seat Time Funding

Our school schedule is a symptom of a larger issue in our schools. We are forced by state law to fill out a certain amount of days or minutes with kids physically present in the classroom. This means that it’s more important if your rear end is in a seat than if you are actually learning anything. The devaluing of our learning institutions peaked during the pandemic. Many parent communities were eager to put their students back in school so they could get to work. Schools are large childcare facilities in the minds of these parents, not learning institutions.

To move away from this national belief, school funding shouldn’t be centered around physical presence. Do families still need physical buildings to help with their child’s learning? Absolutely. But do we need to fund schools solely based on seat time and a one-time high stakes test? Absolutely NOT.

Eliminating seat-time funding could open up schools to some creative scheduling and cross-curricular and dare I say, cross-grade level learning. Why do we need to consider this? Our current school system model relies most heavily on ONE major item, we need personnel to make it run.

The Big Quit in Education

The Great Resignation, or “Big Quit”, is happening across multiple industries. Education has been in the cross-hairs of this movement for the past several years, but now the pandemic has amplified it. At recent professional learning conferences I attended numbers were down due to Covid concerns but also a “lack of subs” to cover classrooms. This affected teacher attendance but also administrators who are now covering classrooms on a regular basis. And it’s not just classrooms that are feeling the pinch.

Bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and custodians are in high demand and short supply as well. Schools are so short on bus drivers that the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Transportation essentially waived the need to have a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to drive a bus. In addition to these necessary positions to help make the school day run, leadership is also in short supply.

Political pressures and debates on critical race and mask mandates has encouraged many superintendents to seek an early exit from the role. In my home state of Texas alone, there with 60 resignations in the last couple of months. That number is typical of an entire school year and not anywhere near what you would typically see between December and January. On a recent podcast, Doug Roberts, who runs the Superintendent think tank known as the Institute for Education Innovation (IEI), said the numbers were alarming. Not only are we seeing a mass exodus from educational leadership, but in the past “we would see 100-200 applicants for a Superintendent position, now we are seeing 1-3 applicants.”

More people leaving the education profession than those that are joining it means that we will be at a critical breaking point in the next few years. Districts and state governments need to start thinking of creative ways to transform schools in the future. Increasing teaching salaries is a start, like this district in Fayetteville, Arkansas did. But as we discovered on the K12Leaders.com survey, money isn’t the only driving factor.

Forward to Different

There is no magic bullet to fix the disaster that lies ahead for our schools. Some schools in affluent areas may find work arounds with stipends or extra off days, but for the majority of districts, it’s time to think differently. This means we need to stop saying “Back to normal” and starting thinking “Forward to different.” I started to develop a strategy called “Learning Realignment” some months ago, but our educational future may need to be even more extreme.

Over the next few weeks, I will publish a series of different approaches that schools across the country are considering. None of the ideas are 100% fail safe but I applaud districts for taking risks and making some drastic changes to keep their school up and running. Before we tackle these approaches, we must first consider changing some of the things we hold sacred in education.

1. Grade level bands eliminated

One such thing is the “grade level band by age” approach. This video illustrates a point that Sir Ken Robinson famously made in one of his talks. We still educate kids in age batches rather than competency. If we are facing a teacher shortage, this could be on of the first things to go.

2. School schedule less rigid

Another change I’ve already mentioned is the school bell schedule. It perpetuates the factory model of the 1950’s and restricts deeper learning and experiential teaching to some degree. It also requires us to have a certain amount of personnel on hand to teach certain classes. Which leads me to another change that needs to happen.

3. Learning options NOT limited by where you live

Learning is limited by geography. My daughter wants to learn Italian, but her school only offers Spanish. This is for a variety of reasons but the primary two are that there isn’t a teacher qualified to teacher it AND there aren’t enough students interested to justify the expense. She could hop on a bus and head to another middle school that offers it, but why? Did we not just go through almost two years of remote learning? Couldn’t she take a class online with a teacher on the other side of the city? Heck, why couldn’t that teacher even live in a different state or country? We limit learning when we restrict it to only the physical resources available in a geographical area.

4. Curriculum needs an overhaul

The thought of changing WHAT we teach while changing HOW we teach can be terrifying. The truth is, our curriculum is also based on mid-20th century education. Does it make sense to teach kids how to write checks when we live in a world of cryptocurrency and NFTs? The silo-model of curriculum limits our flexibility when it comes to cross-curricular projects and experiences. I wrote about this change in core curriculum in 2017 and think of any time to change our beliefs on curriculum, now is that time.

5. Four-day work week comes to education

Teacher pay is a problem in education, but so is the lack of flexibility. When I taught first grade, bladder control was one of my super powers. Being in charge of young humans for a full day can be taxing physically, mentally and emotionally. Teachers got to experience some rare job flexibility when the pandemic first hit. Being forced to teach online presented many challenges but it also allowed educators to see what a “work from home” environment would be like. With students completing asynchronous tasks, they were able to experience what a lot of the modern working world does. Being able to run errands, go to doctor visits and car appoints without spending time on sub plans has its perks.

Companies across the globe are also starting to see the value in productivity that could be gained from both working from home and a 4-day work week. More and more major companies are starting to make the shift which will have a trickle down effect in education. But rather than wait for the entire world to shift to this model, schools could start now.

A “4/5” schedule (4-day work week for teachers, 5-day learn week for students) could be the answer to our impending educator shortage. I’m working with a school in Florida that is trying to make this happen. Alternating “enrichment days” or creating a space for online learning within the school can help create a level of flexibility and give teachers a true day off (not a planning day or one filled with ‘necessary’ meetings).

We are at the precipice of change

Education has been needing an overhaul for decades. State policies and political pressures have created an environment where those of us in K-12 feel like we can’t innovate and modernize student learning. These four areas of change mentioned above are not the only things we can and should change in education. Assessments, grades, and seat-time all play a large role in everything we do in education and they too will have to be transformed if we are to truly head “forward to different” in our schools.

As I got out of my Lyft at the Orlando airport Friday, I realized I was saying goodbye to some great new connections I made. This year’s FETC made a considerable impact on me. My next challenge will be to take the connections and learning to enhance education in my district and grow as a leader. I sat at the airport a little numb. Maybe from all the walking (possibly from carrying around my books -I need a cart on wheels like I saw Jenallee have), a little sad about just meeting some new connections and now leaving, or just could be too many “complementary” refreshments. My guess is a combination of all. I did know two things Jen Womble is a true superstar to stay the course, create a safe learning environment, and built a kick-ass event! I wanted to write a blog to share and urge everyone to reflect and take what they learned and implement it. When I began to reflect on the flight home and thought to myself, “I often give advice, and I want to achieve so much after this event; but how. So here are some ways I thought to turn all your FETC ideas into action.

REFLECT: It’s important to take time to reflect before jumping into new ideas or strategies. Four days full of speakers and breakout learning at FETC gave everyone a lot to soak in. Even with a Google doc filled with every note your fingers could type, there’s no way to remember it all. So collect your notes, set aside time to revisit them, and identify some specific action items.

DRAFT A PLAN: Give yourself a week to draft out a plan to implement any new learning. As tempting as it might be to put things into practice right away, mapping out a plan is often the most effective strategy.

ASK YOURSELF, “IS THE IDEA REALISTIC?” Unrealistic ideas, goals, and strategies are almost worse than not having any at all. Just because you heard a great idea doesn’t mean you can implement the same idea when you don’t have the environment or tools to do that.

SET ASIDE TIME TO PLAY: The implementation of new ideas is only as good as your ability to understand what impact a change would make. Try out two new resources or tools a week that you didn’t know about before the conference. Make a list of all the tools you want to try and set aside a few minutes a week to play with the new technology.

MAKE THE IDEA YOURS: Tailor any new strategies to fit your style. The implementation will not be believable and sustainable if you repeat a speaker’s message, as valuable as it may have been, without making the idea your own. Take the idea and combine it with your teaching strengths and your students. Only then will it have an impact.

CONNECT YOUR LEARNING TO OTHERS: As you review your notes, you may discover tools that would benefit other colleagues. Please don’t keep them to yourself. Instead, share your notes and links with that educator. Although you may not be in a position to make this knowledge purposeful, someone else may be able to make the idea blossom.

TWITTER CHATS: Find chats with common interests and discuss these topics and trends from the conference. Allow the conference topics to be a starting point or stimulus for taking things further, rather than an ending point.

BOOK STUDY: Many speakers at conferences like FETC have either written books themselves or suggested books for further reading during their presentations. This is a wonderful opportunity to bounce your ideas off trusted colleagues. If you need ideas for a book – I know a few I like : )

REACH OUT TO SPEAKERS: The speakers and panelists at any conference are likely key experts in your field and also very open to sharing. Don’t be afraid to ask these presenters questions via email or social media. This platform we’re all developing here are K12Leaders, as well as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Voxer can be great avenues to connect with your favorite presenters and learn more.

I was so fortunate to have had this experience and honored to be mentioned in the same lens as educators I look up to on the administrative track. I also say a lot, “So what, NOW what.” How can we take all this learning and grow as a profession? It is OUR time, FETC, to take your new ideas and put them into action!

TELL ME what your grading practices say.

TELL ME what they say to the student who gets up at 4 am and rides a bus for close to two hours to get to a goo犀利士5mg d school.

TELL ME what they say to the student who works a Job when they are not in school to help make ends meet.

TELL ME what they say to the kid whose parent is busy with “other stuff” and the fridge is empty.

TELL ME what they say to the kid who looks picture perfect on the outside package but is riddled with anxiety.

TELL ME what they say to the kid who is trying to desperately figure out who they are and how they fit into this world.

TELL ME what they say to the kid who has no one to advocate for them.

TELL ME what they say…

Do they say that you care, are compassionate and show grace?

Do they say that you are data and policy driven and that they are just a line in your grade book?

Do they say that you may not get them to learn your subject matter, but you will certainly teach them life lessons that will teach them that this world is cold and hard and uncaring?

Do they say that you work to create a fair and even playing field as often as possible?

Do they say what the student has actually achieved or simply what they have scored?

Do they say that you see each child as a part of the collective whole as well as an individual?

Do they say that you are caught up in archaic and ineffective practices that were used when you were a student and so now you use them?

Do they say that you don’t grade for the sake of grading but with a clear and thoughtful purpose?

Do they say that the student may have done the work befitting one grade and yet receive another for making errors that have nothing to do with what you are charged with assessing?

Do they say that your assessments highlight achievement or errors?

TELL ME what they say.

I am not there. I have not arrived. I wrestle with these questions daily…but I continue to wrestle. I will continue to wrestle because THIS matters and I NEED to do better. We all NEED to do BETTER.

Every year I embark on this tradition of trying to be “bold” in my predictions of what the twelve months ahead will entail. Some years I hit the mark, such as in 2015 when I predicted that the state of Texas would end its testing contract with Pearson. Or like in 2019 when I said Netflix would make an EDU version of their platform (ok, that one still hasn’t happened…yet).

Still, it’s fun to make predictions, so with the turning of the calendar and a new year upon us, why not put something out there in writing to see how right or wrong I will be.

The last two years have greatly impacted my predictions more so than any previous time. With the pandemic, industries far and wide are changing behaviors and practices. Having groceries delivered or meeting on a Zoom call are now commonplace.

All of these changes have also impacted education. The course correction in funding with ESSER funds finally gives K-12 schools a chance to balance out what has been a severely underfunded aspect of our society.

But first, a disclaimer. As I mention in the title, these predictions are meant to be BOLD. It’s one thing to say that education will change, but it’s quite another to actually specify the method in which it will change. I also realize that public education is heading into a bit of crisis mode when it comes to staffing shortages and the great resignation.

With that, here are my thoughts on what the year 2022 will hold.

The Great Edtech Buy Out Continues

With the influx in ESSER funds, companies peddling education technology are feeling the pressure to grab a slice of the pie before it’s all gone. Companies consolidate and partner pretty regularly, and recent trends would indicate this will only accelerate this year. Last year Nearpod was bought out for an astounding $450 million by Renaissance. LineWize expanded its offerings by purchasing classroom management and analytics wizard NetRef and adding the UK filtering company Smoothwall.

Doing this gives companies looking for the next big RFP greater coverage to check those boxes and potentially land a large district such as LAUSD or NYC. With the deadline of ESSER funds coming in 2024 (and likely most of those funds allocated by 2023), I predict this year will see a rapid increase in companies joining forces or buying one another. Will they all be owned by Pearson or PowerSchool? I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if by the end of this there are only 3 or 4 big-time players in this space.

The Great Resignation Will Force Schools to Think Differently About Online Teachers

We are in the midst of what many are calling the “Great Resignation,” and with the shift to increased remote work, people and companies realize they can do a lot more with less. (Some folks have even realized they can work multiple careers at the same time, like yours truly.) Schools are feeling the pressure from this with both a shortage of substitute teachers and superintendents migrating to retirement at a rapid pace.

One of the biggest obsta犀利士
cles secondary schools face is what can be offered to students in terms of courses. Small districts are limited in offerings based on who is qualified to teach which class. For example, if a group of students wants to take Italian as a foreign language, they have to have a teacher who works physically at the school to be able to offer it. Many school leaders also are burdened by traditional thinking when it comes to hiring, believing a full-time employee is the only way to go. So now you might have a teacher teaching Italian one period per day and then other “catch all” subjects the rest to make up their paycheck.

I predict this year we will see a rise in schools outsourcing course offerings via part-time online instructors. Companies such as ElevateK12 and Rex Academy have already started to realize this, and are providing part-time certified educators to remotely teach some of those hard-to-reach classes. With the shift to 1-to-1 devices, schools will use vacated computer labs to serve as staging ground for students still attending class in-person. Alternatively, students can take a “zero hour” course while at home on their own time, much like you would take a Master Class online.

A New Social Media Platform for Educators Arises

With the increased pressure in education and the lack of social connection due to the pandemic, the outlook on our industry is pretty bleak. Educators need to connect more so now than ever to solve our ever-increasing issues. The only problem is, we are scattered everywhere on social media. Twitter, TikTok, Facebook Groups, Instagram, etc. – these platforms connect us but only in platform-based silos.

Last week I announced the launch of a new social network that I’ve been working on with a group of forward-thinking and compassionate educators for the last several months. The goal behind K12Leaders.com is to provide a free platform for educators to connect, grow, share and learn. While this platform is still very much in beta (you can try it out here), our hope is that this becomes a tool for reversing the trend of educators leaving the profession. This is literally a professional learning network and something I think we’ve sorely needed in education.

Ok, so as this is a bold predictions article, time to be bold. As of this writing we have 145 members and my bold prediction is that we’ll be at 10,000 come December 31, 2022.

TikTok University Will Launch

Those clever dances. Those funny little reaction videos. The insane challenges. Kids (and adults) love TikTok. (I even broke down and finally joined this year too) It’s now the second-most used social media site by teenagers (after YouTube). Much like YouTube, people are drawn to this tool for both entertainment and information. My prediction is that this year we will see the launch of what I’m calling TikTok University or TikTokU for short.

This education-friendly version of the popular social media platform will feature teacher influencers rapping to the times tables or dancing on the periodic table. (Yes, I said “on.”) Just like TeachersPayTeachers, TikTokU will be a great source of additional revenue for underpaid educators while also keeping students engaged and inspired.

Now if only the next big TikTok challenge would be to surprise your teacher with a coffee instead of destroying the school restroom….

ISTE22 Will Feel Like A High School Reunion

A lot has happened since the last in-person ISTE in Philadelphia in 2019. Jobs have changed. People have gained and lost weight. Educators have gone three years without being able to network and connect in person. And now we are all going to be together for the first time in a long time in America’s most epic party city, New Orleans.

What could go wrong?

For the last three years we’ve experienced online happy hours and virtual conferences, but coming this summer that all ends (fingers crossed considering the current pandemic trends). As someone who’s been at a couple of major state conferences in the past month, I can tell you the release of pressure is real. Educators need to mix and network with like-minded souls and catch up on old times. We are in the people business and not being around our PLN has really drained us emotionally and mentally. I for one am excited to see the spectacle…er…magical experience that awaits us in The Big Easy.

An Amazon “Alexa” Academy Will Be Established

Do I think teachers will be replaced by robots? No. Do I think some of our time spent teaching basic facts should change? Absolutely. We are facing a “time famine” in schools yet we still focus much of our day and energy addressing basic facts that our phones or digital assistants can answer. Instead, we should be spending time helping kids ask critical thinking questions and taking risks.

What better way to demonstrate that than by using artificial intelligence in the classroom? With AI, teachers can demonstrate how to get Alexa to listen to you when you want to hear that next great Doja Cat song, or how Google Home can help you figure out what the square root of pi is.

My prediction is that Amazon will take the lead on this and attempt to implement the first-ever “Alexa Academy.” Teacher facilitators in the classrooms can help students ask questions, but the room will be outfitted with one-to-one Amazon Echo Dots.

I would recommend for those seriously considering this that for the education addition, each Echo should be given a personalized “wake” word so the Echos don’t get confused. I’m sorry, could you repeat that again? I’m having trouble understanding you….

A New Digital Divide Emerges

The gap between those with and without access in schools has rapidly narrowed. The digital divide is still a real thing, but now I’m seeing other trends when it comes to technology use in schools, particularly when it comes to academic support. Underserved communities traditionally use edtech as remediation and repetition practice of core academic areas. Meanwhile, affluent districts promote project-based activities and entrepreneurial classes that employ edtech more creatively.

I wrote a more extended thought piece on this phenomenon recently when reviewing how schools support students struggling academically. With 20% of ESSER funds earmarked for “learning loss,” it’s natural for edtech to play a role in this recovery.

I think this year we will see a new digital divide emerge in terms of how we are using edtech. The truth is this isn’t a new phenomenon, however, now that we are closer to ubiquitous access we will start to see some gaps widening being the haves and have nots.

Augmented Reality Will Push the Need for NFT Education

We’ve all enjoyed playing with our Merge cubes and watching fun little videos using HP Reveal (now defunct), but generally augmented reality (AR) has been largely a consumptive edtech tool, which is why many companies have come and gone when it comes to implementing AR in the classroom (remember Aurasma?) The other major roadblock for AR is that it has been limited to those with iOS or Android devices.

These challenges have kept AR off on the sidelines and saved for those special “Fun Friday” classroom activities. Now with companies such as Australian-based Eyejack and its AR Academy, I predict AR will finally start to shift to the creative side of education. Eyejack even recently became available on platforms such as Chromebooks, giving students another method to create and express themselves. This shift toward device-agnostic use of AR removes one more barrier for what I see will be a major new creative outlet for kids.

The interesting thing about creating in the AR space is that now students can actually sell their virtual creations as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The conversation around intellectual property and creativity should be happening in schools yesterday. Making creative overlays, virtual murals, and living posters means an exciting future possibility for how kids demonstrate their learning (and possibly earn a few bucks as well).

Metaverse Will Be a Not-So-Fun Version of Ready Player One.

The book (and movie) Ready Player One gave us a preview of what this new idea known as “The Metaverse” might look like. Amazing avatars interacting in cool zero-gravity dance clubs and races through New York City with monster trucks were just the periphery, but at the heart of the book was how education was now freely accessible to all with a VR headset.

Companies are now scrambling to throw their energy and money into building this Metaverse (see graphic below) but will it really be like the book? Will I be able to fly on a luck dragon or play some classic Commodore 64 games in a virtual representation of my childhood home?

I think the short-term experience will be a little clunky and not nearly as fun, however, the potential for what the Metaverse can bring to schools could finally change the face of education. This could potentially create another digital divide when it comes with headsets, and raise concerns for screen-time warriors, but I, for one, am all in. Now, does anyone know a good real estate agent on the Metaverse? I don’t necessarily need a house next to Snoop Dogg, but just some nice digital acreage.

My New Book Will Be a Success Because of Failure

Every year I predict I’ll write some sort of book. Almost every year that prediction fails. This year is an exception as I just finished my latest book Ready Set FAIL!, which is set to launch in late January 2022 (pre-order here!). This book embodies much of what I believe we need more of in education…failure. I have always taken risks in my life that I think have had a positive impact on either my own learning or that of others. This was not something that was nurtured during my own experience as a student in K-12 or even at higher education institutions.

Just writing this book and having it published is a success in my world (shout out to XFactorEDU publishing for taking a chance on me). We are not going to survive as an institution of learning unless we start making great strides in using risk-taking and failure to help unlock creativity in our students (and adults). My prediction (and hope) is this book will motivate some schools to rethink the traditional method in which we deliver learning to our students.

Speaking of failures, I’m excited to see how many of these predictions will come true in the coming year. Like the Netflix series Black Mirror, all of these seem plausible, if not possible, with the right motivation and creative risk-takers in our space. The future is bright and uncertain all at same time. After all, who could have predicted a global pandemic would bring about a change to our daily lives? That’s one bold prediction I failed to make, and I’m okay with that.

Happy 2022 everyone…here’s to the future!