Week 1 - DCL - The Purpose of Education

What is the purpose of education? Was the 'purpose of education' the same when I was a child, or when my parents were students? How is education changing? What is driving this change in how teachers teach, what they teach, how students learn, and what they learn?

There has been a shift in how 'knowledge' is viewed in terms of the curriculum. Instead of knowledge being hard to locate, more knowledge is largely available to everyone, anywhere, anytime. 

What learning technology was available to me, or my parents at school?  Well, maybe just the the most basic calculator and a typewriter. I was nine years old when I used a computer for the first time at school. One hour session per week. I was terrified of the computers; I didn't know what they could do, how they worked, and what would happen if I pushed the wrong button. I can't imagine any child these days being petrified of using a digital device at school.

Instead of only focusing on what our students have learnt (the end product), we need to concentrate more on their learning  - how they learn (going through the process of learning). There are heaps of new skills this generation need to exposure to for the jobs that await for them in the future. And what might these jobs be? Well, some future jobs haven't even been created yet! So how do we prepare students for jobs that don't even exist yet? Invent a time machine so we can travel into the future and get a sneak peak at what our kids might do when they're 40?