The Saturday panel at Learn by Design,  brought together panelists Colleen Broderic,  Simon Jack,  Gary Stager and Ewan McIntosh who tackled two key questions which face all education jurisdictions:

1.  What are 3 things schools should stop doing now?

2.  What are three things schools should start doing now to disrupt schooling?

With a talented panel such as this, you would anticipate insightful answers and comments.   Conference participants were not disappointed.   Some of the perspectives that resonated with me are summarized below.

Part 1:  What are 3 things schools should stop doing now?

• stop developing long term plans as it kills agility and iteration
• stop expecting disruption if you are not going to cultivate the conditions to do so
• always think about what to do next
• stop teaching old style curriculum
• school teaches about 1/billionth of the world knowledge, stop arguing about which 1/billionth
• stop assuming we know how other people think
• stop thinking you need to understand everything you are working on all the time, the price of not trying is greater
• stop having too many meetings

Part 2: What are three things schools should start doing now to disrupt schooling?

• ,think about partnerships differently – engage students and parents as research partners – solve/change something collectively
• list everything you are doing, then  publicly remove things from the list
• begin every decision with a child
• don’t redesign schools by looking at schools,  start looking elsewhere
• storytelling,  it is human, value who we are
• embrace the joy of learning, happiness, laughter
• plan a next

In my view,  the comments, counters and exchange were insightful, thoughtful and respectful.  Any one of these insights is a prompt to generate in depth probing and discussion.

Upon reflection, I would add self directed learning for staff and students into the mix.

My wondering is:   What would you add to the this list?  Anything missing?  What is on your educational mind these days? 

Please comment here or add to the  #ISBLBD twitter stream.

~Mark