I was contemplating the oft heard and little practiced maxim in education today, “We must prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet.” I began to wonder what I would teach to students 15 years ago to prepare them for the world today. Here are just a few of specific topics that I’m teaching my students now.
• Coding
• Webdesign
• Social Media
If we indeed taught the above listed skills 15 years ago people would no doubt question and probably ridicule us. Yet, these skills today are not only being widely taught in our classes, but are now becoming curriculum requirements world wide. How can we teach digital job skills for jobs that don’t even exist yet?
The key is to focus on the broader fundamental principles of technology instead of specific tools and applications. For example, teaching students how to do standard photo editing functions like cropping and color adjustments across similar applications instead of just teaching a specific program like Photoshop. How could we teach the above subjects unshackled to changing programs and in a way that will be relevant 15 years from now?
• Creative and Computational Thinking
• Design and Engineering
• Digital Citizenship and Curation
If we don't begin purposefully integrating future skills into today's teaching than we risk bankrupting tomorrow before it has even arrived. So what kind of jobs fields are on the immediate horizon that our students could begin exploring? Here are a few ideas:
• Virtual Reality
• Cyber Security
• Drone Design
• 3D Printing
• Robotics
• Driverless Transportation
• Brain Controlled Computing
• Medical Technology
Wil Codilla is a public school teacher, designer, and speaker. @WilCodilla