Leading a Digital School Conference 2019

In July 2017 Curtin University announced the establishment of the Learning Futures Network to acknowledge the growing interest by K-12 schools to have a more meaningful and engaged relationship with Curtin University and other partners focussed on learning, education, arts and culture, the future of work, global sustainable development, science and technology. Since then it has grown to a network of over 150 organisations.
The Learning Futures Network aims to create the social infrastructure, resources and context to develop more authentic and future-aware processes to support transformation and collaboration across student learning, school and staff development, and connections between and across higher education, industry, cultural and community organisations and the public sector. The Learning Futures Network also provides an avenue for schools to learn about the expectations of higher education, alternative entry pathways, Direct Entry Portfolio processes, teacher professional learning and postgraduate opportunities, and to be more proactive in collaborative engagements with higher education.
Students often struggle to find connections with topics and approaches provided in regular classroom settings – the Learning Futures Network provides a wider range of interest areas and more challenging opportunities to learn in novel, connected and global ways:
A seven-year-long study by Judith Harackiewicz showed that interest predicted long term learning outcomes more accurately than students’ initial grades in a course. In general, writes Harackiewicz, “research has found that interest is a more powerful predictor of future choices than prior achievement or demographic variables.” The research of Paul Silvia suggests that to be interesting, material must be novel, complex, and comprehensible. [from Fortifying Interest in a Distracted World].
Schools in the network can benefit through:
– Co-developing engaging workshops for staff and students to create new products and to deepen school partnerships;
– Increased opportunities for collaboration with other schools, industry partners, community and cultural partners;
– Primary schools can connect with, and align their strategies more relevantly with high schools;
– Regional schools can begin to bridge the opportunity gaps and become more connected with others.
This recent study makes several recommendations about school partnerships and finds positive outcomes in many areas:
The Australian Industry Group. (2017). Strengthening School-Industry STEM Skills Partnerships.
Melbourne, Australia: Office of the Chief Scientist.

This session is suitable for: K-12