Northwest SHARE is conducting extensive research in learning for the new millennium. Traditional learning paradigms have had their impact and did create some problems. We need to come up with bold initiatives to transform education in the digital transformation era. We need a holistic paradigm that is in alignment with environmental, social, emotional, cultural, economic, and cross-border nature of current evolution. Following are some of the dimensions of research Northwest SHARE is engaged with:
Global Learning: Increasingly we are finding training Americans in just American knowledge does not cut it. Children need to know about the interdependent world. The ‘black-swan’ event Covid-19 has raised the importance of global supply chains and how diseases can travel anywhere in less than 24 hours.
Team-Building as integral part: In the 21st century, collaborative workforce is needed. Gone are the days of the lone warrior expanding the frontier lines. We need each other even more than ever.
Bridging the gap between cultures: Every culture should learn about the other cultures. This is the strategic imperative for the 2020s
Education for everyone: No child should be behind. Although governments are trying hard, non-governmental organizations like Northwest SHARE are committing to do their part
Takes a Village to Raise a child: To raise a child in the environment of ‘weapons of mass distractions’ is not easy. Northwest SHARE developed a unique curriculum to tackle this challenge
Digital Citizenship/Literacy: Today we cannot function without digital devices – to access mail, social interactions, even visiting our grandma has become virtual via videoconferencing. National boundaries are blurring with free flow of knowledge using apps like Whatsapp, Zoom, Webex, Teams, etc. In this environment what do we educate our kids with? Even agriculture is using Deep Learning algorithms to predict crop yields, quality of crop, etc. Against this backdrop we need to come up with a new way of educating kids values, which too frequently get forgotten.
Personalized Learning: Learning to a class of one student will become increasingly common. How do we adapt?
Project-Based Learning: Instead of reading textbook after textbook, we need to educate students via interdisciplinary projects
Blended Learning: We need to blend from eastern and western thought, from disciplines we are not comfortable with and neglected disciplines to foster innovation, growth mindset and connected nature of human existence
Guided Virtual International education: Since we will increasingly work with colleagues from no less than 10 different cultures or countries, a virtual international immersion program is needed to ensure that we don’t offend each other in this common journey
Teaching Empathy and compassion: Empathy seems to be sadly lacking in a broader scale in current societies. We need to inculcate the mindset from the other person’s point of view
Stay tuned for more announcements of this journey