Is your school ready for the future? Part 1/12

Building Condition Assessment

Education Readiness Review

“The insular citadel that used to be schools is quickly changing to a model where “school” is not just a place, but a doorway to a world of learning.  The ease with which students of all ages will be able to pass through this doorway will determine the success or failure not only of any particular school, the institution of the school itself”.   Parkash Nair 2000

 A readiness assessment is required to determine what is needed to create facilities that meet the perceived needs of future educational challenges.  Dr. Darren Cannell will be providing twelve review criteria that can and should be used to reviewing your facilities.  This exercise will  make sure your facilities will be ready for the future educational challenges as predicted by the latest educational research and teaching.

The concern of such an educational review is that it will support future challenges but will not dictate the direction of the educational changes.  The design and approach need to be such that it supports current practices but is versatile enough to accommodate the possible future changes and trends.  To effectively assess the readiness it becomes necessary to review the perceived future trends in educational technology and educational pedagogy and theory.   This review of the trends will have direct ramifications on the facilities and will require certain designs to accommodate these trends.

Dr. Darren Cannell is a consultant who does building assessments and staff training.  He can be contacted at 

dcannell5@gmail.com

The  first of the 12 trends is as follows:

Access to technology

In the past access to technology was achieved by creating a computer lab in which the student would be given selected scheduled time in which to sit in front of a desktop computer doing technology training and internet access.  The computer lab was the most cost effective way to make sure that students had some access to technology.  The need to have a computer lab in the modern school became a thing of the past when portable computing devices decreased in price and were owned by much of the student body.  It is now possible, cost effective, and practical for all students in grade four and above to have continuous access to portable technology that would give them access to the internet when and where it is required.  The accommodation that this requires is an area where such technology can be stored and charged. 

The current educational trend and research which speaks to this is the “one to one” movement.