New Directions Symposium

May 4-5, 2023
Castle Hotel – Empire Room
8602 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32819

SUMMARY

This symposium taps the expertise of world-renowned experts to address some of the most pressing challenges posed by a rapidly changing world. It focuses on several new directions that require rethinking of the traditional education system, policies, and curriculum. According to the world economic forum, here are the skills that education needs to prepare students for:

1. Global citizenship skills: Include content that focuses on building awareness about the wider world, sustainability and playing an active role in the global community.
2. Innovation and creativity skills: Include content that fosters skills required for innovation, including complex problem-solving, analytical thinking, creativity, and systems analysis.
3. Technology skills: Include content that is based on developing digital skills, including programming, digital responsibility, and the use of technology.
4. Interpersonal skills: Include content that focuses on interpersonal emotional intelligence, including empathy, cooperation, negotiation, leadership, and social awareness.
5. Personalized and self-paced learning: Move from a system where learning is standardized, to one based on the diverse individual needs of each learner, and flexible enough to enable each learner to progress at their own pace.
6. Accessible and inclusive learning: Move from a system where learning is confined to those with access to school buildings to one in which everyone has access to learning and is therefore inclusive.
7. Problem-based and collaborative learning: Move from process-based to project- and problem-based content delivery, requiring peer collaboration and more closely mirroring the future of work.
8. Lifelong and student-driven learning: Move from a system where learning and skilling decrease over one’s lifespan to one where everyone continuously improves on existing skills and acquires new ones based on their individual needs.

It is essential to align the goals of the education system with the above skills and competencies that students will need to succeed in a world that looks very different than the one they inherit from us. However, this is far from the case today which calls for the whole educational establishment including school architects and facility planners to work together to create a new model that will benefit all children. This symposium represents an important first step toward the creation of that model.

EVENT AGENDA

Subject to change | *times shown in Eastern time

All sessions will take place at the Castle Hotel - Empire Room
8602 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32819

DAY 1 – THURSDAY | MAY 4, 2023
8:00 – 9:00 AM	Registration, Breakfast & Networking
9:00 – 9:10 AM	Opening Remarks John Ramsey, CEO, A4LE
9:10 – 10:00 AM	New Directions in Education and Facilities Planning This solutions-focused interactive talk will highlight new directions in education that have the potential to improve the current system of schooling by providing more personalized and relevant instruction, increasing student engagement, and better preparing students for the workforce. For school administrators, architects and facilities planners, these new directions pose difficult challenges especially as they grapple with ways to revitalize aging capital infrastructure built well before these new directions had started to take hold. This session will provide some specific strategies to address those challenges. Prakash Nair, AIA President & CEO Education Design International
10:10 – 11:10 AM	Bold Moves for Schools This presentation answers the question, “What will it take to create truly contemporary learning environments that meet today’s increasingly complex needs?” It provides a compelling vision for schools with specific action steps to make it real. Every aspect of K-12 education will be examined including curriculum, instruction, assessment, learning spaces and schedules. With thought-provoking yet practical strategies, Bold Moves sets educators on the path to redefining their profession in order to create exciting new learning environments for children. Dr. Marie Hubley Alcock President, Learning Systems Associates Founder, Tomorrow’s Education Network
11:10 – 11:30 AM	Coffee and Networking Break
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM	Neuroarchitecture & Biophilic Design – Essential Keys to Healthy School Design Neuroarchitecture is an emerging field that combines the principles of neuroscience and architecture to create spaces that support cognitive function and well-being. In the design of schools, neuroarchitecture can be used to create learning environments that are optimized for students' cognitive development and emotional well-being. Biophilic design is based on the idea that people have an innate connection to nature and that incorporating elements of nature into the built environment can have positive effects on human well-being and cognitive function. Studies have shown that exposure to natural elements in the built environment can improve students' concentration, memory, and overall academic performance. Additionally, access to nature can have positive effects on mental health and emotional well-being, which can be especially important for children and adolescents. Dr. Parul Minhas Sr. Planning & Technology Consultant Education Design International
12:30 – 1:30 PM	Lunch and Networking Break
1:30 – 2:30 PM	Nature-Based Curriculum and Outdoor Learning “If You Build it, They Will Come…” is a myth. Educational planners and designers work diligently with stakeholders and create amazing outdoor learning environments, only to have them be unused or at best underutilized. This session will present data from a pilot project “The 60 Minutes in Nature Challenge” completed in 2022 at Live Oak Elementary School in Santa Cruz, CA. Using improvement science, the pilot was successful in supporting teachers to remove barriers and create the habits of mind and behavior to activate nature based outdoor learning (NBOL) for their students. Research collected by Cornell places 60 minutes of nature-based outdoor learning per child, per week at the heart of academic success, socio-emotional wellbeing, and environmental stewardship behaviors. During this session you will complete a root cause analysis and create a fishbone diagram that illuminates the barriers to NBOL at your school or district. Get ready to dig deep and get (a little) dirty! Anna Klare Harrison Director of Educational Innovation Education Design International
2:30 – 3:30 PM	Creating an Integrated Educational Ecosystem An integrated education ecosystem refers to a system in which all aspects of education, including curriculum, instruction, assessment, and support services, are coordinated, and aligned to support student learning and success. Change of any kind and especially significant change dictated by the new directions in education needs a systemic and proven approach. This interactive session will provide a framework that attendees will use to create a sample Integrated Ecosystem. This will help them see the key connections between components that are essential to preserve for the system to continue operating successfully in the midst of major changes. Louis Sirota, AIA Director of Design Education Design International
3:30 – 3:40 PM	Networking Break
3:40 – 4:30 PM	Environmental Influences on Behavior and Learning This interactive and informative workshop will explore several factors that influence student behavior and learning. The session will review some very interesting research regarding how color, desk placement, space, and other environmental conditions can impact student behavior and achievement. It will also unpack some of the most relevant research on pedagogy as it relates to learning outcomes. Dr. Jeff Melendez Founder & CEO, Zeal Education Group
DAY 2 – FRIDAY | MAY 5 (HANDS-ON)
8:00 – 9:00 AM	Breakfast & Networking
9:00 – 10:30 AM	Technology Tools for Facilities & Educational Effectiveness Expect to use your mobile device. Laptop optional but not essential. This is a hands-on session that will introduce attendees to three new APPS developed exclusively to support modern educational practices in well-designed school facilities. These APPS will enable individual schools and school districts to objectively assess the educational efficacy of their new and/or renovated facilities and provide specific solutions to maximize the teaching and learning benefits of capital investments. During the session, attendees will learn how to access and use EDI’s SPACE, PATH and eduSPACE APPS. All attendees will also get a free one-year license to use the APPS in their own practice. Moderators: Prakash Nair, AIA Dr. Parul Minhas Louis Sirota, AIA
10:30 – 10:45 AM	Coffee Break & Networking
10:45 – 12:30 PM	Constructing Modern Knowledge Bring your laptop. This hands-on workshop built on progressive education traditions, including the Reggio Emilia Approach and constructionism, models benefits of learning-by-doing in a learner-centric context and with computationally rich materials. Participants will create and collaborate in a whimsical and playful fashion while exploring the intersection of craft, STEM, and the arts. Dr. Gary Stager International Educator, Speaker and Consultant Author, Invent to Learn
12:30 – 1:30 PM	Closing Lunch & Networking (Optional)