Atmp

Schome - Research into transformative education systems

Schome is an ongoing research intiative which is working to develop a 'fit for purpose' education system for society today. We are working on developing a system which will support people learning throughout their lives, from the cradle to the grave. Unlike other initiatives to transform education the Schome Initiative takes the view that you needed to start with a vision of the ideal education system that would genuinely meet the needs of society and individuals in the 21st Century and was unconstrained by pre-conceptions of existing education systems.

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Education

Related Research and Education Theory

Read 'Disrupting Class'

If you are interested in bringing about transformational change in education (or any other complex system) then check out Christensen (2008) Disrupting Class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns. New York: McGrawHill. (Available from Amazon - no I'm not getting a commision). Figure 2.1 on p.46 sums it all up!

The Open University

The Schome Programme has been led and hosted by the Open University. For up to date information on Open University virtual worlds activies, see the OU Virtual Worlds Page

Schome related news

'We Are The People We've Been Waiting For' ... is a full-length feature film on education, inspired and guided by Lord Puttnam. The film follows the experiences of five Swindon-based teenagers. What unfolds during the course of the film is a very inconvenient truth about education. It concludes that, while there are 'signs of spring', a transformation of our education system is vital if the UK is to continue to compete effectively in an era of globalization - the world has changed enormously but our education system has not kept pace.

The Guardian are hosting a series of debates see http://www.guardian.co.uk/we-are-the-people. Some of the issues that the Guardian feel are important and are keen to hear your opinions on are:

A revolution is needed in our education system to help all young people discover their talents. How do we ensure that this happens within the next government?
It's likely that practical and vocational learning will be a critical part of that new education system. Are we equipped to deliver on tomorrows demands?
43 per cent of 11-19 year olds say they find school boring or irrelevant. How do we re engage with our young people and ensure they reach their full potential?
An education system is only as good as its teachers. Are we attracting and developing teachers in the right way for 21st century education?

You can also have your say on the UK's education system at the movie website at http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com.

What is the Schome Park Programme?

The Schome Park Programme consisted of a series of research projects, which set out to extend thinking about what education systems might be like. It ran from March 2007 till October 2008. Nearly two hundred 13 to 17 year olds and around 50 adults have had some level of involvement with the programme which used our ‘closed’ island(s) in Teen Second Life™ virtual world alongside this wiki and the Schome forum.

Examples of Schome Project Outputs

From the Schome Park Programme:

My Schome magazine, issue 1 as a pdf file (17Mb)
My Schome magazine, issue 1 as a zip file (11Mb)
My Schome magazine, issue 2 as a pdf file (1.2Mb).
Satellite proposal
Mars' poster of the satellite project

From the Aspire Pilot:

Key Presentations

Mistakes we have made.

Schome and Second Life