21st CENTURY LEARNING CAMPUS
A globalised 21st century world is characterised by unpredictable economic and social events. It is this unpredictability that our education system needs to address to prepare young people for changes which are yet to come, and help them adapt and thrive in a society which is in a state of rapid transformation.
Such an education system is increasingly driven by a desire to develop young people’s ability to be more adaptable, creative, collaborative, responsive, self directed and capable of being self managing in networks and less hierarchical settings and communities than their parents or teachers were at the same age.
Some core “principles” for designing 21st century learning environments include:
It is founded on the social nature of learning, it actively encourages well-organised cooperative learning.
It recognises learners as its core participants, encouraging their active engagement and develops in them an understanding of their own activity as learners.
It includes learning professionals who are highly attuned to the learners’ motivations and the key role of emotions in achievement among the learners in it, including their prior knowledge.
It has acute sensitivity to the individual differences
It operates with clarity of expectations and deploys assessment strategies consistent with these expectations; there is strong emphasis on formative feedback to support learning.
It promotes “horizontal connectedness” across areas of knowledge and subjects as well as to the community and the wider world..
It has learner-centred environments but with teachers in a central role
The GIIS SMART campus has been designed with all such considerations which go a long way to create future leaders.