Education executives from across New York, New Jersey and Delaware arrived to the City University of New York to attend a day of discussion about the shift in education. At 8:00am a packed room at the John Jay College was welcomed by Dr. David Kafitz, the VP School Relations of the Learning Counsel with a simple message: the Learning Counsel is here to engender communication between leaders while providing our own experience and expertise on traversing the digital transition chasm.

The opening keynote was delivered by the Learning Counsel’s CEO and Publisher, LeiLani Cauthen which dove deep into the transformation continuum, what must be confronted as the shift pushes education further into what she deemed, the “consumerization of education.” Attendees didn’t hold back on the questions and tackled speakers on both the education and corporate sides for solutions and best practices that have been learned over the past few years.

Photo Gallery: New York City Discussion

The presentations throughout the day were focused on where education is going and what to do about it. These lead conversations towards the next step after digital curriculum implementation—recognition that pedagogy must necessarily shift. Several executives spoke about the concerns and difficulties their teachers are talking to them about. Teachers want to understand where they stand along the continuum. They want to know how they are doing. How can they gauge their progress in shifting their teaching style?  Every district voiced concern on how they can further assist their instructors to develop professionally towards transforming instruction in the classroom with digital curriculum and content.

The day ended with a leadership panel which included: Josh Koen, the Chief Innovation Officer, New Jersey State Department of Education; Beth McCoy, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Nassau BOCES; Dr. Stan Silverman, New York Institute of Technology; and, Dr. William George, Superintendent of Middletown Township Public Schools.

In a statement that gave one and all pause, and a view to what digital curriculum and technology makes possible, Dr. Stan Silverman stated, “5677. That’s the number of experiments that Madame Curie had to perform before she finally got radium at the end of the day. It’s a celebration of noble failure. What digital content allows us to do is to put children in environments that encourage noble failure. The failure is not wrong, the failure is a means to achieve in the same way that Madame Curie did her 5677 experiments. I happen to work at a higher education institution and 50% of our students do not persist in their chosen professional careers. There is a disconnection between what is happing in our K-12 schools and what needs to happen when it comes to our engineering school, our medical school, our school of architecture. Something has been wrong. So digital, personalized learning, allowing students to try and fail forward along their learning path is going to be the key to change that abominable 50% number going forward.”

We look forward to seeing everyone in New York again next year and hearing about your successes and outcomes as we make our way in this time of change.