The view from the Dean’s office

It is clear that the field of education faces significant challenges today. We live in a world that is increasingly interconnected even while national and global tribalism tears it asunder. A world that is riven by systemic inequities and injustices that deprive many learners of the opportunities they are their due. The accelerating pace of technological change brings with it immense opportunities to expand educational access across space and time and within and outside of standard educational spaces. But we know that these innovations function within historically messy contexts: histories and contexts that have privileged some and marginalized many. Further, we are under-prepared for the disruptions of climate change and the emerging world of work, even as we deal with the personal and societal ravages of the COVID19 pandemic.

It is imperative that we as educators build on our expertise, passion and commitment to develop a more human-centered, future-focused view of education and learning.

An important and critical role in this will be played by colleges of education. The challenges though are immense and the pandemic has only made the situation more dire with fewer teachers entering the profession and many teachers leaving due to the day-to-day challenges they face.

In this episode we will speak with two deans of Colleges of Education (Dr. Carole Basile at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University; and Rick Ginsberg at The School of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Kansas) to share with us, broadly, their vision for preparing future educators, and specifically how they are leading their colleges to respond to these challenges.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org