A more realistic approach for creating alternative futures is bottom-up strategy. A cultural transformation for a sustainable future can emerge from individuals and communities developing new solutions such as organising local economies, improving subjective wellbeing and creating meaningful interaction between people. These communities can become self-suffcient and demonstrate real resilience against complex future problems. A key for cultural transformation is learning, sharing and disseminating these experiments and building ecosystems of communities with new worldviews, purposes, values and behaviour patterns.

This perspective provides interesting possibilities for educational organisations. The above-mentioned emerging learning communities can be co-creative partners for formal educational institutions. This would enable students to become co-learners in creating a sustainable society. This would also make educational institutions active agents in societal change. The process would create a reinforcing loop where education changes society which will again have an impact on the design of education system.

Perhaps the future of transformative education will become polymorphic. Formal education system may fnd a co-creative transformative relationship with society, and radical modern learning organisations may emerge from side to amplify transformation, entering their infuence in all sectors of society.

The cultural transformation is based on constant interaction between the individual, organisational and system levels. At some point, the bottom-up demands will become so strong that the system is forced to change.

## References

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

# Towards Solving the Impossible Problems

## *Asta Raami*

## Introduction

In our world and personal lives, there is a growing need for coherence and resilience. Growing uncertainty and multiplying, paradoxical choices create dissonance, stress and incoherence both in terms of individual and environmental wellbeing. Correspondingly, sustainable choices improve coherence of natural and social systems. Achieving internal and external coherence and sustainable behaviour is above all a decision-making challenge. Coherent decision-making is seen as the key to sustainable wellbeing at all levels of society (Hämäläinen 2014).

But how can we make better decisions? Complex problem solving is not easy in the best of circumstances, and increasing complexity of today's problems causes diffculty when trying to foresee or predict the full effects of one's decisions. Living amid uncertainty and still being able to make decisions in confrontational situations requires various internal competencies. For example, resilience, foresight, systemic intelligence, willpower, self-regulation and emotion control are important. Further, intra- and inter-personal attunement as well as compassion and empathy are essential skills.

Innerversity, Helsinki, Finland e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
201

A. Raami (\*)

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2019

J. W. Cook (ed.), *Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6\_6

However, the main barrier to better problem-solving is often the human brain, due to its limited capacity to problem solve in certain conditions. Recent research opens up new perspectives on the human mind, the possibilities of knowing as well as the personal capacities necessary to creating, discovering and inventing. In this chapter, I explore these issues from the perspective of internal knowing, or intuition. We will start with a closer analysis of problem solving and ways of knowing.

## Wicked Problems and Collapsing Time Frames

Problems are usually divided into three major categories: well-defned problems, ill-defned problems, and *wicked* problems (Rittel and Webber 1973). The most challenging type of problem is a wicked problem. This type of problem cannot be exhaustively formulated, hence, there are many explanations for the same problem and every formulation is in some way a statement of a solution. The solving process is infnite every problem is a symptom of another problem, and every solution usually leads to a new problem. It is diffcult to know what components of a problem are relevant and what information will be useful until a solution is attempted (Lawson 1997). Every wicked problem is unique, so neither previous experience is particularly instructive nor can a list of previously successful operations be utilized. In many situations, like climate change, the problem is urgent, there is a need for immediate action, and problem solvers have little space to be wrong (Rittel and Webber 1973) (Fig. 6.1).

Every wicked problem has a structure of its own. Tame and *wicked* problems are not governed by the same logics. The strategies developed to combat tame problems are not just different in degree, but above all are different *in kind* from wicked problems, which have a complexity, ambiguity and epistemological uniqueness of their own (Nelson and Stolterman 2003). In addition, there is no single correct approach or methodology for fnding, defning or solving wicked problems. In an effort to solve one part of the problem, the whole setting transforms and new problems arise, often more challenging in nature because they are an underlying issue producing superfcial symptoms.

With wicked problems, an attempt to intervene in it is generally a better option than doing nothing at all. In an uncertain world, forethought combined with quick reaction—being prepared and ready—is thought to

**Fig. 6.1** Well defned, Ill-defned and wicked problems. Illustration inspired by Rittel and Webber (1973)

be benefcial. This is because behind many errors is the inability to anticipate.  How could we better foresee, or consciously notice those changes that demand action? And what kind of action should we take?

Humankind is facing a full spectrum of wicked problems and the window of opportunity for solving some of them appears to be closing. It is not easy to recognize that the prevailing scientifc paradigm predefnes future problem spaces, which then narrows possible future solutions. In other words, we tend to start considering solutions based on what we already know to exist, or is deemed possible. *We are thus prone to ignore potentials we consider impossible.* However, many problems have been considered impossible—until they are solved.

To search for radical breakthrough innovations, with extreme novelty, searching beyond the current paradigm is crucial. To be able to solve wicked problems, we must fnd ways to surpass the limits of the known; rational and analytical thinking is not enough.

In complex problem solving, the analytical mind can be overcome by too many options. It struggles when there is a lack of information or when it cannot push beyond imagination to envision entirely new options. A person is often not even aware of a lack of information or what could be known. In the worst case, there is simultaneously an overload and a lack of information, compounded by critical time limits for making decisions. But evidence and history suggest that when faced with such constraints, intuitive faculties can operate with greater accuracy than conscious reasoning. (Dijksterhuis et al. 2006; Frank et al. 2006; Gigerenzer 2007; Klein 1998).

Most wicked problems are entangled knots with countless variables. Further, while the world continues to change ever more rapidly, everyone, especially students need to be prepared to handle the future's as yet unknown confgurations (Marton 2014).

Even though technological development is important and transformative in terms of its impact on society, it is not enough. Implementing new technological solutions will not solve the problems humanity is facing. Technology is not even satisfactory when trying to predict changes waiting just beyond the horizon.

Philip Tetlock, a professor of psychology, has been researching political forecasting and prediction for more than 20 years. Tetlock states that predictions formulated by expert forecasters are not better than darts thrown at a board of possible futures. However, his research shows that some ordinary people do have real foresight. These people achieve 30% higher accuracy than *all* US intelligence services utilizing sophisticated intelligence gathering and analysis tools (Tetlock 2015). What makes these ordinary people so insightful that they can be labelled 'superforecasters' by Tetlock?

The main principles are simple. They keep their minds open instead of implementing a certain style, method or viewpoint. They are curious, not limited by dogmas and collect information from diverse sources. With challenging issues, they split the phenomena into fractions that they can scrutinize, and then allow contradicting views to merge into a whole picture.

Superforecasters also pay careful attention to their internal knowing including untethered thoughts and feelings. They test everything since their most important ability is self-distance and learning from their mistakes. Further, they construct and transform knowledge with others, knowing we can learn to be wiser when confronted by other viewpoints (Tetlock and Gardner 2015).

Currently, solutions for complex decision-making, forecasting and wicked problem solving are sought through increasing the capacity of computing. Ever larger quantities of information are acquired and analyzed. But the core challenge is not increasing the quantity of information, but instead being able to discern what is valuable; as well as to recognize and create the right connections between disparate pieces of information.

Wicked problem solving and radical breakthrough innovation calls for new thinking skills. It requires various forms of resilient intelligence and clever ways to construct and integrate information together. But let's start with a question: how can we *know* in the frst place and how do we form knowledge?

## To Be Smart, Integrate Diverse Forms of Knowing

There are four different ways of knowing and acquiring information: through authority, reason, experience and *noetic knowing*. 1 In schools, information transmission is mostly based on the frst two, authority and reason. These can be called external ways of knowing. Even though experience is a common way of knowing and learning, it is not usually well integrated into formal education. Noetic knowing is in turn mostly excluded from education. Experience and noetic knowing can be labelled as internal ways of knowing. Intuitive information is embedded in these two forms of knowing.

Currently, the term *intuition* is used as a common label for completely different types of information, varying processes and diverse outcomes that are not always clearly identifable. The term intuition is used to describe different *types of knowledge*, for example subconscious knowledge, instinct, embodied cognition or expertise-based information. It describes *experiences* such as 'something is not matching,' or *sensations* such as goose bumps and gut feelings. The term intuition is also commonly used to describe various *processes of intuiting*, such as emotion-based action, non-verbal sensing and direct knowing. Further, it is also used when talking about the *outcomes or results* of a thinking process. These can be, for example, ideas, insights, inspirations or visions.

The incoherent terminology illustrates well how unformed understanding is in this area. In this chapter, I use both terms internal knowing and intuition when referring to knowing related to the internal and intuitive faculties of mind. Nonconscious describes the opposite to conscious mental operations.

These four modes of knowing have their benefts and impediments; they may not only offer valid and reliable information but also contain vague, unreliable or false information. Therefore, it is essential as with all types of information, that we have transparent methods to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of information.

In order to construct best possible knowledge basis for new knowledge creation, we need to integrate diverse kinds of information. The scientifc method is '*a way of combining these various approaches to understanding so that their weaknesses tend to cancel each other out, but their strengths tend to add up*' (Tart 2009, p. 42).

## Why Develop Intuition?

In order to know more about the potential of internal knowing, we need to take a closer look at how the human mind works. Intuition is an integral part of human cognition and the nature of the human brain is inherently intuitive. The human nervous system comprises a complex, multi-layered and distributed network of billions of cells acting in myriad ways and most of this processing is nonconscious, i.e. intuitive (Laughlin 1997).

According to prevailing understanding, human cognition is based on a dual process model of the mind. The two faculties of the mind, conscious reasoning and intuiting, are integrated and work in constant cooperation (Kahneman 2011; Kahneman and Tversky 1982).

Intuitive—or nonconscious—faculties of mind are in constant communication with the environment. Intuition supports consciousness by limiting the amount of incoming information, so that consciousness—or reasoning—is not overwhelmed. If compared with reasoning, intuition handles several magnitudes more information at any given time (Lipton 2012; Zimmermann 1989).

The nonconscious selects perceptions and passes them to reasoning faculties for closer evaluation. This means that reason is supported by and in fact *requires* nonconscious cognition in order to be free to work on the kinds of problems it is well-designed to solve. For example, to analyse, compare and classify (Hayles 2014; Lipton 2012).

Typically, intuition is considered prone to biases and this is true with some forms of intuitive thought, but this is not the whole truth (Kahneman and Tversky 1982). Several studies emphasize that some intuition can be evaluated for reliability and accuracy, intuition can be used intentionally, and it can even give exact and detailed information. Therefore, intuitive processing needs to be developed and used intentionally—just like conscious reasoning and analytical thinking—to result in more reliable outcomes (Davis-Floyd and Davis 1996; Kautz 2005; Monsay 1997; Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein 2003; Shefy and Sadler-Smith 2004).

In an optimal situation, internal and external ways of knowing can be integrated. It is not a question of internal knowing *versus* conscious reasoning, rather of intuition *and* rationality (Dunne 1997; Shefy and Sadler-Smith 2004; Surel 2007). Combining reasoning and intuiting can result in benefcial knowledge of many kinds. This has been acknowledged for decades in several felds of knowledge such as mathematics, business, linguistics, design, creativity, decision-making and innovation (Agor 1989; Bastick 2003; Bunge 1962; Fischbein 1987; Raami 2015). However, formal education still focuses frmly on the development of reasoning faculties or external ways of knowing.

## What Can We Learn from Design Research?

Intuition is the driver of innovation and creative ideas involving extreme novelty. Design studies have a long tradition of researching iterative, cyclic and intangible aspects of designing, such as distributed cognition, building knowledge structures and sharing expertise. In these studies, design is frequently mentioned to be one of the most challenging cognitive tasks since it operates in the area of complex problem solving (Buchanan 1992; Goel and Pirolli 1992; Laamanen and Seitamaa-Hakkarainen 2014).

Expertise in design seems to be different from other forms of expertise, since many creative experts defne and manage problems by keeping them under-specifed, while other experts tend to solve problems by adopting the most rational approach (Cross 2004). Many talented designers do not concentrate excessively on problem analysis, rather they let their expertise and intuition focus on quick problem scoping and sketching. In this process, sketching becomes a tool for understanding the outlines of problems, which then feeds idea generation. For these reasons, design expertise is frequently identifed differently in terms of its problem structuring, formulation and solution-generating approach (Cross 2004).

Designers frequently underline the importance of intuition in their creative process; not without criticism from other professions. However, there is a lot of variation in how designers describe their intuition or the methods by which they beneft from it. For example, intuition can flter usable outcomes from numerous amounts of raw data, give new directions to possible solutions, stimulate formulation of new ideas, connect surprising perspectives or exceed the limits of conscious reasoning (Raami 2015).

Several studies suggest that the most talented design students use more intuitive faculties while working and that they are more capable of using different cognitive styles and easily switch between them (Cross 2004; Schön 1988). Further, intuitive thinkers use fewer stereotypes than conscious thinkers, since it is hard to avoid 'jumping to conclusions' when a person thinks consciously (Dijksterhuis et al. 2006). The need for certainty may lead to premature generalization or ignoring information that contradicts personal bias. The students who think holistically seem to beneft from easy access to different modes of thinking, which creates a head start compared to analytical thinkers (Roberts 2006).

Design knowledge tends to emerge from conscious not-knowing, or unlearning, therefore, in the process of designing, an initial state of intentional ignorance or emptying of the mind is needed to be completely open up to alternative possibilities. Since design strongly intertwines reasoning and intuiting, the chosen means to acquire knowledge directly affect knowledge production. Whether the information is acquired and processed through intuition, or analysis leads to different types of knowledge construction, the form of inquiry leads to a specifc body of knowledge since it infuences the constitution of the knowledge and what is gained through the process (Nelson and Stolterman 2003).

## What Can We Learn from Nobel Laureates and Other Visionaries?

Scientifc intuition seems to be a special type of intuition since it is able to simultaneously grasp the whole while being rooted in profound knowledge of its individual parts (Marton et al. 1994). Typical to domain-specifc expertise is the ability to surpass the limits of single cases and perform mental operations on a more abstract and conceptual level (Cross 2004; Ericsson 1999, 2006). These processes are embedded in intuitive faculties of mind. Numerous case studies emphasize that intuition is the primary thinking mode used for discoveries and inventions while conscious reasoning is used for argumentation.

The development of emerging professional expertise requires usually at least 10 years of active practice. At this point, the delving results in the accumulation of several cognitive resources: a case example database, personal experience and personal mental models in nonconscious faculties. The development of expertise continues, but it constantly requires dedicated application of the individual, otherwise performance will be modest (Bereiter 1993; Ericsson 2008; Gladwell 2008).

With robust expertise, a person can utilize a large subconscious database of information, including tacit and embodied dimensions. The cognitive processes that experts typically exploit include: varying pattern matching and recognition processes, accumulation of evidence, random sampling or automatic construction of mental representations. The information may be derived from memory traces combined with new information, mental representations or comparison with exemplars, prototypes or images. Often the processes to construct or interpret knowledge is completely nonconscious and only the result enters awareness (Glöckner and Witteman 2010).

In addition, intuition correlates with empathy, which can be understood as a form of acquiring information, where, through the perception and feelings of oneness, a person can perceive sensations that come from outside personal experience. Typically, intuitive individuals have suffcient empathy with a problem, including caring for and involvement with a specifc context. This setting enables a person to create a sensitive personal relationship with and a degree of command of the issue (Bastick 2003).

Further, those experts who are capable of exceeding the boundaries of prevailing knowledge seem to beneft some other types of cognition too. Research made on Nobel laureates and distinguished inventors have recognized a cognitive category labelled extra-cognitive abilities. These refer to phenomena such as internally developed and highly subjective standards, norms, intentions, beliefs, preferences and values. Parallel with other types of experts, these individuals deeply enjoy working and are passionate about their area of study. This manifests as continuous curiosity, questioning attitude and the use of intuition (Shavinina 2009; Shavinina and Seeratan 2004).

For these people, excellence is a *virtue*. Further, they employ selfregulation skills including the ability to monitor their mental and emotional dimensions. Their level of self-esteem, courage and ability to tolerate loneliness are high. And of course, many of them are challenging personalities with highly personal ways of working and processing information (Shavinina 2009; Shavinina and Seeratan 2004).

## Working "With Self" and Integrating What You Saw

Case studies of Nobel laureates reveal some characteristics that are common to these visionary individuals. Many of them underline the role of visual intuitive experiences and the importance of 'seeing.' Some describe seeing as a way of perception, for example, imagining being immersed within the research project. Others describe the act of seeing as visualization and active use of the imagination including handling multiple dimensions. Further, several report having exceptional ways of working and accessing information, including, for example, feeling '*united*' or having experiences of direct knowing (Holton 1978; Keller 1983; Larsson 2001).

Nikola Tesla has often been mentioned as the most impressive example of a user of mental imaging.

August Krogh, a Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, developed a considerable part of his work while lying in bed in the evening, trying to imagine processes and experiments. His fruitful ideas came seemingly out of the blue but he worked with them consciously. He never made sketches prior to completing the arrangements of his thoughts, since he felt they would hinder the free fow of ideas (Larsson 2001).

Robert A. Milikan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, saw electrons. He trained to develop intense powers of visualization, which assisted in drawing conclusions; and behind these, an unanalysed, yet preconceived, theory about electricity, which gave him a lens with which to look and interpret his observations (Holton 1978).

Hideki Yukawa, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics, often lay awake at night thinking about the problem of the forces holding together the nucleus of the atom. He had a notebook beside his bed and one night, an insight came to him: there must be a relationship between the intensity of the force and the mass of the binding particle. On the basis of this idea, he found a particle he called a 'meson' (Larsson 2001).

Linus Pauling, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, solved the mystery of alpha keratin molecules while forced to stay in bed with a heavy cold. He foated the ideas freely in his head and continued sketching images of the molecule on a page, which he folded at the points where the molecular structure would allow it. After several attempts, he succeeded in forming a pipe-like structure that enabled the spiral form. He has described the hunches or inspirations that come to him as the result of training his unconscious mind to retain and ponder problems (Larsson 2001).

Albert Einstein was led to the idea of relativity by the vision of travelling on a light beam (Holton 1973, p. 358). Einstein's mathematics was to be '*seen*' and to him '*the objects with which geometry deals seemed to be of no different type than the objects of sensory perception which can be seen and touched*' (ibid., p. 638).

Barbara McClintock, a researcher of corn genetics and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, practised intense and systematic observation and interpretation for years. She had built a theoretical vision, a highly articulated image of the world within a cell. McClintock described her experience of knowing as a '*feeling for the organism*.' As she watched corn plants grow, or examined the patterns on the leaves and kernels, or looked down the microscope at their chromosomal structure, she saw directly into an ordered world of mental images.

McClintock's way of perceiving information was strongly based on visual perceiving, yet included some other dimensions. She called her system, '*integrating what you saw*.'  The physical spots McClintock saw on the maize kernels represented for her a hidden genetic meaning that she could read simultaneously. For McClintock, the eyes of the body *were* the eyes of the mind. Sometimes, McClintock described the material as '*not integrating*,' which meant there was something wrong—an experience described also by many other professionals (Gigerenzer 2007; Klein 2004; Keller 1983).

Through describing these experiences, McClintock spoke about the deepest and most personal dimension of her experience as a scientist. She also spoke of the '*real affection*' one gets for the pieces that '*go together*.' '*As you look at these things [chromosomes], they become part of you. And you forget yourself. The main thing about it is that you forget yourself*' (Keller 1983, pp. 115–117).

McClintock explains that she doesn't know how she is able to know, she describes having always having an '*exceedingly strong feeling*' for oneness. '*Basically, everything is one. There is no way in which you draw a line between things. What we [normally] do is to make these subdivisions, but they are not real*' (Keller 1983, p. 204).

The examples above demonstrate the importance of various forms of perceiving and processing information while making breakthrough scientifc discoveries. The ability to see things in various forms through varying methods—even though they exist only in one's mind is an important resource for all creative work.

Some of these experiences described above have similarities with fow experiences containing highly focused states of consciousness, working on the edge of one's competence as well as effortless performance (Csikszentmihalyi 1996). Several of these visionaries report benefting from relaxation and meditation. Nobel laureate Dag Hammarskjöld even created a meditation room in the UN Headquarters. Some also mention altered states of mind or extraordinary experiences (Larsson 2002).

One of the most important aspects is that studies of Nobel laureates reveals that when facing a truly diffcult problem, instead of working excessively on the problem itself, these individuals report starting to work with *themselves*. In other words, instead of collecting additional information and analysing it, they turn inwards. However, they cannot explain in detail what actually takes place (Keller 1983; Larsson 2001).

In order to share these highly personal insights and construct knowledge in teams, it requires a shared language. Based on vision—our most public and our most private sense—it gives rise to a kind of knowledge that requires more than a shared practice to be communicable: it requires a shared subjectivity.

## There Is Vast Untapped Potential of Internal Knowing

The way the human body and mind work is ingenious. At any given time, there is a continuous and extensive information transfer process going on. Even though recent research has made remarkable progress in this area, the truth is, there is more unknown than known about how information transfers or is stored inside the human body. However, different felds of knowledge can enrich our knowledge related to the processes of inventing and intuiting.

Recent neuroscience studies state that before insights are generated, there is a change in focus that quiets visual input and switches attention to internal activation. Even the smaller 'Aha!' experiences are preceded by a switch to internal attention and activation of nonconscious. These studies suggest that it may be that any behaviour that encourages quieting of thoughts can be helpful in gaining insight. This process seems to be similar to a large domain of cognition that also handles perception and language processing (Bowden et al. 2005; Jung-Beeman 2008).

Psychological research outcomes emphasize that intuition is embedded in varying cognitive processes. A *clicking*-*in* type of experience follows a period of intense concentration whereas a Eureka experience is preceded by a period of incubation and inattention. In other words, a Eureka experience is embedded in re-centring—an experience of new permutations of relations between ideas and a novel and unconventional combination of thoughts. Typically, a coincidence in the physical world acts as a spark and causes a mental process leading to a Eureka experience. The classic examples are Newton observing the falling apple, Archimedes taking a bath and James Watt watching a kettle boil (Bastick 2003).

When observed from the perspective of biology, the transfer of intuitive information is not limited inside brain. For example, the human heart has neural cells that may store short-term and long-term information independently of the brain (McCraty et al. 2004a, b). This is aligned with research involving heart transplant patients that suggests that the heart may store very detailed and accurate information that can be transferred with the organ (Pearsall et al. 2005). Further, the intestines and stomach have neurons of their own too (Gershon 1998; Järvilehto 2015). Therefore, trusting gut feelings or heart's sensations may have a scientifc, biological foundation we have not been fully aware of.

From the intuition research perspective, or when taking a closer look at individual experiences through case studies, there emerges a vast spectrum of experience. The designers I have researched and coached report having intuitive experiences varying from small hunches, fashes or feelings of promise to more profound sensations such as complete visions, experiences of serendipity, or large quantities of inspirational material taking on a life of its own. Some designers describe even highly personal, extraordinary experiences, which may challenge their personal world view and way of thinking (Raami 2015). Even though the research does not explain the foundations of such experiences, the experiences themselves are signifcant, since they underline that creative individuals are able to harness their intuition and apply it to the creative process.

Among designers, many can recognize different '*sources*' or '*origins*' of intuition. During these moments, they typically feel that they are at their most creative. There is a strong feeling of '*receiving*' ideas, being energized or '*carried*' and being empowered. Many of these people report a qualitatively different experience between '*receiving ideas*' and the experience of forming ideas based on own imagination (Raami 2015).

Indeed, intuition may originate from various sources. The process of intuiting may be based on the various forms of knowing mentioned above. It can combine different sources of information coming from the mind, body, thinking, memory, environment, feelings, embodied cognition, senses or extended senses. Typically, intuition is entangled with expert knowledge. However, sometimes intuitive faculties of the human mind may know something that the reasoning faculties are not at all aware of; research, for example in the area of presentiments, strongly supports this proposition (Bechara 2004; Bem 2011; Dossey 2013; McCraty et al. 2004a, b; Radin and Sheehan 2011; Sheldrake 2011).

All of these perspectives from different felds of knowledge underline the possibilities of internal knowing. In order to beneft from or develop intuitive faculties, it is not necessary to have a fully resolved explanation of how the human mind or intuiting works. It is enough if it works and can provide certain benefts. Further, cutting-edge research challenges the boundaries of knowing, so even if explanations existed now, they may be out-dated as science advances in the coming years.

## Are the Boundaries of Knowing Crumbling?

What we know and how we know it is not an easy task to research. For example, neither neuroscience nor genetics can extensively explain where information is stored or how it is retrieved (Powell 2009).

In the area of physics as well as in anomalies research, some experiments challenge the prevailing scientifc paradigm. For example, some research suggests that at times a person is able to access information that exceeds the boundaries of expertise and surpasses even the limits of time and place (Powell 2015; Radin 2008; Radin and Sheehan 2011; Sheldrake 2012; Targ 2012).

Due to the recent increasing number of such unconventional research outcomes, some hundreds of accredited scholars from various felds of science have been calling for an open study on all aspects of consciousness, including the inexplicable subjective dimensions of human experience (Beauregard et al. 2014; Cardeña 2014). At the moment, the biggest barriers are the lack of funding and hidebound attitudes.

Several studies on the history of modern science show that many brilliant ideas come to people who are in some sort of intuitive or altered state—for example dreams, reveries, extraordinary insights, meditation, or drug-induced states—seemingly out of the blue (Bastick 2003; Holton 1978; Larsson 2001). It is signifcant that these experiences have resulted in exceptional and remarkable outcomes. For example, Larry Page, who founded Google, has described being awakened at night with an idea: what if he could search all the information from the Internet and present the results only in one page. He wrote the idea quickly down since typically thoughts between dreams have faded in the morning. In these experiences, information is received in a form of clear thought or an idea resembling a download experience.

Studies of highly intuitive individuals play an important role in revealing the potential of the human mind by unfolding and demystifying the process of intuiting. Highly intuitive individuals have marked out a pathway toward intuition development, especially by exceeding the limitations of accessible information as well as by exposing the methodology of intuiting.

The more unexplainable the personal experiences are, the greater stigma they tend to carry. Highly personal or extraordinary experiences are not shared. The experiences may be consciously ignored or explained away due to a couple of reasons.

Firstly, no-one wants to be laughed at or ostracized. For example, Nobel laureate McClintock was a highly respected scientist by peers until around 1950s when her thoughts started to signifcantly differ from the mainstream. In scientifc conferences, her lectures were marked by silence since nobody understood what she was talking about. Colleagues started to laugh at her behind her back and 'mcclintocknism' became a synonym for an unscientifc approach. In 1953 she quit all academic publishing due to severe criticism. It was only in 1980s when she was rewarded with a Nobel Prize that it was evident she was far ahead of her own time. Historically, she has been the only woman awarded an undivided Nobel Prize in medicine (Keller 1983).

Secondly, the human consciousness can bend, shrink or even split, but it cannot tolerate a break in coherence (Hayles 2014). This leads to a situation where consciousness easily edits and modifes reality to ft personal expectations, at the cost of a more accurate rendering of reality, by misinterpreting anomalous or strange situations (Hayles 2014). This may result in ignoring or shutting out anomalies even before they reach the conscious. In other words, if our mental compartments are not open enough, we cannot escape our current thinking models. We perceive only those perceptions that ft our current mental models and flter out others.

When facing extraordinary information, it may lead to a situation where intuitive information strongly contradicts an individual's current understanding or beliefs. These situations require mental resilience, since it is emotionally challenging to handle a situation where incoherent pieces of information confict—yet at the same time they coexist.

This situation is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, intuition is prone to biases when an immediate pattern recognition process matches the current situation to previous ones stored in memory (meaning WYSIATI what-you-see-is-ALL-there-is), resulting in misinterpreting the current situation (Kahneman 2011). On the other hand, the conscious mind may edit reality by ignoring some perceptions. This highlights the importance of authentic perceiving, which can be developed with practice (Shefy and Sadler-Smith 2004).

## What Is Intentional Intuiting?

As described earlier, reasoning faculties operate with low speed and have extremely limited information processing capacity when compared to intuitive faculties. Intuitive faculties can flter enormous amounts of raw data, while reasoning focuses, analyses, estimates and compares at slow pace. These two compartments are highly specialized and work in perfect balance: intuition picks important perceptions and passes them onwards to reasoning faculties for further elaboration (Hayles 2014; Lipton 2012).

However, it is important to note that many references suggest that this process can be overturned: the conscious mind can be used to acquire specifc information from intuitive faculties through intentional intuiting (Kautz 2005; Raami 2015; Targ 2012). When a person considers a task, not only the conscious but also the nonconscious faculties of the mind start acquiring and processing perceptions and information in line with the intention (Lipton 2012).

Research with highly intuitive individuals suggest that it may be possible to acquire diverse kinds of information through intuitive faculties (Kautz 2005; Peirce 2013; Targ 2004, 2012). But, how in a practical level can one harness intuition as part of a cognitive process? Even though intuiting happens outside of rational cognition and is not fully understood, there are some parameters we know through research in various felds. Figure 6.2 illustrates this process step-by-step.

*The foundation of intentional intuiting is the ability to wonder.* It is benefcial to start with a playful and questioning attitude '*what if*' or '*could it*.' Designers famously use question-prompts such as '*how might we*' (known as HMW questions) to provoke an exploratory thought and design process. The resulting hypothesis can vary from moderately challenging to entirely implausible, depending on how pragmatic or radical one wants to be.

When attuning to intuition, a prerequisite is openness of mind known colloquially as *the ability to look at something with a fresh set of eyes*. Typically, we bring to situations a ready mind-set and a tendency to uphold pre-existing understanding of problems. From this starting point, we easily lock and narrow our thinking in a way that precludes perceptions and alternate possibilities.

It is very challenging to pose in one's mind a totally new position and radically different viewpoint. If it was simple, we would not have insolvable problems. Solving the impossible problems means we must consider it somehow possible in the frst place. However, sometimes it is so diffcult to set the mind in a new position that it is easier to label the problem *impossible*. To overcome this, integrating playful attitude and intention can ease the process.

The moment of intuiting may take place accidentally—Eureka! Experiences—but it can also be acquired intentionally. At this phase, the ability to perceive becomes the most important: what type of sensation, hunches, feeling or images are we are able to let enter our minds? With practice, a person can develop their sensitivity to varying types of

**—** limiting the potential of intuiting

#### **FIELDS OF KNOWLEDGE RESEARCHING THE AREA:**

**Fig. 6.2** Maximizing the potential of intentional intuiting (Raami 2015)

stimuli. This is essential since intuiting is a way to access multidimensional information.

The moments after intuiting are closely intertwined with the act of intuiting. Often, it is not easy to perceive a difference between these two since intuition is extremely rapid. This phase is probably the most vulnerable part of the process since insights generated through intuition can seem untethered from anything known. It is not until this moment that intuitions can be consciously noticed, verbalised or shared with others.

At this point, intuitive insights can be discerned from biases or other untrustworthy signals; however, this requires good discernment skills. Intuition happens outside of logic and is accessed and grasped internally; therefore, it cannot be evaluated only with reasoning and analysis. Discernment is an individualized competency requiring individuals to develop their own specifc methods.

Information retrieval through intentional intuiting does not require the application of intuitive information. In other words, acquiring intuitive information does not mean we are forced to think or act based on intuitive information. Before bringing intuitive information into a decision making process, it can be evaluated, tested, compared or integrated with information acquired through other means.

Failures and mistakes are important. Without making mistakes, it is hard to develop intuiting to its full potential. In the case of failure, the process can be just restarted. In optimal cases, intuitions and insights lead to new knowledge, new practices and breakthrough innovations. And, in all cases, they lead to learning.

In summary, it is benefcial to collect all intuitive information before turning to reason, partly because analyzing intuition rationally has been shown to reduce the accuracy of intuitive judgements (Nordgren and Dijksterhuis 2009). Further, intuitive information appears in ambiguous, multidimensional or non-verbal form and needs fresh eyes and open mind to be successfully captured. After information retrieval, intuitive impressions need careful formatting and skilful verbalization before they can be understood or shared.

## How to Support Intuiting in Practice?

Now let's elaborate the moment of intuiting and the moment right after. Sensing more delicate signals or discerning the correct signals out of noise is not always easy, but it can be practiced. However, it may be time consuming since there are various types of intuitions and the whole process of intuiting is embedded in complex and unknown processes (Claxton 2000; Hammond 2007; Hogarth 2001, 2008).

I have been working in the grass-root level of creativity and intuition coaching for more than 10 years, running Coaching Creativity courses for university-level students since 2003 and Coaching Intuition courses since 2008.

Based on personal professional experience, intuition coaching can result in both applicable and exceptional results. However, the coaching challenge is generally not actually to develop intuition, but rather

**Fig. 6.3** The components supporting intuiting (Raami 2015)

to enhance cooperation between the two faculties of mind: conscious reasoning and intuition. In other words, intuitive faculties do not need developing, but the process of intuiting does. To beneft intuition, it is indispensable to train the mind to be less resistant and more accepting towards the unknown, uncertain and ambiguous.

Intuition cannot operate in the narrow or linear compartment of rational cognition. Intuition operates in a multidimensional information space. Therefore, the rational compartment of mind needs to be slowly expanded. In coaching session, we can perform drills to enhance the skill of perceiving and discernment, which work as a link between conscious reasoning and intuition.

The main components of supporting the process of intuiting are illustrated in Fig. 6.3. The process consists of three continuous and rotating steps of development: expanding the boundaries of the mind, developing perception skills and developing discernment skills. To implement, test and develop intuition, intention and action are needed, while, to make this whole process possible, an atmosphere of trust and support is a prerequisite (Raami 2015).

## Perception and Discernment Skills to Fine-Tune Intuiting

How can we recognize intuitive information in the frst place? How are we able to receive multidimensional information? How can we develop sensitivity to notice more delicate and subtle signals? How are we able to discern the meaningful and important information out of the noise?

The skill of perception is needed in the recognition of signals and that of discernment in excluding the biases inherent in intuition. The development of these two skills usually leads to a more sensitive and precise ability to intuit.

Several studies from neuroscience and intuition research stress the importance of discerning between useful hunches and perceptions that can lead to benefcial intuiting and attaining valuable information (Bowden et al. 2005; Davis-Floyd and Davis 1997; Kautz 2005).

When we discern perceptions, and absorb information, we need to pay careful attention to the process. Intuitive information is the product of extremely rapid multidimensional information processing and sensations that are not always easy to understand or rationalize. Therefore, there is a risk to misinterpret them or to derive misleading conclusions out of them.

The situation can be illustrated with an example of another type of perception. When watching a mirage, the surface of the road is fuctuating, appearing to be covered with water. The heat waves are real, but in reality, the surface of the road does not move nor is it wet. The frst part of the perception is real, but the conclusion derived is false.

Both our intuitive faculties and reasoning faculties are prone to biases. Therefore, we need to pay attention to how we construct and evaluate varying types of information in order to educate capacious thinkers.

## Expanding the Boundaries of the Mind Opens up Possibilities

The rational mind can beneft from understanding that intuition is a precious part of the thinking process, which supports numerous everyday functions and can lead to superior outcomes in decision making and creating.

The foundation for unseen solutions and radical breakthroughs is rooted in openness of mind. Typically, human biology, physiology, physics and experience constrain what we consider plausible. However, prevailing, common beliefs are frequently overturned by new ideas, observations and scientifc discoveries. Therefore, we cannot limit the search for solutions to the current understanding. If adopting a hypothetical '*what if* ' or '*how might we*' attitude, the questions provide the mind a new cognitive frame, and intuition starts to work towards solutions. The mind begins to look for signals, clues, connections, patterns or useful perceptions for further evaluation.

Often, radical theories and odd perspectives lead to emotional resistance, cognitive perturbation or confrontation, but these are valuable and important signs of approaching the corners of one's mental compartmental boundaries. This is a natural and important phase of the process in which the old belief systems, often unknown to the person, are made visible hence they can be deconstructed or renewed.

## Intention and Action Create <sup>a</sup> *Dynamo*

Intention and action form the core—the dynamo—of intentional intuiting. In practice, the actions can include, for example, attuning, implementing, practising, testing, developing, or sustaining. Intention can manifest, for example, in the form of interest, motivation, inspiration, concentration, focus, aspiration, patience, or the use of willpower.

While using intention and attuning intuition, it is necessary to be aware of the biasing effects of intuition. Emotional attachments like fears and wishful thinking can start biasing, narrowing or restricting the free fow of intuition, so it is benefcial to learn how these can be set aside (Raami 2015).

The model is dynamic in nature. The process of intuiting evolves and develops together with the individual. Perceptions, discernment and expanding the mind intertwine and feed each other. In practice, the process seems to cause a positive loop, where intuitive processing increases understanding about intuition, which then increases readiness to beneft from intuition more often. When paying attention to the process of intuiting, one can focus on any part of the fgure. Even a short period of observing one's intuition including these components can help, but observing can be continued for years or even decades.

## An Atmosphere of Trust and Support

Exceeding the limits of the known or nurturing unformed ideas requires both internal courage and an encouraging atmosphere. The most important role of a teacher or coach is to support and encourage because, as students attune to intuition, they are confronted with uncertainty.

The teacher needs to be somewhat familiar with their own intuitive process in order to share their personal understanding and experiences. The teacher has to expose themselves to the process of learning about themselves. Symbolically, the teacher needs enough courage to be able to 'lean' towards labile situations and uncertainty. This allows new possibilities to emerge. In this setting, the teacher enhances and boosts the training process.

## How Can We Evaluate the Reliability of Intuitive Information?

The last topic to be elaborated is discernment, which enables the ability to recognize reliable or biased intuitive information. Current intuition research offers some tools for better discernment.

In general, practice and trust appear to be crucial steps when interpreting intuitive signals and the reliability of intuition (Nadel 2006). However, feelings of correctness accompanying intuition are not necessarily a good measure of the accuracy of the intuition. Doubt also plays a signifcant role: any intuition, regardless of how strongly experienced and whether it is correct or not, can be swept aside by doubt.

Heuristics models suggest that intuition is so prone to systematic biases and errors that intuitions derived from it should be rationally analysed (Kahneman 2003; Plessner 2008). However, while heuristics biases are certainly undeniable, exposing intuition to constant rational judgement poses a paradox: rationally over-analyzing intuition has been shown to reduce the accuracy of intuitive judgements (Nordgren and Dijksterhuis 2009).

In practice, this paradox becomes a problem: a person cannot know when analysis becomes over-analysis, or when the situation leads to poor intuitive awareness through little or low-quality feedback (Hogarth 2001, 2008; Shefy and Sadler-Smith 2004).

However, the heuristics tradition is a useful reminder for the development of intuition. Heuristics are just one form of intuiting. If intuition is seen as a holistic, non-conscious representation matching process of past experiences, then proper feedback is critical to the development of intuition accuracy (Plessner 2008). Naturally, this evaluation cannot be carried out on all types of intuition, which makes such evaluation of accuracy challenging (Piatelli-Palmarini 1994).

In an optimal situation, a person has enough courage and trust for intuitive experiences to arise and to be attentively sensed. The best way to evaluate reliability of intuition is simply testing in practice; reliability can be can be analyzed to a suffcient degree, while respecting the meaningfulness of such experiences. Further, studies of highly intuitive individuals reveal that they have developed personal and innate methods for evaluating the reliability of intuitive information (Davis-Floyd and Davis 1997; Kautz 2005; Mayer 2008; Targ 2004, 2012).

## Confirmations and Biases of Intuitive Information

Based on literature and my research with designers, some individuals who regularly and successfully beneft from intuitive information have developed personal ways to evaluate the reliability of their intuitive signals. They report becoming aware of special signals or sensations, which work as confrmations for them. They work as a form of guidance, underlining the importance or the correctness of their intuition, or revealing the biases. These confrmations are personal and signifcant to their owners; the sensitivity to recognize them has developed over many years of refection (Davis-Floyd and Davis 1997; Kautz 2005; Peirce 2013; Raami 2015).

When using confrmations as a tool for evaluating the reliability of intuition, a person needs to be able to interpret the signals instantly and correctly. This brings us to the moment of 'right after' presented earlier. Sometimes, the signal may be biased. Sometimes, it is too fast and observation too slow. Sometimes, noise overpowers the clarity of the signal. Sometimes, there is misinterpretation of a signal. With every type of signal, there are biases, which should be excluded to get a reliable confrmation.

Some of the confrmations can be 'stronger' or have more emphasis than others. However, if they are absent, it is not necessarily proof of an incorrect or false intuition. When a person is familiar with their process of intuiting, they often get confrmations of some kind. Even design students who are not very aware of their process of intuiting report these confrmations. Usually, a person can sense the signal through one personally typical source or sense, for example, goose bumps (Raami 2015).

Typical physical confrmations are for example sensations like '*gut feelings*' or '*cold shivers*.' With physical sensations, the usual bias is the misinterpretation of signals, for example, confusing the ordinary physical bodily sensations with intuition.

Some individuals get certain feelings or emotions like '*vibes*' or '*resonance*.' Highly intuitive individuals constantly report that with reliable intuition, all emotions are excluded. These may be fears, wishes, hopes, attractions, desires, impulses, disgust, exclusion or ignorance. Intuition can be easily biased by emotional attachments.

Several individuals report mental signals like '*seeing*', '*visioning*' or an '*insight fashed*.' The most common bias associated with mental sensations is probably confusion with imagination. Many scholars state that there is a fundamental difference between intuition and imagination, insight, instinct or memory. Typically, imagination manipulates, edits and analyses, whereas instincts are inbuilt evolutionary reactions related to surviving (Davis-Floyd and Davis 1997; Kautz 2005; Shefy and Sadler-Smith 2004). These can beneft creative thinking and complex problem solving. However, it is highly benefcial to be able to discern the differences between them.

Occasionally, the confrmations are extraordinary by nature: an individual may see '*twinkling sparks of light*' or feel that something is '*integrated*,' '*immersed*,' '*illuminated*,' or '*connected.*' These types of signals are often reported along with scientifc discoveries.

In highly personal sensing, the signal may be biased by misinterpretation, or it may be disturbed with obscureness that may label, colour or bias intuitive mental images, impressions or sensations. If a person's mind is very strong, it may start to create a belief, which of course may help create the mental images that assist invention. However, creating by belief and intuiting are different mental operations as well.

The variety of confrmation and biases underline the importance of self-knowledge. For sceptics, it would be tempting to claim that all these confrmations are biased through creating by belief, but according to the experiences reported by designers and highly intuitive persons, this is not the case. With the aid of these confrmations and biases, many people seem to be able to recognize reliable intuition, with accuracy and reliability. However, according to many references, the intuitive process evolves. It renews and changes along with the person using it. Therefore, internal alertness should be habitual.

## Towards <sup>a</sup> Working Method of Intuition

The issues presented above unfold some aspects of the human mind, possibilities of knowing and personal experiences of intuiting related to problem solving and creative work. These may bring new insights for teaching and learning.

Decision-making is an individual act; therefore, the perspective and capacities of a single individual are extremely important, as stated above, because coherent decision-making is the key to sustainable wellbeing. Sustainable choices made through better decisions will improve the coherence of natural and social systems.

However, many educational structures are outdated, rigid and conficted by many competing agendas. Hence, it is not straightforward to introduce new ways of thinking and doing into this ossifed context. It does not help that current attitudes inside and outside of education systems tend to favour competition, measuring, exclusiveness, segregation and ranking, which are values based on dissociation and self-interest. Among the many problems this creates, one is that it can assign a negative value to an individual, effectively removing them from 'productive' society. But perhaps through greater recognition of the value and utility of intuitive and creative processes, the full potential of every learner can be realized. This is especially true for today's students who face disquieting uncertainty about the future.

Changing attitudes and unlearning limiting mental structures, or implementing something radically new takes time. This is true even in the academic world that largely operates in siloes leaving gaps between domains. Knowledge is constructed in canon: new knowledge is developed mostly with like-minded colleagues. In the worst case, this leads to unilateral and stagnant viewpoints where transgressive or second order research is not initiated and decision-making is based on avoiding mistakes with respect to a single disciplinary silo.

Complex, wicked problems cannot be solved with single domain expertise and a rigid mindset. How can we form new, shared knowledge structures that generate societal impacts and sustainable future? And how can we bridge the old educational system into a new one and construct a transition pathway? We need our intention and thoughts aligned towards fnding new ways to initiate change on multiple levels: changes in single individuals, structures and systems.

## Summary

Decision-making, complex problem solving and radical innovating are cornerstones of a coherent and sustainable future. To be able to surpass the challenges the world is facing, we need to search new dimensions of understanding for problem solving and innovation. To be able to solve the impossible problems requires exceeding the limits of the known.

The current scientifc paradigm, beliefs and physical constraints narrow our thinking to what can be considered plausible in the frst place. What we currently know, defnes the question framing and problem scoping, hence narrowing the solution space. We ignore potential solutions we consider impossible.

However, it is possible to surpass ingrained understanding. There is still vast, untapped potential of the human mind. People who beneft from intuiting and resilient thinking create advances and innovation compared with analytical thinkers. Further, intentional intuiting can assist achieving new dimensions of knowing, inventing and creating. To enable this, it is indispensable to educate the mind to be less resistant and more accepting toward the unknown, uncertain and ambiguous.

This highlights the importance of self-knowledge skills and abilities to leverage internal knowledge beyond what is consciously known. Luckily, most of the skills related to internal knowing are trainable. Smart intuition can be integrated with sharp reasoning and education.

But this is not enough. We also need to create and exploit shared and intelligent knowledge structures to integrate wisdom from different felds of knowledge. In addition, an important step to be taken is the one you can take at this very moment. That is, consider that all of society's wicked problems are indeed solvable. It begins by understanding that it is *possible*.

## Note

1. *Noetic* originates from the Greek word *noēsis/noētikos*, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, or subjective understanding ("IONS, Institute of Noetic Sciences" 2014).

## References

Agor, W. H. (1989). *Intuition in Organizations: Leading and Managing Productively*. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Bastick, T. (2003). *Intuition: Evaluating the Construct and Its Impact on Creative Thinking*. West Indies: Stoneman & Lang.

Beauregard, M., Schwartz, G. E., Miller, L., Dossey, L., Moreira-Almeida, A., Schlitz, M., et al. (2014). Manifesto for a Post-materialist Science. *Explore: The*  *Journal of Science and Healing, 10*(5), 272–274. http://doi.org/10.1016/j. explore.2014.06.008.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

# Unlocking the Future of Learning by Redesigning Educator Learning

*Adam Rubin and Ali Brown*

## Today's Model of Learning: Our Challenge

Our systems of public education were built in a different era, with a set of clear underlying objectives—to sort and flter students to a set of clear outcomes, as well as to inculcate them with a national identity.

Depending on the society, there may have been some variance, but there were clear commonalities across all systems. Those objectives made sense at the time and by and large, many systems had successful outcomes. We needed citizens frst and foremost, bound together with a common story—both an understanding of a unifed history and an aspirational narrative for their futures. Additionally, we needed a sorting mechanism as illustrated in Fig. 7.1, that helped send people to the farm, the factory and over time, a growing knowledge economy through which college was the portal. As national economies evolved, advances in transportation and telecommunications shrunk distances, and a global

235

A. Rubin (\*) · A. Brown

<sup>2</sup>Revolutions, LLC, Burlington, VT, USA

e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
A. Brown e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2019

J. W. Cook (ed.), *Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6\_7

**Fig. 7.1** The conveyer belt (Still taken from 2Revolutions' Future of Learning video)

economy emerged in the second half of the twentieth century that fundamentally shifted our labor needs. Farm and factory roles increasingly shifted to lower cost parts of the world, and lower wage, less growth-oriented jobs in the retail sector and the like developed as underwhelming alternatives. The impact of these shifts was compounded by signifcantly reduced demand for low-skill jobs because of improvements in technology. Our global economy had shifted, but the structure of our systems of education remained largely intact. This mismatch posed an increasing problem for education systems across the globe.

Over the past few decades, international policy makers have spent signifcant time and fnancial resources incrementally tweaking our existing education systems. This has been especially true in the United States where these tweaks have not been broad enough to outpace the economic and societal changes underway. Today, there is a clear and vocal consensus among all stakeholders that our model of schooling is not effectively preparing students for today, let alone for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.

Our model of schooling is indeed a vestige of an outdated system. But, we have not yet invented the models to which we can all say "yes." In order to close an achievement gap and prepare all students in our evolving societies for success in careers and the future challenges that await them, *a radically different approach is needed.*

## Emerging Signs of Promise

We are gaining a deeper understanding about the elements needed for schools to work more effectively. Research is beginning to amass evidence on correlates to student success in university and beyond. We now have reason to believe that learners do better in environments that go beyond core content knowledge, in which there is a focus on a set of essential skills and dispositions related to collaboration, communication, creativity and self-direction. School models that focus on these skills and dispositions often yield more successful students (Dymnicki et al. 2013; Chicago Research Consortium 2013).

Emerging work around personalization is showing some early cause for optimism on focusing on the unique needs of each student (Pane et al. 2015). While still developmental and lacking a signifcant research base, there is a growing movement of educators in the United States and internationally moving in the direction of thinking of the student as a unit of analysis and learning, rather than by cohort, class or grade level groupings. Related developments among educators and education policy in the US are moving toward more of a competency-based assessment model, or the idea of supporting students to move on when, but not *until*, ready. Here the focus is on the ability to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skill acquisition in a deeper way. This calls into question the relevance of grade levels and many structures of school systems, including time and adult roles, thereby challenging the very frmament underpinning most school models.

We argue strongly that *personalized and competency*-*based learning environments are not only critical for students, but that they are essential for educators to experience as part of their professional learning*. We must fundamentally redesign our systems of pre-service and in-service training for educators. Both systems are currently modeled on an outdated system—one that is centered on the people who run the system, rather than the participants. This in turn treats these adult learners monolithically rather than individually, largely ignoring a signifcant and growing body of research about the science of cognition, as well as adult learning theory. These efforts also ignore a set of important trends affecting the education system more broadly.

*Rather than the current focus on content and pedagogy exclusively in training, we need to provide a different kind of learner experience for our educators.* This approach will have to build from their specifc work environment, and the real problems they face in that context, rather than focus on concepts that are removed from their day-to-day experiences. If we can do that, we will make learning more relevant and, therefore, higher impact, tapping into factors that motivate more learning. The work needs to meet educators where they are as learners and allow them the fexibility to engage with content based on their readiness, rather than in lockstep with other colleagues who may have different needs or require a different pace. This type of personalized learning will be a better ft for adult learners individually. There is also the need to align credentialing to demonstrable evidence of shifted practice. This is how it will be competency-based. This approach holds signifcant promise because it models the kind of learning that we want for students. Therefore, the process itself, as well as the learning, has the potential to be transformational.

This process shift represents an approach that is more sustainable and promises greater wellbeing for adult learners as participants, and by extension for their students and the systems in which they work.

## Trends Impacting All Learners

Context matters greatly. Before drilling down into understanding how our educators are currently trained, it is important to zoom out for a broader perspective because adult learners do not exist in a vacuum. Rather, they are signifcantly infuenced by a set of outside trends, which impact them as individuals and as part of an evolving system of learning. Figure 7.2 illustrates a set of trends shaping the Future of Learning. Better understanding these trends can effectively infuence how we shape a new system of educator training and learning.

These trends include:

• *As Technology Evolves*: What began around the turn of the twentyfrst century as electronic learning (e-learning) is evolving rapidly from strictly online learning to artifcial intelligence, wearables and an accelerated movement toward technological singularity. While there is a clear continuum, the trend line is a signifcant one. On the e-learning end of the spectrum, content is now democratized in ways that we have never witnessed. We are seeing the emergence of a growing amount of free and open learning content (called open educational resources or OER), from curriculum to lesson plans to an array

**Fig. 7.2** Trends shaping the future of learning

of knowledge and skills acquisition opportunities, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS), syllabi, books, etc. While it is still fragmented, an increasing number of efforts are underway to better taxonomize and organize this content. "Open internet tests" are on the rise in schools, as information is no longer the commodity itself; rather, the skill with which a learner can leverage and meaningfully apply content to demonstrate deeper understanding is what we increasingly care about. Artifcial intelligence is still young but beginning to be leveraged to learn about students' interests, habits and patterns in order to push learning experiences based on those unique needs. Signifcant increases in capital investments in learning technology companies point to increased confdence and provides another indicator of the growing prominence of education technology. As illustrated in Fig. 7.3, these increases reached a high-water mark of over \$2.6B globally in the frst half of 2015, growing by over 50% from just a few years earlier (Adkins 2016).

What role should technology play as a way to better meet the needs of educators in their professional learning? We believe that there is an opportunity to think differently about time, space and pace for educator learning. We think it can be an important way of reaching these learners to access same and different content from one another, at same or

**Fig. 7.3** Private investments in educational technology increase

different levels of complexity. Rather than "teach to the middle" the way most professional learning occurs, technology offers the opportunity to differentiate both content and the "dosage" of that content. While technology is an increasingly valuable tool, it is by no means the answer. Nevertheless, understanding and leveraging this trend represents an important chance to rethink the structures of educator learning.

• *Advances in Cognitive Science*: We know more now than we ever have before about how people learn, especially the intersection on the physiological, the pyscho-social and the impact of existing knowledge on learning (National Research Council 2000). These advances are informing curriculum and pedagogy, as well as the structure of school itself. For instance, our knowledge of neuroscience is encouraging educators to incorporate more movement and frequent breaks to maximize student learning. It is pushing structural changes in schools such as later start times in some high schools to account for student alertness; and fewer summer breaks because research shows the longer students are away from school, the more they forget. Adaptive software such as online content, learning games and online cognitive tutoring tools have emerged. This allows us to rethink how content is delivered within learning models and the role of adults in those models, all building from a deeper understanding of how different learners can engage with content and support systems.

Are there opportunities where these trends can help educators themselves learn differently? We believe that there are many ways to leverage adaptive software and different learning structures to promote greater engagement among educators and ultimately, better meet their unique needs and maximize their professional development.

• *Growth of an On***-***Demand Economy*: Technology and advances in cognitive science are being leveraged together to rapidly grow an on-demand economy for much of what we consume. We watch our movies on Netfix or Amazon Prime; we order our plane tickets on Orbitz or Google Flights; we book our vacations on Airbnb or VRBO; we now Uber or Lyft when we land in a city versus hailing a cab. All of these trends represent a signifcant shift in user behavior, placing goods and services at our fngertips, accessible through our laptops or smartphones. How is this trend beginning to inform education and shift how we learn? Crowdsourced lesson plan websites (i.e., Teachers Pay Teachers, Better Lesson, Share My Lesson, Curriki) are proliferating and free learning management systems (i.e., Google Rooms, Moodle, Blackboard Connect, Edmodo) are changing the landscape, providing not just learning platforms but content warehouses from which we can assemble learning experiences for students. We at 2Revolutions are partnering with eleven other national organizations in the US to make online learning resources (diagnostics, playlists and courses) free and downloadable for use in other learning systems.

When you look at the enormous size of investment in professional learning, with recent estimates suggesting the United States annually spends more than \$400 billion on formal and informal training by employers (Matlach and Poda 2016), we strongly believe that educator learning is soon to emerge as more of a market opportunity in the on-demand economy. Aggregating demand for content (subject matter specifc, related to pedagogical skills and practices, micro-credentials, etc.), as well as targeted on-demand expert supports ("ask a question", virtual coaching, etc.) represent learning experiences certain to shift the landscape. The model that we outline for the future of educator learning makes signifcant use of both the demand for content and on-demand expert supports.

• *Moving Toward Depth and Away from Breadth*: Learning more about single topics, and doing more with that content, is a decided shift in classroom learning. Over the past few years in the United States, there has been a move to a set of common and more rigorous standards across many states—the Common Core Standards. We see a growing number of efforts that are asking students to work deeper, as evidenced by the focus on greater depth and thinking skills on new high stakes exams within K-12, such as PARCC and Smarter Balanced efforts. In the US state of New Hampshire, a groundbreaking initiative has garnered a waiver from the US Department of Education and is currently being emulated by other American states. The Performance Assessment for Competency Education (PACE) initiative leverages a federal waiver to allow a small number of school districts to replace high stakes exams with high quality performance assessments calibrated across multiple districts for reliability. These efforts and a broader push toward deeper learning have raised questions about breadth versus depth. In a growing set of school models, there is a shift underway to think differently about what students learn and how they learn it. Portfolio defences or learning expositions are accelerating as a way to measure student learning in ways that require the demonstration of knowledge and skills, and increasingly, the ability to apply that learning to a real world context.

As we rethink educator learning, we are confdent that this trend will infuence both the content and process by which educators are trained, with an emphasis on going deeper in their learning versus broader to cover more topics. This shift will push our educator learning models toward fewer priorities, a more substantive treatment of those priority areas, and intentional ways in which key priorities—such as content knowledge and twenty-frst century skills and dispositions—can be thoughtfully integrated in curriculum and instruction. It will begin to question notions of seat time (attending sessions and getting credit for attendance alone) in favor of building an evidence base by which to substantiate one's individual learning.

• *Ecosystem of Learning*: Within the past hundred years, learning was thought to be centered on the school building—kids learned between 9 a.m.–3 p.m. However, this is beginning to shift, as evidenced by new and different ways of thinking about and promoting a student's learning trajectory. Middle class and wealthy families have historically supplemented their children's school learning with enriching extra-curricular learning in the afternoons, evenings and weekends spanning sports, the arts, the world of work and other interest areas. Given the breadth and depth of this extra-curricular learning, and the impact it has on the student's overall knowledge, skills and dispositions, there is a growing movement to think differently about education versus learning. The school building used to have the market cornered on learning, and it was assumed that it was where someone "got educated." Now, there is a blurring of the lines between formal and informal learning. In the US state of Nevada, policy was passed within the past few years where 90% of the learners per pupil allocation go directly to the family to determine how they might spend it, rather than 100% going directly to the school district, as is the case in most places now. That raises all kinds of questions around how we think about learning. In the US state of Colorado, an initiative called ReSchool is asking different questions about life paths and learning, with a set of emergent prototypes testing how informal learning could supplement or replace formal learning environments like school. Over the past fve years, the MacArthur Foundation has grown an initiative called the Hive Learning Network. The Hive attempted to formally network informal learning among non-proft organizations and businesses focused on the arts, youth development and entrepreneurship. Over time, this expanded from Chicago and NYC to a set of cities around the world. It has continued to grow into a relatively new initiative, LRNG, across 12 American cities, with a focus on interest-driven learning that is available anytime/anyplace through an online platform. Another notable component of the work is what LRNG calls verifable and credible learning through badges that have currency at school and in the workplace.

This move toward a broader ecosystem of learning is another important trend that will begin to impact educator learning. For too long, professional development has been a monolithic domain, where learning was slated to happen during a few annual in-service days and at district-wide professional learning sessions. Now, learning is moving toward interest and need-driven, and will increasingly be democratized as anytime, anywhere. We are closely watching how educator learning can tap into the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of adult learners alongside a growing range of more fexible currencies that are being developed to verify and credit educator learning experiences, from continuing education credits to badges, graduate credits, and master teacher status through an array of micro-credentials.

Each of these trends not only provides us with a broader context, but also are, of themselves, important data points. As we consider the educators within our systems, these external forces are impacting them personally and professionally. We need to be aware of their potential and seek to leverage these trends to positively impact how educators learn. The approach we are building and testing leans heavily on these trends because we strongly believe that they are already having noticeable impact, not only on educators but on the future system of learning.

## Why Teachers are the Critical Element

While learning can and should occur broadly, school remains a primary interface of learning for most students. Schools are very complex systems. When we dissect schools, there are a set of component parts that need to work together to optimize the learning for students. Figure 7.4 below provides an illustration of a set of levers needed to *design* and *implement* effective learning models.

As an organization, 2Revolutions has helped support the development of a substantial number of new and transformed school models over the years. While each school model lever is important to the success of a student's learning experience, *educators are the common denominator* and, along with school leadership, are driving most of these design levers

**Fig. 7.4** Future of learning design and implementation levers

(learning model, time, talent, technology, space and place, evidence of learning), and deeply participating in—if not driving—all of the implementation levers.

There is a very strong research base squarely pointing to the effcacy of teachers as one of the biggest drivers of student success. A study by the RAND Corporation (2012) on measuring teacher effectiveness found that the biggest school-related factors to student achievement are teachers. We know that the relationships between students and teachers are important drivers for student success (Schieb and Karabenick 2011), and that students' life outcomes, as measured by earning potential, are directly impacted by the quality of their teachers (Hanushek 2011). In fact, the effects of teachers on student learning are not only quite high but are also cumulative and long-lasting. The effects of just one teacher can impact a student's future learning for up to four years (McCaffrey et al. 2003), and potentially even after graduating: when students are taught by high quality teachers, they are more likely to attend college, have higher salaries upon entering the workforce, and save more for retirement (Chetty et al. 2011). Student success, in effect, is highly dependent upon effective educators both in and outside the classroom.

*How do we maximize the value of effective educators? What can we do as a system to increase and sustain the quantity of high quality educators?* In order to impact learning, at scale, our educators need an improved approach to training and support. It is these adult learners who, when engaged, empowered and supported to learn differently, can leverage that experience to drive real and lasting transformation of student learning. In the aggregate, this represents a signifcant opportunity for systemic impact.

So, where to invest—pre-service or in-service training? We often fnd ourselves needing to choose because of resource limitations, regulatory trade-offs or because of what is within our control from our seat within the system. We would argue that it is a false choice. Transformation of both initial teacher education and in-service training are desperately needed. The remainder of this chapter is focused on rethinking in-service training, which we are confdent offers some pedagogic and design ideas concepts to transform initial teacher education.

## An Innovator's GPS: Seeking a Solution

In order to transform our current systems, we need a framework for fnding our way. This framework provides us with a means to situate where we are versus where we are trying to go. The image in Fig. 7.5 illustrates the shift we propose to take. Make no mistake that most organizations exist squarely in the *Now*—our current reality is limited and has diminishing returns. It was created and perpetuated as much by the confnes of the regulatory environment as by an array of cultural norms around what professional development was meant to do and how it works for some adults in the system. Meanwhile, we do not have aggregated and well-organized demand for a new and better approach to educator training. We need to understand the limitations of our current situation in order to chart a clear course for the Future. This Future represents spaces ripe for the development of innovations, unburdened by the current systems' limitations. Once we document our *Now* and concretely outline the *Future*, the *Next* is the necessary bridge to help us leap the chasm between here and there. As we outline in this chapter, we build the bridge to the Next atop a core set of design principles. Crossing the chasm to the future is diffcult, but the iterative process of learn experiment—prototype helps us achieve a culture of innovation required for transformation.

**Fig. 7.5** Innovator's GPS improvement to innovation

## Now

*We should seek to be fellow students with the pupil, and should learn of, as well as with him, if we would be most helpful to him*.

—Henry David Thoreau

Today's approach to professional development for teachers is troubled by many of the complex challenges facing our broader education systems. While there is a great deal about the system that is improving, we would contend that there is much about the current system of educator professional learning that is not working. It is clear that we are spending a tremendous amount of resource on professional learning, with questionable outputs and outcomes. By naming and better understanding these elements, we have an opportunity to make the transition to the future we seek.

In this section, we examine some limitations within the current professional development system related to effectiveness, sustainability, and well-being.

## Effectiveness

While research has already identifed what it takes for educator learning to be truly effective, our current situation is a far different reality. The ways in which we currently support educator learning are constrained by signifcant structural challenges to effcacy. These challenges can be divided into several core problem streams: learning is passive, time is being used in questionable ways, the work is isolated from the needs of educators, and there is an overall stagnancy to much of the training. All of these taken together highlight this cycle of ineffcacy.

*Learning is Passive*: Currently, one of the greatest barriers to effective educator learning is its inherent passivity. In fact, fewer than one in three teachers can choose most or all of their professional learning opportunities, while nearly one in fve teachers never have any say in their professional development (BCG 2014). Both pre-service and in-service development often tends to default to the quantity of seat time rather than the quality of active, relevant and job-embedded learning (Dunne 2002). This "one-size-fts-all" approach perpetuates a system of ineffective educator learning. Fewer than one in three teachers choose most or all of their professional learning opportunities. Nearly, one in fve never has a say in their professional development (BCG 2014).

*Ineffcient Use of Time*: Even if the quality of the initial experience is high, educator learning is still frequently ineffcient because of the limited time dedicated to improving practice. It takes on average 20 separate instances for a teacher to master a new skill (Joyce and Showers 2002), yet a recent report revealed that American teachers receive limited support and lack suffcient time to deeply engage in more effective instructional strategies (Gulamhussein 2013).

*Isolated*: A report by the Boston Consulting Group (2014) for the Gates Foundation, in which over 1300 teachers were surveyed, found that the large majority of educators do not believe that the professional development they receive is helping them prepare for the changing nature of their work as twenty-frst century educators. Educator learning was found to be most lacking around effective use of technology and digital learning tools, accurate analysis of student data for differentiated instruction, and aligned implementation of the Common Core State Standards. However, subject matter is not the only element isolated from their training: current educator learning also lacks collaborative connections to other educators. Over half of all American teachers have never observed a colleague's teaching (OECD 2014). Without a collaborative, context-based focus in educator learning, signifcant change in teachers' practice will not occur (Sturko and Gregson 2009).

*Stagnant*: A variety of surveys and reports on American educator learning uncovered a systematic network of discontent. Only 29% of teachers surveyed were highly satisfed with current professional development offerings, and only 34% felt the system of professional development has improved over past iterations (BCG 2014). This dissatisfaction is further substantiated by the fact that the results of educator learning have largely stagnated. For many teachers, professional growth tends to plateau after only the ffth year of teaching; in fact, the difference in evaluation ratings between an average frstyear teacher and an average ffth-year teacher was more than nine times the difference between a teacher in her ffth year and a teacher in his twentieth (TNTP 2015). This pervasive culture of low expectations for teacher development and performance prevents educator learning from becoming truly effective.

Additionally, it is important to examine the current range of approaches used in educator training, to understand the perspectives of both teachers and district leadership. In Fig. 7.6, we pull data from the Boston

**Fig. 7.6** Perspectives on professional learning component parts

Consulting Group study as evidence of educator opinion, as well as a way of examining specifc disconnects between the opinions of teachers and system-level decision makers.

In environments where we are working deeply in partnership with state education agencies, school districts and charter management organizations, there is often a lack of coherence between and among professional learning offerings, which creates a signifcant disconnect for the educators and contributes to the lack of effcacy in the training. All of these data point to a missed opportunity for impact with the educators.

### *Sustainability*

When we consider the importance of this work, the potential for impact and current expenditures against the need, there is a tremendous disconnect, especially when one considers the hefty resources—both in time and money—expended for educator learning.

Given the return on investment demonstrated by the data detailed above, questions about the current system persist and deepen. But beyond the direct impact on student learning, these expenditures also raise questions about broader issues of sustainability. Are we growing and retaining a future-ready workforce? Are we not only developing the individuals themselves, but also being mindful of the rapid developments in the feld and the need for these professionals to stay relevant amidst tremendous change, as the work and the context in which the work happens (e.g., rapidly evolving student populations) continues to shift?

Around the world, there have been breakthroughs in educator learning in many high-performing countries, shown by the rates at which greater teacher satisfaction and effcacy are frequently correlated to higher levels of student achievement (OECD 2014). Nevertheless, these systems of professional learning are still a work in progress, based on self-reports and external analysis, particularly in high-needs schools across the globe. Additionally, educators in a diverse range of countries often highlight a "support gap" (OECD 2014) in their collaborative professional development, demonstrating signifcant room for growth that could well beneft from real innovations in educator learning.

In order to transition from the current state to the *Future*, and for our system of professional learning to work better at scale, there is the need to empower teachers as owners of their learning while acknowledging that the school principal and district leadership have necessary responsibilities and important perspectives that need to be taken into account.

## Next: Crossing the Chasm

*What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I know*

—Xunzi

How do we cross the chasm between *Now* and *Future*?

There is a bridge, built upon a set of core design principles, informed by a set of theoretical frameworks around learning. These frameworks focus on the development of skills, knowledge, and dispositions, respectively. When we think about these frameworks and leverage them in a more integrative fashion, rather than in isolation from one another, we substantiate the argument for and the feasibility of the approach outlined for educator learning in the *Future* (Fig. 7.7).

Picking up on clear themes from the *Now*, we begin with the premise that educators are largely underserved by the value of the learning opportunities available to them. This is a point about the process and structure of the learning. While we also take issue with the content, which often is perpetuating more traditional approaches to instruction and assessment that are less effective with growing populations of more

diverse learners, in the context of this chapter, we strongly believe that by addressing structural challenges around the process of educator learning, we can yield real shifts for students, teachers and systems.

In this section, we outline a set of constructs for skill, knowledge and disposition development. In the *Now*, a limitation that we identifed is that we start with skill development or knowledge development as a point of entry for educator learning. Taken by themselves, these are good but insuffcient for the *Future* we seek. Rather, there is the need to more effectively integrate these points of entry; we need a more intentional and signifcant approach that is about knowledge, skill, and disposition development. It is through this approach that we will be able to span the breadth and depth of the chasm, in order to support a transition to the *Future*.

The professional learning system itself can and should serve as the induction into a new way of teaching and learning, by engaging educators in experiences that model innovative and integrative approaches to teaching and learning. This new system begins with dispositions as foundational and builds knowledge and skills atop those dispositions.

Much emphasis has been placed on knowledge development in education writ large. There is common agreement among educators and researchers that the ability to fexibly transfer conceptual understanding to various real-world situations is the hallmark of knowledge (Wiggins and McTighe 2005). Expanding on Bloom's Taxonomy, Webb's Depth of Knowledge enables us to calculate cognitive depth by categorizing learning tasks across four levels of cognitive demand: recall and reproduction, skills and concepts, strategic thinking, and abstract thinking (Webb 1997). While knowledge is indispensable to the educator's professional learning, it is insuffcient in shifting practice. The development of educator skill must also be prioritized.

There has been much recent emphasis on deeper learning competencies, such as Michael Fullan's "6 C's" as part of the New Pedagogies for Deeper Learning (Fullan and Langworthy 2014). The Center for Innovation in Education introduced research-based developmental progressions for collaboration, communication, creativity, and self-direction in the Essential Skills and Dispositions Framework (Lench et al. 2015). Teaching methodologies such as a project-based learning at High Tech High, New Tech Networks, and Big Picture Learning have gained great traction among educators, but questions remain about how to ensure that content and skill are adequately developed alongside deeper learning competencies. Moreover, effectively supporting educators in implementing methodologies such as these, when many educators themselves have not experienced learning this way remains a critical question. Beyond these questions remains a larger one: *what is the impetus for educators to signifcantly shift their practice when so much remains unknown?*

Research on growth mindset and human motivation underscores the essential role of dispositions in learning and development. Carol Dweck's distinction between a growth and fxed mindset reveals how infuential our own views on intelligence and talent are on our potential for continued learning (Dweck 2007). Daniel Pink's research reveals how infuential autonomy, mastery, and purpose are in motivating us and points the way beyond traditional rewards and punishments to achieve the highest human potential (Pink 2009). John Hattie's Eight Mind Frames contextualize growth mindset within education and specify particular educator dispositions that correlate to the most positive impact on student learning (Hattie 2012).

In order to make a shift, we advocate a different approach to professional learning—one that begins from the perspective that educators have a unique set of needs. They are frst and foremost adult learners; therefore, they both learn differently and require an approach that honors and builds from their life and work experiences. Rather than treat them monolithically, there is the need to acknowledge that they have different needs and are on a continuum in their knowledge and skill development. Thus, there is the need to establish a different way to support them and their learning.

This approach is one that should be more grounded in andragogy (from the Greek *andra* meaning "adult" and *agogus* meaning "leader of") versus pedagogy (from the Greek *paid* meaning "child" and *agogus* meaning "leader of"). Malcolm Knowles (1992) asserts the logic that adult learners have a fundamentally different set of needs, and therefore, pedagogy as a driving assumption for educator learning misses the mark. In Fig. 7.8, Knowles offers a comparison between andragogy and pedagogy.

In this context, comparing pedagogy and andragogy raises real questions as to how our future system of educator learning ought to work. It also forces us to refect on what kind of professional will better meet the quickly evolving tasks at hand. In the current system, research illustrates that professional learning is often more passive, compliance-oriented, and extrinsically motivated. Reframing the learning opportunities through a lens of andragogy provides a new and different way to structure and support learning opportunities for our educators, frst and foremost beginning from the premise that they are adults with a rich set of knowledge and experiences.

Do we want our educators to be dependent or self-directed learners? Do we want them to be a repository of information or generative learners leveraging their own experiences to deepen students' knowledge and understanding? What role do their own problems of practice play in their learning versus theoretical constructs too often disconnected from real needs they have in their classrooms?

**Fig. 7.8** Pedagogic vs. andragogic assumptions

We would strongly contend that the kind of educator we want maps clearly to the kind of system of learning we now need for students. As economies shift and demands on the labor market change with greater frequency, our societies need learners to be more versatile, evolving from a focus on a certain type of content knowledge to a set of transferable dispositions and skills. Content knowledge matters, especially at a foundational level for students, but as a student matures, that content is more accessible today than ever before through a wide range of accessible sources. Understanding what you need, where to fnd it, and how to apply it is far more valuable in our knowledge economy than being a knowledge repository in and of itself. Therefore, these shifts clearly need to help guide our system of professional learning for educators.

If we prepare and improve our educator learners through a new and different approach that privileges the individual and moves toward demonstrable learning versus seat time, by virtue of their training, we are likely to imprint them with a more nimble and responsive model for their teaching. Therefore, the import of educator learning is multi-fold—it has direct impact on learners and it builds a more successful and sustainable model for the educator learners, all of which contributes to greater educator wellbeing.

As we consider a more integrative approach that blends knowledge, skills, and dispositions, an evolved system of educator learning emerges. This new approach requires a set of guiding design principles, supported by the theoretical research base outlined in this section. It is these principles that provide the bulwark from which we can build a more effective system of educator learning. Moving forward, we believe that professional learning should be:

educator may have already mastered some of the content or their context may have shifted and the additional content is no longer relevant.

These principles must be informed by the research but anchored in a local, contextualized vision for student learning. Local context matters deeply and should be the driver for the construction of the *Next*.

## Future

*Every person of learning is fnally his own teacher.*

—Thomas Paine

Imagine a scenario in which each adult learner was respected as a professional, met where they are in their learning journey, and supported from that place to further stages of their development. This scenario mirrors the kind of learning we want our students to experience: learning that is personalized, relevant, and geared to students' current levels of learning, while pushing them to their learning edge. In Fig. 7.9, we provide a framework for this future-oriented process in which educators experience a new kind of learning.

The approach, outlined above and detailed in the following section, represents a way to realize this vision, with the clear belief that educators need to experience learning in a way that intentionally integrates the

**Fig. 7.9** Anchoring in adult learning theory

knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be effective and grow their prowess as practitioners.

There are clear stages of this learning process. While made up of distinct elements, for this to work over time, the essence of the work is integrative, not linear. In this section, we will detail the following stages: *Engendering Ownership; Personalized Learning; Competency*-*Based Learning;* and *Shifting Beliefs.*

#### *Engendering Ownership*

Most educators are drawn to their work by a mission to help students learn, which is a signifcant intrinsic motivator. Educator learning is motivated by mission, but amidst the real and persistent challenges of the work, there is the need to maintain and deepen this motivation over time. The importance of motivational psychology is vital to the learning process. Simply put, if there is no motivation to learn, then there is no learning (Walberg and Uguroglu 1980). There is a real need to engender ownership in the learning process. Educators who feel included and in control of their learning are more likely to be involved and active in their development (Wlodkowski 2008)—thus building educator agency is critical to the long-term success of the effort. This is further underscored by Knowles' work on andragogy detailed earlier in the chapter and evidence of greater success in the classroom when teachers reported having more agency in their learning (BCG 2014).

To do this work effectively requires an authentic process whereby educator voice is meaningfully engaged to help inform their learning, as well as more broadly shape the context in which they work. This approach helps to make their learning feel relevant to them.

A few key activities in this phase include:

• *Visioning*: It is important to lead with invitation rather than edict. Educators all work within an existing context, which has a culture and a set of expectations, norms, and pathologies. Rather than divorce these from the learning, which happens far too often, there is the need to anchor the work within that culture, so as to better understand it and position learning within it, which will help promote real sustainability in the work itself. Key elements of visioning include:

This activity provides an opportunity to be clearer as a team about the direction you want for your school, anchored in a co-constructed idea of what student success looks like. Figure 7.10 provides an illustration of one school's vision. The vision serves many purposes. It acts as a guidepost by setting a clear target at which to aim. It models communication and collaboration in action. It also provides a tangible opportunity for educators to help inform the outcome of their work more broadly, spurring selfdirection, and empowering them as drivers of their work—rather than passive vessels who only carry out directives without the ability to shape them.

**Fig. 7.10** School vision artifact

All learning is contextual and personal. By inviting educators to inform their environment, there is an opportunity to anchor their professional learning against the mission of their work, thereby activating and orienting their disposition toward continued learning and development.

#### **Fig. 7.11** Problem of practice artifact

doing. These communities of action, akin to more traditional professional learning communities, are time-limited and anchored in an improvement science methodology of short-cycle prototyping addressing a clear problem of practice, with a hypothesis to be tested and a course of action that by design, is meant to quickly test, learn, and refne in order to improve practice. Through this process, educators come face to face with knowledge and skills gaps. Figure 7.12 illustrates an example of the short-cycle prototyping process that 2Revolutions uses to support teams in problem solving within a Communities of Action context.

#### *Personalized Learning*

Once we have identifed areas of need, a set of topics will emerge as areas of focus for the Communities of Action. Before teams can dive into testing approaches, there is the need to build knowledge and skills. This is where personalized learning meets individuals and teams.

Each learner establishes a *Personal Learning Plan* that captures their unique needs, grounding the learning experience in their background, interests, working/learning style, and an inventory of their dispositions. With a better picture of the learner, we have an improved chance of meeting educators' needs and fueling their intrinsic motivations to learn.

Individualized *coaching* provides each participating educator with someone to help them manage their learning plan and provide ongoing feedback and validation of their learning. The coach role is intended to provide consistent supports to aid educators in achieving their personal learning goals. Coaches challenge educators to embrace and manage the

**Fig. 7.12** 2Revolutions' short-cycle prototyping process

moments of discomfort that naturally occur in the change process and establish the relationships necessary to support educators at the edge of their learning. Based on their detailed knowledge of each adult learner, coaches orchestrate a variety of supports based on their coachees' specifc learning needs. Coaching supports can come in the form of access to relevant learning resources, modeling, co-planning, co-teaching, observation and feedback, and more. Designated coaches need not serve as the sole provider of professional supports to their coachees; technologyenabled on-demand learning can and should be leveraged in service of learners. As long as adult learners experience a coherent continuum of supports anchored in their personalized learning needs and there is clear communication across all providers in alignment with these needs, expertise can be channeled from multiple sources.

A continuum of topical *adult learning progressions* meets the learner where they are and asks them to self-assess their current abilities across a continuum of performance indicators from Invested to Developing, Leading and Innovating. See Fig. 7.13 for an artifact of an adult learning progression around Tech-enabled Learning. Once the learner self-assesses, they can access *topical playlists* aligned to relevant learning progressions. These playlists provide leveled learning resources that learners can read, watch, or listen to in order to increase investment in various competencies and build relevant knowledge and skills. In a wide-ranging partnership, we have just recently released a compendium of high quality, free educator learning resources accessible through https://getinspired.2revolutions.net/external/signup.

All of these approaches are personalized because they work within the context of the unique educator, allowing them to work on content relevant to their work and taking into account their prior knowledge when providing opportunities for knowledge and skill development. Each educator is able to access the content most relevant to them and move at a pace aligned with their learning needs and style.

## Competency-Based Learning

Making the shift from knowledge to skill development requires authentic demonstrations of learning in practice. Understanding a map of the competencies and the continuum or progression on which those competencies exist developmentally is critical. While there are a number of high quality sets of competencies available to pull from

**Fig. 7.13** Adult learning progression artifact

(including rich work on more next generation competencies by Jobs for the Future in 2015), this competency development work needs to be anchored to the local context and take into account what the evolving teacher role needs to know and be able to do. In a competency-based context, the output from learning is privileged above actions of learning. Therefore, evidenced-based validations of educator-specifc competencies are the aim.

There are a deeper set of more interactive learning opportunities available through topical *micro*-*credentials*. These learning experiences provide participants with the chance to demonstrate their knowledge and skill acquisition for credentials, based on the presentation of clear evidences of learning. An educator is able to take a micro-credential learning experience online, which allows them to make variable their pace and place of learning. Participants can take a full micro-credential or just move directly to a formative assessment, which will ask them to present clear evidence of shifted practice within the classroom, through relevant artifacts and explanation. This can include student work, video documentation, or some other clear demonstration of learning. As an educator wants to go deeper into a topic, there are "stacks" of multiple micro-credentials, which provide greater depth and allow for demonstrable knowledge and skill development.

Additionally, beyond the demonstrations of learning are opportunities for deeper refection on practice through an ongoing dialogue with a coach aligned with one's personal learning plan. These plans are living documents with both the educator and the coach going back and forth around knowledge, skills, and disposition development.

The move toward competency-based learning is a signifcant shift away from measuring time-based learning opportunities, which more often than not had the feel and effcacy of a compliance-based exercise.

## Shifting Beliefs

One of the last pieces to fall into place is beliefs. Beliefs are the hardwired cultural elements underpinning one's practice. Training and support, while critical is insuffcient until there is ownership over one's learning and evidence of real and lasting student performance shifts. When you run an effective process of adult learning, that embodies the design principles derived in the *Next* section of this chapter, you are building capacity to shift beliefs.

## Promoting Sustainability and Wellbeing

Rethinking how educators keep growing in their practice through ongoing professional learning represents a signifcant lever to drive the transformation of systems. This process also offers an opportunity to promote sustainability and wellbeing more broadly for students, educators, and the system itself.

Sustainability represents greater effciency in the use of resources, which promises doing more with less and extending the impact of efforts. With a more innovative approach to educator training in the *Future*, there is an opportunity for signifcant savings in how we spend time within the system and the value of the time we do spend. There are also signifcant opportunities for economic effciency in terms of the amount of resources spent on professional development and the return on investment of those resources. Beyond the quantitative measurements of time and money, there are both qualitative and quantitative data that we care about deeply such as the ability to attract and retain talent in the sector, thereby promoting greater sustainability for schools and learning models. Each transition of staff has signifcant economic costs, as well as costs on culture with the loss of institutional memory, cohesiveness of staff, and continuity of relationships between adults and students. There are also opportunities for greater sustainability that can come from reinvesting savings from ineffective and ineffcient professional learning experiences to more student—facing expenses.

When we consider how this work contributes to the well being of individuals, there are myriad benefts from rethinking professional learning. For the educators, research provides substantial evidence that happier, more engaged, more respected people have higher rates of job satisfaction across industries (Revesencio 2015). They feel more connected to the work they are doing and will do it better. Retention is higher and opportunities emerge for clearer career pathways to stay meaningfully engaged while afforded the opportunity to play a variety of roles which deepens one's personal investment and maintains interest. The derivative benefts of wellbeing are better professionals who are more motivated to do right by students and more skilled to execute against those desires. Students beneft from this new reality as the recipients of better teaching and learning. As educators have more of the experiences of the learning environments that are better for students—in terms of content, skills, and dispositions—the residual benefts for students will be seen in more dynamic, student-centered learning environments where the focus will shift to a broader defnition of student success.

As we see in much of our work, dysfunction trickles down from systems to educators to students. Ultimately, in addition to educators and students, by rethinking professional learning in the ways we have outlined, we have a greater probability of actualizing the kind of transformation we want for student learning. Systems themselves become more sustainable and culturally stronger, healthier places. By anchoring professional learning in respect and professionalism, there is an opportunity to reset the very tenor of how systems work.

## References

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

# Four-Dimensional Education for Sustainable Societies

*Charles Fadel and Jennifer S. Groff*

## Introduction

The rate of change in our lives today has pushed us to evolve and adapt our daily practices so quickly, that if one does not pause to refect on them, it is easy to overlook just how much our world has changed. The past 50, 20, and even just the past 10 years has produced deep and profound changes in our world. Just 20 years ago, many educational systems were under intense scrutiny for not being effective and/or equitable for all learners. Many educational systems were not up to par—and to think, that was before these global dramatic shifts. The call and demand for radically improved, but more poignantly, *refocused* educational systems have never been higher. What does it mean to prepare young learners for a life in today's world? What do they need? What do we value? How can we deliver that? These are complex yet critically important questions to the future of education.

C. Fadel (\*)

Center for Curriculum Redesign, Boston, MA, USA e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
J. S. Groff MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, USA e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© The Author(s) 2019 J. W. Cook (ed.), *Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6\_8

269

Today, each of us faces a highly complex, rapidly changing world that affects our lives at a local level. The way we communicate, do business, even interface with our doctors and government offcials is altering. Entire industries are deeply impacted by new technologies that continue to arrive at a rapidly increasing pace, with once long-held traditional job skills being phased out—leaving a growing generation of people to ask how they are to make a living. Our world is not as we once knew it, and the change has only just begun.

In this chapter, we will explore the impact of these global changes on the society, human development, and ultimately the core structures of an educational system to lead us forward in the twenty-frst century.

## Our VUCA World

In the twenty-frst century, humanity faces considerable changes at many levels. As a global community, we are in the grips of the collective crisis of climate change, a problem with deeply complex variables, as we continue to explore possible solutions that impact all aspects our way of life, both personally and globally. We are now all too familiar with the interconnected instability of our global economy, and how the rapidly shifting nature of core industries, new technologies, cultures, and demographics in part due to foreign and domestic conficts only threatens that stability further.

The winds of change have become fast and strong. The complexity of our interconnected nature of our world only continues to grow, giving us a VUCA world—a trendy acronym short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It's trendy because it aptly captures many of the challenges facing us today. In a VUCA world, there are many interconnected parts and variables; there may be information available, but it may be diffcult or overwhelming to process. The complexity makes causal relationships not clear, leading to "unknown unknowns".1 This makes the problem unstable and possible solution actions unclear and uncertain.

As businesses, industries, and societies increasingly face these types of challenges, the question asked by all is, "*How can we better prepare learners for this world?*" And now, more urgently than ever, *humanity is searching for its sustainable future.*

## Preparing Learners for a World Unknown

Yet despite these dramatic global shifts of the past few decades, education systems still have not seen dramatic change. There are many aspects of educational reform pursued today that were initiated before the 1980s, including improving early literacy development, equity and access, personalization and meeting all learners needs, and more. Yet even putting all those aspects aside, most of the educational systems are not able to prepare learners for a VUCA world because they have not fundamentally questioned and redesigned *what* is to be learned throughout their course of education.

In most developed countries, the general curriculum is still modeled after the Harvard "Committee of Ten"3 curriculum from 1893—a curriculum developed in response to the sudden growth in societal and human capital needs. Yet our world today bears little resemblance to that of the nineteenth century. In the complex, ambiguous world of today, where we cannot predict the needs and challenges 20 years from now, we must rethink how we prepare today's learners—and that must start with *redesigning the curriculum for what humanity presently values for its future.*

## Redesigning the Curriculum for Today's World

Preparing learners for a complex, dynamic world means going beyond just preparing for the basics. Over the past decade, we have seen a growing realization and consensus on this in education, as many constituencies have advocated for the integration of "21st Century Skills,4" also commonly known as the "Four Cs"5 into the general curriculum. Unfortunately, as many educational systems subsequently found, simply aiming to infuse these skills into the existing curriculum has proved challenging and ultimately not able to produce the outcomes desired for a number of reasons, but foremost because the structure of the existing general curriculum was not able to effectively accept and support these skills and outcomes. Moreover, preparing learners for the unknown world of tomorrow requires going beyond just the "Four C's". In short, it requires a fundamental reconceptualization and redesign of the core curriculum.

*How do we fundamentally redesign the curriculum for today's, and tomorrow's, world?* This has been the driving question of the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR),6 an international NGO who has partnered with global organizations to lead this work. Through this collaborative work, we have developed guiding tenets to answer such a question and ultimately a framework to inform the redesign of curriculum.

## Tenets of <sup>a</sup> Twenty-First Century Curriculum

In our now complex and ambiguous world, a fundamental redesign of the general curriculum to prepare learners for an unknown future can itself be an ambiguous challenge. Therefore, to guide this work, we have developed several tenets based on analysis of current dynamics and trends that help shape our thinking of redesign:

*Adaptive*. The curriculum must be fuid and evolving; able to more easily adapt and respond to emerging trends and needs in the world so that it stays current and dynamic over time. If a curriculum is not adaptive, it becomes rigid. There is no such thing as a perfect curriculum that does not need updating, because the world continues to change and the goals of an optimal curriculum changes with it. Moreover, it must be able to take place outside of the classroom and virtually, on computer screens, from anywhere in the world. Increasingly, learning is going beyond the school walls, and learners must be enabled to move through the curriculum in all modalities.

*Balanced*. When trying to make sense of our complex education needs, the immense variety of perspectives on the conditions of education today, and the plethora of theories and practices related to learning, it is not uncommon to fall victim to a mindset of false choices, such as: "Which is better?"—teaching knowledge, or teaching skills? Should education focus on the humanities, or on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Should schools develop character qualities or help students pass important high-stakes tests? These arguments push and pull the curriculum into unhealthy dimensions unable to support all learners and learning goals.

*Flexible.* While the curriculum must able to adapt to a rapidly changing world, it also must be able to be fexible to individual learner interests, needs, and goals, as well as local needs at the classroom and community level. As such, the curriculum cannot be overly prescriptive or directive.

## The Four Dimensions: Framework for a Twenty-First Century Curriculum

Curriculum, as it is traditionally conceived, consists mostly of content knowledge that students must learn. In the modern world, progress is adding more and more pieces of knowledge at faster and faster rates, piling onto students' already overburdened plates. According to E.O. Wilson, "We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely".7