Beyond the Classroom's Aura: Building Future-Ready Educational Institutions
Earlier this week (see link below), I argued that Walter Benjamin's essay on mechanical reproduction, which described how art was changed by stripping away its 'aura' (its unique presence in time and space), has relevance today. Generative AI and post-pandemic society pose similar challenges to the traditional 'aura' of education, built on ritual spaces of classrooms, fixed schedules and the unique presence of teachers.
If schools are genuinely interested in being 'future-ready' in a post-auratic educational age, there needs to be a focus on institutional readiness. Being 'future-ready' in a post-auratic educational age challenges traditional structures and the notion that you can add the technological water and stir. It's about discerning what an educational institution can be and do. This requires courage, vision, and a commitment to building educational experiences that are flexible, inclusive, and can support authentic learning in whatever form it needs to take.
It also requires a disciplined and detailed approach. Fortunately, the latest TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) publication, Gen AI strategies for Australian higher education: Emerging practice, provides a number of ways to think through these open problems by focusing on three key areas:
Process – a focus on self-assurance measures such as strategic planning, risk management, reporting and evaluation;
People – covers all staff and external partners;
Practice – links to approaches to teaching, learning and assessment activities.
What I value in the report is the way that it provides examples from institutions wrestling with issues and checklists to help provide concrete ways to be disciplined all the way through an organisation.
As we have already started with the 'Practice' piece, I was particularly drawn to the assessment tool for chief examiners from Monash University and intend to use it to create something for Heads of Department.
I'd be interested to hear what other schools might learn from the report and how they are attempting to be genuinely 'future-ready'.