A change is coming to the way Westside approaches education.

Wednesday, Dec. 11 educational speaker Will Richardson spoke at a staff meeting to all Westside teachers from District 66. Richardson spoke of a different way to approach education; a shift from a traditional education to a modern education.

He said a traditional education is what students are currently in. It is learning math, science, english, social studies, and taking tests and doing projects to get a grade. The learning is institutionally organized because what a student learns is determined by what is taught.

Richardson describes a modern education as a self-organized method of learning. He talked about the Internet allowing students to access a plethora of information and asks why students can’t learn what they want to through the Internet as teachers guide the students through their learning experience.

“Teachers have to be learners first and teachers second,” Richardson said. “You have to look at that person [teacher] in the room and say, ‘That is one of the most masterful learners.'”

This change in the way people approach education can be unsettling for some. Richardson believes this change is necessary to fit life’s demands, however.

“[Current students] are going to be working in a world that’s vastly different from the one [they] are being prepared for,” Richardson said. “Most kids will figure it out, but my message is let’s figure it out with them.”

Westside’s one-to-one program can be utilized for this type of learning, but Richardson said it has to be creative for the student.

“I hope that the most interesting thing they are doing with computers isn’t PowerPoints,” Richardson said. “I hope all of them are doing things that are much more constructive — that they are creating things with computers.”

This fundamental shift from doing projects for the sake of projects to doing projects because the student wants to is not an easy switch to make,  but is inevitable.

“This is the future of education and learning,” Superintendent Blane McCann said. “Whether it is my vision, as Mr. Richardson explained, these are facts. I think learning is changing.”

McCann is looking to produce a different type of student leaving Westside.

“My vision for the school district is to create independent learners,” McCann said. “So when you graduate you are able to go out and do the things you want to do.”

To implement this type of change will not happen overnight. McCann and Westside look to make multiple changes within Westside to meet this change.

“First thing we need to do is develop a vision with our community and with our teachers and say, ‘What is it we want to do,'” McCann said. “I think the conversation revolves around what’s that learner of the future look like. What do they need to be able to know and do.”

McCann also looks to make physical changes to Westside.

“What do our facilities of the future look like?” McCann said. “We are doing a facility planning process in parallel with our academic, teaching and learning vision.”

All of this change will not be possible without the continual support of the parents and community members.

“I think our community needs to see a pathway on how we can redesign learning for our students,” McCann said.

Here is Richardson’s Dec. 11 presentation to the community: