Resources: human capital, time and space for schools of the future - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 165

9 Resources: human capital, time
and space for schools of the future
Overview
Innovative teachers expect schools and colleges of the future to embrace the concept
of the 24 hour school or college - open to communities, parents and learners and
co-learners crossing age groups and personalizing learning and that the pervading
access to tools will create 'communities of knowledge' (Leask and Preston 2010).
The previous chapter outlined ways that digital tools can enable a more per-
sonalized learning approach inside and outside the institution. Teachers contribut-
ing to the Leask and Preston Education Futures research (2010) saw a future where
each learner has one digital tool providing freedom from current space and time
constraints. A tablet type tool is currently the closest to this specification. Realizing
this vision requires, for most institutions, changes in material resourcing (in the use
of time and space) and in the development and deployment of human resources.
Pause for a moment and consider what you would do if you were designing
a school from scratch in this digital age. What hours would the school be open?
What spaces would you have? How would you deploy staff? What pedagogical
approaches would you employ? How, when and where would learners be working?
What e-tools would you use? What human and material resources are needed?
Introduction and context
Some schools are considerably closer than others to implementing of the 24-hour
school or college - open to communities, parents and learners and providing a mix of
teaching and learning environments with personalized learning.
School leaders have two major resources to draw on in developing a school:
· material resources: funding for development and maintenance and buildings
(including connectivity)
· human resources: staff, learners, parents and the community.
Material resources may place more constraints on imaginative school leaders, but
much can be achieved through collaboration with communities through fundraising