Dive Brief:

• A recent edWeb.net webinar saw elementary principal and "The Future Ready Challenge" author Dr. L. Robert Furman offer advice on how educators can successfully get students ready for a world where many will hold jobs that don't exist yet.
• To best prepare students for an uncertain future, eSchool News reports, Furman suggested that educators focus technology use on the digital skills students will need and make lessons practical by applying them to scenarios in which they'd be used in the real world,
• Further, he suggests educators look beyond textbooks as the sole basis of a curriculum, instead combining a variety of resources.

Dive Insight:

A changing economy necessitates that educators prepare students for a world in which they'll need to be lifelong learners who can pivot and learn new skills, rather than simply equipping them with a set of skills that could be outdated in a matter of years. This has been a major factor in a renewed focus on social-emotional learning and "soft-skills" like critical thinking, empathy and grit that have become increasingly demanded by employers over the last decade.

Furman's call for only using technology when digital skills students will need are being taught, rather than simply using it just because it's "cool" right now, echoes Kaltura's Jeff Rubenstein. Rubenstein recently suggested that students should receive instruction around technology that focuses on creativity and problem-solving, exposing them to real-world situations and requiring a solution. And both stances build upon incoming ISTE CEO Richard Culatta's stance that ed tech doesn't do any good if it merely puts the traditional way of doing things on a digital screen.