Agile Education

We are entering into, what many are now calling, the Age of Agile, defined by a new mindset that is profoundly transforming software development and business management. And now, potentially, education.

The current model of education in most schools today was defined over a hundred years ago - an industrial model designed to prepare workers for industrial jobs.

This design of the education experience was based on the concept of production efficiency derived from the principles of scientific management known as Taylorism. These principals shaped the thinking of leaders of the second Industrial Revolution in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century.

A key model of the industrial economy was the production line. So we made our schools look like production lines.

The industrial economy is now quickly being replaced by a new economy, a creative economy, fueled by digital technologies.

In this creative economy, competitive advantage is no longer primarily defined by production efficiency but by the creation of new products and solutions. Competitive advantage is now based on the rate of innovation.

We need to prepare our students to be empowered makers and creators in this new economy. We need creative problem solvers that are able to integrate Design Thinking, Process Thinking and Systems Thinking.

To prepare our students, we must reimagine education in a way that reflects the new culture of our companies - a culture being shaped by the principals and experiences of Agile.

We are adopting best practices from Agile Development and Agile Management to develop what we are calling Agile Education. It is meant to be applied as a philosophy and practice for the education community.

Agile Education is not a single practice; it is an integrated paradigm of how we learn.

By embracing common experiences, mindsets and vocabulary we are tearing down the walls between education, communities and industry, allowing us to reimagine radically the nature of learning in our society.

Agile Education combines this industry perspective with best practices emerging from the education community for Proficiency Grading , Project Based Learning , and Deeper Learning.