Balfour Beatty, K12 MindShift Introduce New Book Humanizing the Education Machine
28 March 2017 - 1:07AM
Business Wire
Balfour Beatty’s Brian Cahill co-authors new
book on the future of learning, offering a plan of action for
enabling future-ready schools in the digital era
Knowing the many challenges facing public education in America
today, Balfour Beatty US joins the K12 MindShift project to
introduce the new book Humanizing the Education Machine.
Co-authored by Balfour Beatty’s Brian Cahill, the book explores
learning as a uniquely human experience, provides insight into
what’s working at some high-performing schools across the country
and offers a plan of action for enabling schools to thrive in the
21st century.
Led by futurist Rex Miller, the K12 MindShift project brought
together teachers, parents, students, administrators, and other
subject matter experts to reimagine the future of learning and
study highly-innovative schools that are achieving excellence in
some of the most unlikely places around the country. The
culmination of the two-year project, Humanizing the Education
Machine shares inspiring stories from these remarkable schools, and
tells a story of what 21st century learning looks like and how
educators can bring that dynamic into their schools.
“Our vision at Balfour Beatty is to help transform K12 schools
in America by partnering with education leaders across the country
to reimagine the future of learning and the built environments our
children need to succeed in the 21st century,” said Brian Cahill,
Balfour Beatty’s California division president. “We took a
leadership role in helping drive the K12 MindShift project because
in addition to being a great K12 builder for our clients, we want
to be their partner in understanding the challenges they face, and
helping them achieve their goals. After two years of research and
learning from some amazing schools, we’re excited to share the
powerful new ideas included in the book.”
Gutenberg to Google
Today’s “education machine” was designed based on a revolution
that began in the 15th century with Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press that dramatically transformed the way the world
learned and shared information. However, as the book’s authors
contend, the current “Google revolution” is having a “chaotic,
conflictive, and disruptive effect that is similar to Gutenberg’s
printing press, multiplied across the globe.” Though the impact of
Moore’s law, which portends that the power of computer chip
performance doubles every two years, and the need to rapidly
innovate is widely understood in the business and technology world,
the authors explain this concept has largely been ignored in
education.
“The pace of change is increasing exponentially, and students
today are learning skills for jobs that do not currently exist,”
Cahill explains in chapter six. “Learning must include the ability
to adapt to the rapid pace of change, collaborate and bounce back
in a world of flux.”
K12 Design and Construction
When it comes to the role construction and design play in K12
education, the great shift toward humanizing the education
experience requires future-ready schools that are designed with the
users – students and teachers of this and future generations – in
mind. The fact is that over half of today’s K12 schools in the
United States were built and designed in the industrial era for the
baby boomer generation. This shift is already impacting some of
Balfour Beatty’s most progressive K12 clients who are faced with
decisions on how to design and build learning environments that
engage and prepare students for success in the 21st century.
New learning models like project-based learning, personalized
learning, smaller learning communities, and advanced career and
technology centers all require different kinds of learning spaces.
Classroom flexibility that evolves from the four-walled rectangular
classroom into engaging open spaces is shifting the student-teacher
dynamic and better enabling students to participate in experiential
learning. In addition, the rapid rate of technology innovation is
also significantly impacting classroom design, requiring
flexibility to adapt to future applications.
School of the Future
In the book’s final chapter “Humanity High, The Movie”, the
authors paint a vivid and exciting vision of the future of learning
based on real examples from schools the K12 MindShift project team
visited. Meant to present thought-provoking possibilities for the
school of the future, the authors seek to release readers’
imaginations of what’s possible for their own schools. Written like
a novel, Humanity High’s principal guides the reader through the
school, describing its key attributes, including its
student-centered, eco-friendly design that extends learning spaces
across campus, throughout common areas and outdoors. The principal
goes on to describe the many benefits of her school’s commitment to
promoting respect for one another, engaging the community, and
stimulating students’ curiosity in an encouraging, positive
environment.
Humanizing the Education Machine was co-authored by Rex Miller,
Bill Latham and Brian Cahill. Miller serves as principal of
MindShift, a future-focused consultancy and organizational
performance firm. Latham is CEO of MeTEOR Education, an
organization that works alongside communities and their students in
creating transformational learning experiences and supportive,
high-impact environments. Cahill serves as California division
president of Balfour Beatty US, the second largest builder of K12
educational facilities in the United States as ranked by Building
Design + Construction magazine. For more information about the
project and book, visit www.hope.school.
About Balfour Beatty US
Balfour Beatty US is an industry-leading provider of general
contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build
services for public and private sector clients across the nation.
Performing heavy civil and vertical construction, the company is
the US subsidiary of London-based Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY), a
leading international infrastructure group that finances, develops,
builds and maintains complex building programs focused on social
and commercial buildings, power and utility systems, and
transportation. Consistently ranked among the nation’s largest
building contractors, Balfour Beatty US is the No. 3 Domestic
Building Contractor as ranked by Engineering News-Record. To learn
more, visit www.balfourbeattyus.com and www.bbiius.com.
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Balfour Beatty USMatt Averitt,
214-451-1030maveritt@balfourbeattyus.com
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