Mary Ellen wants to encourage universities to foster 21st century skills in students. Prototype 1 tests a letter to local universities proposing internships be required for bachelor's degrees. Feedback was positive but making internships mandatory was too demanding. A revised letter omitted that part. Prototype 2 involves planning a new K-8 school in San Diego that departs from traditional education to cultivate skills like creativity and collaboration through student-centered learning, inquiry, real-world projects and digital citizenship. Early testing with administrators and parents is positive about the innovative approach.

1. Prototype and Test

2. Problem Statement
• Mary Ellen needs a way to encourage
universities/graduate programs to foster
learning situations that require 21st century
skills because students need to be prepared to
work in environments that expect
collaboration, creativity, and innovative
thinking.

3. Solution #1
• Practical Idea - I think it would be practical and
necessary to encourage colleges and universities
to make internships a critical requirement to earn
a bachelors degree in the field of your passion.
This would allow young students to practice
these 21st century skills in the workforce. Also,
this would give many students a foot in the door
to a company or business of their liking. This
would also allow businesses to form and maintain
a valuable relationship with the university
systems.

4. Prototype #1
• I went back to the person I interviewed and shared
with her my practical idea for my problem statement I
created from the data she gave me. She liked the idea
of talking to some of the local universities about
developing a relationship and hopefully starting some
internship program with them. We drafted a letter
(which she asked me not to share with the public) and
she “tested” it with some of the doctors and fellow
colleagues in her office. They liked the letter but most
thought it was a bit much to ask universities to make
having an internship a mandatory requirement to get a
bachelors degree.

5. Prototype #1 cont.
• We took their opinion and drafted another
letter with that part out of it. Given only the
week to work on it, that is as far as we got.
Hopefully, with time, she can form strong
relationships with the local universities to get
MORE college students that real world
experience needed to help them be successful
in their future profession.

6. Solution #2
• The most disruptive (and also necessary) is to
re-think K-12 and the undergraduate
educational environment and curriculum.
Right now, we are preparing students to be
memorizers rather than innovators and this is
hurting their chances of being a valuable
member of the 21st century workplace where
these skills like creativity and collaboration are
absolutely required.

7. Prototype #2
• I am currently apart of a leadership team who has
been given the challenge to “change the way we
do school” in San Diego. We are a k-8 school (the
first in the district) and we will be opening up in
the Fall of 2014. We will spend a year planning,
prototyping, and designing a different learning
environment for students. As a school in a very
traditional district, we will be pushing the limits
as we try to develop something radically different
because the current system of “factory model” of
education needs to change.

8. Prototype #2 cont.
• We have worked on our guiding principles that
include things like creativity, collaboration, design
thinking, growth mindset, inquiry, integration of
content, digital citizenship, connecting globally,
and personalization of learning. Our current
mission is: we are a collaborative community of
learners who nurture the natural curiosity and
creativity in everyone. We think deeper, dream
bigger, and connect globally, with the courage
and intellectual mindset necessary to change the
world.

9. Prototype #2 cont.
• We have tested our initial thinking and ideas with
the superintendent of the district and he loves
where we are heading. He has basically given us
the freedom to do what we need to do to change
education for the better. His bigger hope, outside
of our school, is that we can change as a district.
We have also tested our thinking with the
community as we have held many community
chats with parents and they are thrilled to have a
school like this coming to their community
because most of them are tired of the traditional
schools they are currently attending.

10. Prototype #2 cont.
• They stress to us the importance of their kids learning 21st
century skills that will prepare them for their future. During
the community chats, we ask for lots of questions so we
can better meet their needs. We take those ideas and find
ways to incorporate them into our own thinking. We want
to create a place where students learn through inquiry and
critical thinking. We hope to incorporate many real world
projects that get kids working collaboratively in order to
solve problems. Our teachers will be removed from the
front of the classroom, as their main role will be to help
guide learning rather than deliver content. Over the next
year, we plan on continuing our prototyping of ideas as we
develop this school.