EDUCATION FOR THE THINKING
ECONOMY
Fatma Mili
Head Computer& Information Technology
Lead Purdue Polytechnic
School of Informatics and Computing
Indiana University,
March 28, 2014

TIMES ARE CHANGING FAST, ARE WE?
FROM GUIDING LIGHTS
TO
IVORY TOWERS

THE ECONOMY HAS CHANGED
WHAT EMPLOYERS OF THE 70’S DEMANDED
Knowledge
Expertise
Performance
Specialization
Predictability
Organization
Obedience
Deference to authority
Solo performance
Following rules
Focus on bottom line

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED
WHAT THE ECONOMY OF TODAY AND TOMORROW DEMANDS
• Ability to ask good questions
• Thinking & analytical skills to seek answers
•
Information
Literacy
• Collaboration &
Communication
• Civic duty & sense of community
• Lifelong curiosity & learning

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED
WHAT EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

THE STUDENTS HAVE CHANGED
THEY COME WITH DIFFERENT MIND HABITS
• Connected, multitaskers, digital natives
• Used to creating and sharing
• Learning with and from others
• Informal interestbased exploration and learning
• Learning through exploration and discovery

THE STUDENTS HAVE CHANGED
WHAT STUDENTS EXPECT FROM US
1. Guidance with trust and respect for their individuality
2. Opportunities for nurturing their passion and challenging them
3. Opportunities for active learning through discovery
4. Support in building and growing their community and their place in it

PURDUE POLYTECH VALUES
We cater to the whole person
We value diversity of thinking, knowing, and learning

PURDUE POLYTECH VALUES
Openness, collaboration, and cooperation
Access

PURDUE POLYTECH VALUES
Students ’ autonomy with their learning
Risk taking

PURDUE POLYTECH ASSUMPTIONS
Legitimacy of all learning
Students are intrinsically motivated

PURDUE POLYTECH ASSUMPTIONS
Learning in context and for a purpose
Capacity to learn is not fixed

PURDUE POLYTECH ASSUMPTIONS
LEARNING OF KEY SKILLS
THROUGH REPEATED PRACTICE
• Lifelong learning: problem-based learning; learning in context
• Innovation: practicing the full cycle of innovation desirability-feasibility-viability
• Individual and Group learning and performance
• Asking Big questions and addressing grand challenges

COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY & PARTNERS
PURDUE
• College of Technology
• SoET (5), CIT (2), CGT
(1), BCM (1), AT (1),
• College of Liberal Arts
• English(1), Comm(1),
Theatre & Performing Arts
(1)
• College of Education (1)
• DLRC
• CIE/IMPACT
Outside partners
• In progress

TIMELINE
3-SEMESTER SUMMARY PLAN
Fall 2013 Faculty Fellows recruited
Collective learning through readings, training, and workshops
Cultivated sense of community
Experimented with organizations
Outreach to partners on and off campus
Brown bag series started
January 2014: organization and design
Fall 2014: first cohort of students
Adopted Holacracy organization
Developed 1 st year architecture
Developed degree architecture
Started recruiting students
Developing assessment plan
Developing competency-based credentialing
Developing faculty collaboration & improvement culture
Multi-disciplinary core “course”
Multi-disciplinary PBL “course”
Ongoing and on-demand POD’s
Ongoing formative assessment
Students assigned dunns
Welcoming new cohort of faculty fellows, training and preparation of year 2.

NEW CULTURE FOR STUDENTS
• Students are mentored into discovering and creating a purposeful path rather than given a one size fit all plan of study.
• Students work in classroom with multidisciplinary teams of faculty (mostly) rather than through fragmented monodisciplinary courses.
• Students learn just in time following their passion and purpose rather than just in case it comes up in the test.
• Students receive credit for demonstrating mastery rather than for seat-time served.
•
Students receive credit for everything they learn no matter they learn it, rather than only through our lectures.
• Students are trusted and respected rather than tested and suspected.

NEW CULTURE FOR FACULTY
• Working with students is our highest form of scholarship rather than a routine different from scholarship.
• Faculty trust the students, nurture their passion, and follow their lead rather than be the sage on the stage.
• Faculty model openness, growth mindset, risk-taking, and lifelong learning, the same values and skills we expect from students.
• Faculty are collaborative, cooperative and reflective in their working with students.
• Faculty expect the highest standards from themselves, from each other, and from the students.

NEW CULTURE FOR CLASSROOMS
• Classrooms are open laboratories. Faculty collaborate with each other and with the rest of the community to practice the three R’s of the 21 st century:
• Rigor: Students practice how to think (reason, analyze, weigh evidence, problem-solve) and communicate effectively.
• Relevance: Problems addressed are relevant to the students’ world and interests.
• Relationships: Students’ place in the world relative to their peers and to the global world are always central to what they do.

NEW CULTURE OF GOVERNANCE
• Faculty have adopted the Holacracy governance system.
• The distributed responsibility and decision making embody the spirit of mutual respect and equality in
Purdue Polytech.
• The explicit documented roles and responsibilities emphasize the sense of responsibility, respect for commitments, and accountability.
• The dynamic governance model reflects the need for flexibility and adaptability and the responsiveness to any tension felt by any member of the group.
• The modern governance system departs from the very traditional hierarchical structure of academia.

IU INFORMATICS AND COMPUTING
• Model of interdisciplinary collaborative environment
• Breaking walls rather than walling in and slicing the pie
• Sharing lessons learned, challenges, and rewards
• Getting students’ feedback