The 2024 ASU+GSV Summit was filled with exciting conversations and reflections about innovation in education and workforce development. The Discovery Education team enjoyed hearing the latest buzz at ASU+GSV—read on to learn more about our top three takeaways from the 2024 Summit!
1. The journey from K-12 to career is more important than ever.
During the ASU+GSV Summit, attendees learned ways that education leaders and innovators are reimagining career education like never before. To create a prepared workforce, career exploration must be emphasized during the K-12 journey. One session highlighted the importance of encouraging dreams and providing students space to dream about what their career could hold. Preparing to enter the workforce starts with exploration and interest in a career, then leads to actual skill-building and entrance to workforce readiness programs.
One notable session about bringing workforce readiness to K-12 schools emphasized the role middle schools can play in career exploration. Early and frequent introduction to various careers can allow students to select and prepare for a career quickly. With an increased emergence of Career & Technical Education programs at the high school level, middle schools have a unique opportunity to help students learn about careers so they can join preparation programs in high school and be ready for entrance to the workforce earlier than ever before.
2. New technology is paving the path of education’s future.
Education has always been a growing and changing landscape, but this year’s ASU+GSV Summit showed that the future of education is filled with new technology. Education leaders are searching for the right software and tools to support their teachers and students, and many sessions highlighted just how much new technology is available for schools to consider.
Game-based assessment was called out as an exciting innovation reaching classrooms. Game-based learning and assessment immerses students in an authentic game environment where the learning is an integral part of their enjoyment in the game. Discovery Education Senior Curriculum Designer David Wees participated in a panel discussion about how technology helps vary concepts and create “levels” for students to pass through in game-based assessments.
AI was an extremely popular topic at the 2024 Summit. Many speakers expressed a positive outlook about its emergence and encouraged educators to acknowledge its existence and embrace it in ways that fit schools’ needs! Experts at ASU+GSV suggest that educators should introduce students to responsible AI usage during their time in the classroom. Some other important points made about AI were:
- Consider how AI use will pair with other existing technology in your district
- Support teachers on usage of AI and help them feel confident when discussing it with students
- Adapt lessons to account for use of AI
- Show students how to use AI appropriately
3. Higher education is scaling and changing, too.
The K-12 educational landscape isn’t the only one seeing changes and new opportunities to adapt—higher education is scaling as well. With new conversations about admissions policies and ways to increase access to higher education for more students, the ASU+GSV Summit showed universities and higher education circles are making significant progress to ensure the experiences meet the new needs of incoming students. The Summit sessions frequently discussed that there are new pathways to success emerging in the higher education space, and that students will need continued guidance to find the path that works for them.
The ASU+GSV 2024 Summit was a great opportunity to engage in conversations about the latest trends in technology and education, and the Discovery Education team was honored to participate in the learning! Stay tuned to the DE Blog for more insights from future events.
