Future Ready Playground: Designing Skills for Tomorrow

Outline

What’s an ISTE playground?

It’s a two-hour, walk-around ideas lab: multiple themed stations plus mini-stage talks where you can watch a quick demo, try a hands-on challenge, chat with presenters, and then drift to the next stop. All in one energetic, in-person space.

Future Ready Playground Outline

Stage Spotlights:
1. ISTE Educator Standards in Middle School CS – linking privacy, cybersecurity, and ethical tech use to creativity and collaboration.
2. Adobe Podcast for Creativity, Collaboration & Critical Thinking – amplify student voice through purpose-driven podcasting.
3. Emotional Intelligence for Future Generations – practical steps to boost EI for wellness and innovation.
4. Future Ready Voices – oral-response tools that add a human layer to AI-aware assessment.
5. Critical & Creative Thinking: Practical Strategies – research-informed routines you can plug into any lesson.

Hands-on Skill Stations:
1. AI Literacy for the Win – kid-safe activities that introduce core AI ideas beyond ChatGPT.
2. Blueprint for Tomorrow’s Careers – design frameworks for jobs that don’t exist yet.
3. Tools of the Pros – a rapid tour of Figma & FigJam to spark professional-level creativity.
4. AI + Human Skills in Urban Classrooms – inclusive strategies that balance tech and SEL.
5. Build–Connect–Code for Sustainability – mini-maker challenge tied to UN Global Goals.
6. Timeless Tales – an intergenerational storytelling project that bridges students and seniors.
7. Amplifying ALL Voices with Adobe Express – differentiated creation & assessment ideas.
8. AI, Identity & Design – craft personal logos with Canva, SchoolAI, and Speaker Coach.
9. VR for Real-World Challenges – immersive scenarios that sharpen problem-solving.
10 Machine Learning Play – Train an Image Classifier in 15 Minutes with Teachable Machine.
11. Begging to Create & Collaborate – Adobe Express Classrooms for high-engagement projects.
12. Imagination in Motion – design-engineer prototypes with Strawbees.

Come ready to roam, test ideas, and leave with classroom-ready resources for creativity, critical thinking, and every other future-ready skill.

Supporting research

1. Luckin, Rosemary. Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: The Future of Education for the 21st Century. UCL Institute of Education Press, 2018.

2. Jia, Nan, et al. "When and How Artificial Intelligence Augments Employee Creativity." Academy of Management Journal, vol. 65, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-25.

3. Sternberg, Robert J. The Development of Human Intelligence. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

4. Walton Family Foundation and Gallup. Voices of Gen Z: Year 2 Annual Survey Report. Walton Family Foundation, 2024.

5. Yang, Jiechi, Ogata, Hiroaki, and Matsui, Toshiya. "Human-Centered AI in Education: Augment Human Intelligence with Machine Intelligence." Educational Technology & Society, vol. 25, no. 3, 2024, pp. 1-12.

6. Agrawal, Ajay, et al. Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2023.

7. World Economic Forum. Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education 4.0. World Economic Forum, 2024.

8. Gallup and Walton Family Foundation. Teen and Young Adult Perspectives on Generative AI. Walton Family Foundation, 2024.