For those of you in the process of designing 20th century schools, here’s a post for you.

Next time you get a chance, look into the eyes of a 5 year old (roughly a kindergarten student). Now, look forward. Imagine all that they’ll experience and have access to (learning, technology) between now and when they graduate from high school. The year will be 2020.

Recently, we came across Karl Fisch’s video called “2020 Vision” via his blog (”Fischbowl”). He created a video for his school district colleagues to help them wrestle with the world their 5 year old students will experience in the next 13 years. It’s a ‘vision’ and therefore it must be seen as such. But it does challenge all of us who are working to create 21st century schools to take into consideration a rising tsunami of innovation and technology that will have a direct impact on how learning is imagined in the future. And the design of spaces to support learning, as well!

Our reaction to the video: Provocative, Eye-opening, and Compelling were the first thoughts that came to mind.

The timing of this question couldn’t have been better since today on his blog there was a post (”If You Build It, They Will Learn”) that tackled this very question. Apparently a school leader in the process of planning 2 new high schools (and reaching out to the voters for bond funds) had seen his video and wanted to know what ideas he had for her in terms of designing schools.

Needless to say, the DesignShare team loves this conversation. You might as well. But either way, check out the eye-opening-view-of-the-future in Karl’s video. And tell us what you think!