Keynote Presentation
Bypassing the QWERTY of Education
Contrary to many reports, today’s schools are better than they have ever been. Students of all ages are learning more information and discovering more ways to acquire knowledge more rapidly than ever before. Yet, in many ways, education continues to be stuck in the industrial age in regard to school operations and teaching. There is not only a need, but an obligation, for us to examine what we do in school and why we do them. This session requires us to examine all aspects of our teaching, student interactions, and school design to ensure that schools continue to evolve and transform to serve students into the mid-21st century. Only through examination of our current practices can we forge the future of school.
Robert Mitchell
Associate Chair & Associate Professor
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Robert Mitchell is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Leadership, Research, and Foundations at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. During the last 20 years, he has been a classroom teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and has served as a governmental director overseeing educator preparation programs and new teacher development. At present, he teaches and researches topics related to global rural education, and helps develop rural school policy and coordinate efforts related to teacher recruitment and retention in remote locations.
When not on campus, Robert also serves as a humanities teacher in various rural districts that continue face challenges related to widespread teacher shortages. Over the years, he has been fortunate to have collaborated with students and scholars in Australia, Canada, Morocco, Iran, Egypt, Brunei, Zambia, the Seychelles, Malawi, and Bahrain, and continues to focus on challenges related to rural education across the globe. His recent work has been published in The Rural Educator, the Journal of Education Human Resources, the American School Board Journal, and the International Academic Forum Journal of Education and he is the co-author the reference text A Practical Guide to Theoretical Frameworks for Social Science Research.