Despite what my carrier said, when I landed in Moscow I didn’t have service. Between a delayed plane and the traffic on the way to the hotel, I was six hours past my check in time with my wife and family. The first thing I wanted to do when I got to the hotel was let them know everything was fine, but to get on the wifi in Russia, you needed to have text messaging service to receive the wifi password. A young bellhop named Denis saw me struggling to get online. He came over and told me to use his cellphone number and he would give me the password. A few minutes later, I was online. I thanked him for his kindness. He looked at me and said, “some of us in Russia are trying to break the stereotype that we are cold and hard. Some of us are soft and loving.” With that and laugh, he was off and I knew I was in for an awesome trip.
I was invited by the Russian government to be a featured international speaker at their yearly global forum on education hosted by a company called EdCrunch. The best way to describe the event would be “Russian ISTE.” Thousands of educators from Russia and beyond descended on Moscow to discuss best practices, edtech integration, and their vision for Russia’s educational future. My role at the global forum was to host a three hour session on gamification, game-based learning, and the work I do in Fair Haven Innovates for a few hundred educators.
The experience was amazing. The people were wonderful, welcoming, and I had a fantastic time during my four days in Moscow. My presentation was well received and I learned a lot about Russia’s education system that I think is worth sharing as we can reflect on a lot about our own American education system through juxtaposition.
Before I get started, I want to say that I was in Russia for four days. My takeaways may not be accurate to the true nature of Russia’s education system. However, I was given a translator who spent the four days with me. A great guy name Alec who is a young, recently graduated civil engineer. As we spent our time together, I ran a lot of my observations by him and other Russian educators I met. I feel I have an accurate depiction of what the Russian education system is like and where they are going, but I would never pretend that my opinion and experience is the end all be all or that I know everything. That being said, here are my 4 takeaways from “Russian ISTE” and how it made me think about American education.
Students Have A Voice
The first, and perhaps most interesting thing I learned about Russian education was the importance they place on student involvement. Of the thousands of people at the event, at least half seemed to be students. It seemed like half the presenters were students, half the exhibitors were students, and half the attendees were students. I asked Alec about this and he said that Russia is not some utopia where every student is fully engaged in learning, they have students who play Fortnite in class instead of paying attention too, but he said, overall, students in Russia play an active role in their education and are empowered to share their learning with parents and teachers.
The best talks and exhibits I attended where the ones lead by kids. Isn’t that always the case? I would love to see a greater push to include students at conferences here in the states. Students presenting their work or co-presenting with their teachers is something we can do better here in America.
The Government and the Military Also Have a Voice
I was not surprised to see a large government/military presence at the conference. I knew that Russia has a conscription military and I learned Russian students start to gain military experience at around nine. What did surprise me about their presence at the conference, though, was two fold: The first is how heavily they’ve invested into edtech. The Russian government has funded or created a variety of edtech products used in schools that were on display at the conference. Virtual reality job-skills training software was popular, but by far the most popular edtech put forth was military focused. There were easily a dozen edtech products that focused on military life and training. There were augmented reality shooting ranges, virtual reality special forces training, and even VR “games” that taught how to (dis)assemble military weapons, hardware, and even fix vehicles.
The other impressive part of the government involvement at the event was their singular, focused message. As I said earlier, probably half the attendees, presenters, and exhibitors at the event were students. Similarly, it seemed half of the attendees, presenters, and exhibitors at the event were wearing military uniforms. At their booths and during their presentations those in uniform made it clear that the Russian government’s role in education was the continued growth and competitiveness of Russia in the 21st century. Alec said this message had been the same since he was in school: global superpower.
It feels like every four years in America, we change our vision for education. New tests and standards are implemented by new administrations, which even when similar to the old ones, call for spending a lot of time and money “re-aligning” curriculum, only to do it over again four years later. From the federal level, to the state level, to the local level, I wish the American vision for education was more stable. It is hard to hit a moving target.
STEM Not STEAM
The global forum was a STEM heavy event. Almost every booth and presentation was about STEM or STEM related. What struck me though, was that lack of STEAM. Most of the things I saw were STEM related kits that came with instructions. There was almost no real emphasis on creativity, outside the box thinking, the arts, and innovation to be found at the conference. It seems that the main competitive advantage and export of America will continue to be our creativity and innovation.
Fair Haven Innovates Is On The Right Track
While I did not notice a focus on the arts and creativity at booths or presentations. One area I did notice it was on the main stage. While I was waiting to give my presentation, I sat in on some presentations in the main hall. There, I was excited to see that many of the presentations being given by Russian startups and international speakers focused on things like 21st century skill building, innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship. Everything I’ve built Fair Haven Innovates on! While it doesn’t seem like the importance of creativity and innovation has caught on in the classrooms of Russia like it has in the US, the main stage was definitely floating those ideas as an important part of Russia’s ability to stay competitive on a global stage.
Traveling to Russia was a wonderful experience. I am thankful and lucky to have shared and learned with the attendees of the global forum. Like when I lived and taught in China, I gained a new appreciation for my home country and our education system. I also gained valuable experience that allows me to look at our education system and see ways we can improve it to stay competitive in the 21st century, just like Russia.
Until Next Time.
GLHF