Can Schools Survive in the Engagement Economy?

Recently, I attended the LEEF Conference sponsored by Harrisburg University.  LEEF stands for "Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum."  This year's conference focused on the power of games for learning.  The audience was comprised of primarily corporate, military and higher education instructors.  K-12 education had a very small representation.

The first keynote presentation entitled, "Fun is Not the Enemy of Work," caused me to experience a flashback to one of my earliest experiences as an educator.  Actually, I wasn't really an educator yet.  I was enrolled in my final teacher preparation course taught by an elderly female professor whose reputation struck fear in the heart of every teacher candidate.  Her course was a right of passage.

As the course was coming to an end, the white-haired professor looked down at us with her galvanizing stare and proclaimed, "Remember, sometimes the students are the enemy!"  And with that we were sent forth into the teaching profession having successfully completed boot camp and with a full understanding of the "Rules of Engagement."

That was in the mid 70's, a difficult time by anyone's standards.  It was a time of changing values and social upheaval.  Students came to school with wildly different experiences and expectations.  The entertainment industry began to focus on the youth demographic and teachers found themselves competing for student's attention.  It was not uncommon to hear teachers complain that their students now expected to be "entertained."

In the 80's the situation got much worse.  As cable television gradually replaced the broadcast networks, students not only wanted to be entertained, they wanted to have choices.  This was exacerbated by the rapid adoption of personal computers.

Schools and teachers simply did not have the time, expertise or resources to compete.  So, they didn't.  Schools remained unchanged, but it didn't matter.  Their mission was clear.  Provide students with the knowledge and discipline that they would need to become productive citizens.

Then the World Wide Web erupted.  Students could access information independently.  Video games became more and more entertaining, although still mainly two-dimensional.  The gap between the school environment and society became wider.  Computers began to pop up in classrooms, but their role in the educational process was murky at best.

Today, with the interactive web, multiuser immersive environments and sophisticated game design, students and their parents no longer simply want to be entertained.  They expect and demand to be "engaged."  Jane McGonigal, Director of the Game Research and Development for the Institute for the Future, calls this the "Engagement Economy."  Engagement is a powerful force.  It can elicit extremely high levels of concentration, effort and creativity.  Its ultimate expression is a sense of "Flow," when time seems to stand still.

Engagement requires context and meaning.  To be engaged, one must feel a sense of purpose that extends beyond the moment.  To be engaged is to have a profound experience.

As I sat listening to Nathan Verrill's keynote address and thought back to the words of my professor so long ago, I thought, "How the Rules of Engagement have changed."  And I wondered, can public schools survive in the Engagement Economy?