In the fall of 2019, I was admitted into the brand new Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. I was a nontraditional student: 49 years old; no science background, and unfunded. My research focused on the effect of improvisation and storytelling on Parkinson's disease. When COVID-19 shut everything down, everything changed. I learned a lot, both in and out of the classroom over the last several years. Here's what I can say for sure:

 

Now, in 2022, classrooms must evolve beyond one-way "sage on the stage" forums into democratized learning labs where everyone participates and is supported to define their own journey - or the system will die. Academia has been run like a prison with students treated like prisoners for too long. Students are breaking out. They are neither victims nor do they need to be saved. They need to be met where they are, listened to and supported as they rumble with real learning. Mentors must be more than knowledgeable people within their own silos. “Do as I say” is not leadership. “Read the book” is not teaching. The old school model of rote memorization cannot properly educate a rapidly, increasingly fluid world. 

 

The revolution in education has arrived. And to survive, we’ve all got to listen...and improvise.