Daring to build the Whole Classroom for the Whole Child

In the year 20 BCE, a Roman poet named Horace invoked these two words: sapere aude. By loose translation, this means “dare to know” or “dare to be wise”. As time passed, the quote came to be associated with other thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, who used the phrase to describe the historical period of great advances in scientific knowledge and culture called the Age of Enlightenment.

Widely used as a guiding principle by educational institutions worldwide, perhaps it is time to rethink sapere aude and reclaim what “daring to know” or “daring to be wise” means in our present time: the digital age, wherein knowledge, information, and dynamic learning experiences are facilitated and accelerated by the rapid advancements of technology.

Platforms for critical and creative thinking

With the effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution radically changing how we live today, the way education shapes the future has become more challenging and critical. To sustain a healthy, safe, supportive, engaging, and challenging environments for learners, it is necessary to understand and leverage today’s emerging technologies which could help connect us all through communicative and collaborative platforms that foster critical thinking and creativity.

In the past years, cloud computing technology has become one of the most transformative advances in terms of information sharing. Simply put, cloud computing enabled users to access and store data, applications, and other forms of automated services online, instead of merely having these stored on a local device’s own hard drive or flash storage. By removing the limitations of hardware and pooling the available computing power of thousands of machines, cloud computing helps solve one of the most complex problems of our time: how to effectively manage an immense amount of data.

In the field of education, managing information about learners and educational institutions with their own data systems can be taxing, expensive, and often requires logistical muscle. Apart from data management, educational institutions also recognized the need to open communication channels for collaboration and communication amongst educators, students, and other stakeholders — parents and communities to create a more dynamic learning environment.

Enhancing the learning experience

The delivery of personalized and experiential learning is essential in preparing the future generation. In response to the growing demands for education to catch up with the current times and take advantage of available technology to innovate teaching, REX expanded its symphony of learning solutions beyond printed materials. It aims to provide stakeholders of education innovative and responsive products, solutions, and services to ensure the education of the Whole Child.

Cloud-based learning management systems (LMS) such as Schoology were developed and adopted to address the problem of scalability and access to educational materials. Schoology helps improve the tasks and workflow of educators and academic institutions by providing a platform for the creation and storage of engaging content, tools for designing lessons, as well as providing native tools for assessment. All this is built into one integrated platform that is easy to access for both learners and educators, a space for open communication wherever they may be, a platform built to connect all the people, content, and systems that fuel education.

Tools for the future

The capabilities of Schoology are further enhanced and extended through its pairing with the REX 21C Digital Edition Performance Tasks, a tool popular with grade school to junior high students, which is now redesigned and integrated with Schoology. Preparing the whole child, with the guidance of a community, is now made easier and more efficient, helping both learners and educators achieve more and prepare better for the 21st century. With access to curated content provided by TWIG’s educational science resources, learners are able to study engaging materials, and educators are also enabled to match this learning materials with their curriculum.

To provide more personalized learning experiences for each learner, the whole classroom must be ready to measure important milestones in a students’ journey. This entails proper designing of assessment frameworks and tools to enable both parents and teachers to respond to the needs of every child. With assessment programs like the REX ACES+, An internationally benchmarked, outcome-based, P21 Skills aligned, standard-based assessment program to measure the holistic (cognitive and non-cognitive) development of a student, both parents and educators http://www,rexbookstore.phcan work together to secure the success of every learner.
With its thrust in the Whole Child Approach, REX Book Store acknowledges that the world is continuously transforming and believes that because the impact of these changes are already felt in the field of education, the approaches and frameworks for building the classroom of the future today must also adapt and level up with innovative learning solutions. REX Book Store’s symphony of learning solutions are integrative and interoperable, cogently designed and developed to engage learners and stakeholders; ensuring that the holistic learning experiences they gain will benefit them in the long-term, equipping each learner to become globally competitive and successful.

Nurturing Filipino learners since 1950, REX Book Store’s mission to engage and enable both education stakeholders learners to become whole and joyful citizens reflects the signs of times, echoing what Horace has dared us to do over two thousand years ago: sapere aude, dare to think, and dare to build the classroom of the future, today.

To learn more about REX Symphony of learning solutions, continue reading here — www.rexbookstore.ph