To help ring in an exciting new year for students and education in Nevada, will you consider supporting EIC innovation initiatives in 2023!?

We are excited by the emerging partnerships and our progress with system development for Thrive Labs, regional Thrive Towns, and Thrive World virtual metaversal platform for personal and professional development for all youth in Nevada.

See our END OF YEAR UPDATE & APPEAL letter.

Here's Mary's brief video summary of the letter (4 mins).

Learn how you can nurture the success and thriving of all students, educators, and employers of Nevada in 2023:  EIC JOIN, SUPPORT, & DONATE webpage

Please contact me if you are interested to help design and/or sponsor a Thrive Lab in your community or develop the Thrive World Portal XR learning platform!

A blessed and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

With deep gratitude,
Mary Alber
EIC Founding Director
mary.alber@eic-nv.org
775.224.3736
#innovation #education #learning #community #thrive #eic #thrivelabs #development #students

Join the Education Innovation Collaborative to envision and design the future of 22nd century learning with community across our region - and Nevada!
Calling all teens, parents, educators, and coaches who want to be part of the exciting evolution of education to youth-powered learning anywhere with anyone.
Variously referred to as the learning metaverse, Eduverse, WEB3 Education, ED3 DAO, Blockchain & NFT Portfolios, tokenized learning exchange, or EIC's original concept,  Thrive Labs Ecosystem, the time has come to revision how learning and human development can happen better for all in a world without space and time constraints.

Our Design Challenge: How can we leverage WEB 3.0 technologies to unleash and empower all youth and communities to thrive together through collaborative learning, work, creativity, play, and community-building?   

Honestly, I was very disappointed at the beginning of this month as two grants that we had applied to in the Spring declined to support our cause.  We really thought we had a good chance to be a finalist of the Big Idea Challenge grant (funded by NV-based foundations), after the positive feedback we got when selected as a semi-finalist in May (9 out of over 200 applicants). 
I'm very grateful to Laura Watson for helping to create the 1 min video (it's a miracle!) that we submitted for it:  youtu.be/V_hdpfowNlU

The other grant, the Yass Prize, was a national challenge that selected 64 first round winners out of more than 500 applicants. Winners were mostly alternative schools and programs that are already operating and looking to expand. Seems we're still too early stage to be considered - but they encouraged us to apply next year. 

The HOPE that I have comes from my attending the NV Department of Education's conference last week on the theme of Together: Building Nevada's Future of Education. The intention was to co-create a whole-person Profile of a Learner/Graduate that includes all the personal and professional competencies and attributes for thriving in the 22nd century - which are not accounted for by today's diplomas. These include such hard to measure things such as creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, social-emotional-mental health, digital citizenship, global citizenship, growth mindset, self-direction, and integrity. 

I had so many encouraging, inspiring conversations with parent groups, non-profits, teachers, leaders, and legislators who want to see Nevada education truly transform to serve all youth and be an innovation leader in the nation. After I shared my vision for building the bridge to the future through Thrive Labs - with students leading the design - I had students come up to me and ask to be involved! I connected with several other programs interested in collaborating on bridge-building.  

From both the disappointing and inspiring conversations, our TOP NEXT STEPS are to

1 - Develop partnerships and collaborations with organizations in Nevada that are more established than us - with institutional experience and successful grant applications and management - for whom we can serve as their innovation arm.  

2 - Focus on building and/or partner with a platform provider for our Self-Preneur Game of Life program to quickly enable youth in design and manage their own learning plans, projects, portfolios, career pathway, and coach teams.

To this end, I've updated our communication deck and created the following video to describe our program status and invite participation in these areas: 

Deep gratitude for your feedback, faith, and support of our grand mission!

Dr. Mary Alber
EIC Director
​mary.alber@eic-nv.org

On a trip to Vegas last weekend, Laura Watson, Demetria Giles (a resident) had some very inspirational experiences and discussions with people that fed our imaginations and dreams for Thrive Towns of the future (click on green to view details):  

SANDBOX VR - we did the Star Trek experience - which is a lot like the holodeck on Starship Enterprise - and basically the future of learning and playing in the metaverse! (with a lot less Klingon killing and a lot more team challenge solving = ).

OMEGA MART/ MeowWolf - a fantastical sound and sight experience that taps the best of human creativity, technology, story-telling, and mystery solving (an Escape Room on major steriods). 

TEEN TECH CENTERS at select Clark County Libraries - 12 and above kids can create anything they want - including their unique career path - with latest technologies and expert coaches.

UNLV INNOVATION HUB (Research & Technology Park, Black Fire Innovation Hub) - showcasing and building a better future including nurturing advanced technologies for interactive robots and VR to support next-generation hospitality, gaming, learning, and living. 

GREAT WOLF LODGES - family resorts with MagiQuest challenges to solve throughout the property. 

OCULUS QUEST GAMES - exploding number of games and development dollars pouring in!

Put all of these together - connected by EIC's SELF-PRENEUR GAME OF LIFE program for self-directed, gamified project learning with career development - and you've got all the components of THRIVE TOWN COMMUNITIES who LEARN, WORK, and PLAYFULLY CREATE together!  

Do you want to SPONSOR INTERNS this summer to create the dream? Through EIC's Thrive Town Design Internship, we're recruiting young people 12 to 23 and sponsors to empower kids to be designers of their - and our - brightest future!

Connect with me to explore possibilities....

Mary Alber

Founding Director of Education Innovation Collaborative
mary.alber@eic-nv.org
775.224.3736

We are now actively recruiting students from Incline and North Lake Tahoe to serve on a select team of RESEARCH & DESIGN INTERNS to help us crush the next phase of the competitition. 
Link to PROGRAM FLYER
How?  By prototyping the future of learning in the metaverse at Thrive Lab Tahoe in Incline Village.  This means kids who want to make an impact can work with us to to BETA test and collaboratively develop our original GAME of LIFE program that builds personal and professional capacities to thrive for life through a gamified team-based playbook of learning adventures. Design teams will also be creating projects with employers to explore careers of interest. Finally, they will also be designing a regional hub for Thrive Labs in Northern NV based in Reno/Sparks.
See INTERNS ROLE DESCRIPTION. We aim to compensate interns in high school and above (rather than charge) but will depend on our fundraising Lot's of fun things to do and design to impact the future of learning in Incline and Nevada! 

We will be selecting a limited number of motivated Interns from those who apply - to ensure we can achieve our ambitious goals to WIN the Big Idea Challenge grant - and  also attract generous public and private funding before then for staff, rent, and technologies to support kids doing their career exploration projects during the next school year.  

Please share this with young people you know ages 12 to 23, parents, and community coaches, who'd like to be part of a team that WINS the $500,000 pot!

Join us for INTERNSHIP INFO SESSIONS this week: 

                         June 9 and 10 - 4:30 to 5:30 with snacks and prizes!
                              916 Southwood Blvd #3, Incline Village

SIGN-UP NOW to hold limited internship spot: link to SUMMER22
​
Looking forward to our community  - young and old - coming together to make magic happen!
​
With gratitude, 
Mary Alber

P.S. Value your thoughts on our early draft of the 1 min VIDEO INTRO to be submitted to Big Idea Challenge people by June 17 (yes - it's too long!). 

Dear friends in and around Tahoe,
​
Will you please join me and the TLT Design Club for a very special event - our coming-out party of launch of a program that has long been in the works - my true passion project:
What?    EIC THRIVE LAB TAHOE OPEN HOUSE
When?   SUNDAY MAY 1st 4:30 to 7 pm
Where?   916 Southwood Blvd. #3, Incline Village
Why?
-> To experience an "Escape Room" style tour of our 8 design studios and projects that support personal and career development of 10 to 18 year-olds with coaching;

-> To experience a mini-project in one of the studios (your choice);

- > To participate in a FORUM to envision the Future of Learning, Working, & Playing in Incline and beyond
​
- > To enjoy pizza, wine (adults of course), and social time

Link here to RSVP:
https://www.eic-nv.org/openhouse.html

Please help spread the word! Share this post with friends.
Thank you for joining us - and helping to imagine and create a brighter future for us all - together!
Mary Alber
#thrivelabeic.org

*Self-Preneur: designer, creator, and collaborative self-developer of one’s best life in service to community.

EIC invites all employers and community members to support student projects and coach Self-Preneurs-in-training - sharing your expertise to guide and inspire young people to create their brightest future. Through career studios, teens will explore, experiment, and stretch their boundaries, as they flourish to their full potential as strong contributors to the vitality and well-being of their community. 

Many people are surprised to learn that in Incline Village, Nevada (one of the wealthiest communities in the state), public schools have over 50% of families qualifying for economic assistance - which is similar to regional and state demographics. Unfortunately, this statistic also correlates with gaps in academic achievement and the chance of future success. The EIC and Thrive Lab Tahoe teams are committed to closing these gaps by providing access to personal and career development projects for ALL students and families in our community. 

By investing in ALL of our students, we are investing in our communities. You can support Thrive Labs development by donating your time, talent and/or resources to enable all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, to THRIVE.  Our visionary goal is to establish a NETWORK of community-based Thrive Labs that share programs, resources, and coaches - including hybrid and distance project teams - across regions, the state, and beyond! 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Families: As a parent in the North Lake Tahoe area, your purchase of a Thrive Lab Tahoe Club Member Passcard for your children 10 to 18 years old will allow them nearly unlimited use of the studio space, equipment, and coaches after school, weekends, breaks, summer, and snowdays. Home school and distance learning students can access studio spaces during the day:

         $100 - Monthly,  $275 quarterly,  $1000 annually,  $1800 for two siblings 

            TAKE STUDENT MEMBER INTEREST SURVEY & SIGN-UP HERE 

Community Members: There are several ways to contribute to the success of Thrive Labs:
1 - Join the Groundbreakers Club: funds support operations, studio equipment, special program offerings, and scholarships for underserved youth. You’ll be recognized in EIC and Thrive Lab publications, websites, social media, on the donor wall, and have use of lab equipment:
     $1,000   -  Entry Level - a scholarship student membership (need-based)
     $2,500   -  Learner Level
     $5,000   -  Mentor Level
     $10,000  -  Leader Level
     $25,000 -  Master Level - includes named studio sponsorship

2 - Become a Coach or Mentor: Lend your expertise and advice to students.

3 - Join the EIC Board - help EIC and Thrive Labs empower universal thriving. 

4 - Join the Advisory Team for Thrive Lab Tahoe - or your local community Lab -   
      to empower the universal thriving of young people.  

                TAKE SUPPORTER INTEREST SURVEY & DONATE NOW

To learn more and contribute to EIC Thrive Labs success, please visit EIC’s website - and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions. 
We deeply value your input!
 
As 2021 comes to an end, the EIC team is eager to welcome you to JOIN THE ADVENTURE and support our bold mission to develop Thrive Lab Tahoe and Thrive Lab Network across Northern Nevada in 2022. 

Warm wishes and blessings for a joyful holiday season!
 
Mary Alber, Founding Director, Education Innovation Collaborative (EIC)
And the EIC Team     
mary.alber@eic-nv.org
WWW.EIC-NV.ORG 

As I began writing, the enormity of the topic sunk in.  I realized that those in special education are way ahead in their thinking! They realize better than any other that education is not a one size fits all, but should be customized around the strengths and weaknesses of an individual child. They have firsthand experience in creating Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and implementing this style of customized or what *Aurora calls, Personalized and Competency-based Education (PCBE). 

Nowadays the background experiences of some of the children which give them the label of "at risk" affects their personalities, behaviors, and even though they may not fall under the traditional category of children with "special needs", they still need to be treated as such. Or else we may lose an increasing cross section of population to delinquency, resulting in a burden to society instead of becoming future constructive citizens. Personalization is crucial to not only their success but can and should be done, for all children (typical and atypical). In other words, an IEP for all, albeit a more simplified version of an IEP for typical children.

You might say, this is too Utopic an idea, given the diversity of students with regard to race, gender, socio-economic aspects, slow learner, fast learner, LGBTQ, and children with special needs, all together in one classroom being taught by a single class teacher (with a little help hopefully.) That it is not practical or doable.

Well, the good news is that with the right kind of support and given the fantastic innovations in technological software, what was impossible, is now possible. Harnessing the support of technology would support the teachers in utilizing their time in more enjoyable and useful forms of learning, such as the potential of fantasy, role play, group discussion, project based learning and problem based learning. Thus personalizing learning to each student and understanding and solving real world problems and scenarios which enhance 21st century skills such as critical thinking, team work, collaboration, multiple perspectives, creativity,  imagination and not to forget character building and socio-emotional learning, across a broader cross section of students. This is more important to a student’s growth, learning and achieving success in my opinion than being a stickler to traditional and rigid forms of assessment, strict adherence to seat time and an ‘industrialized’ form of education which does not work efficiently in the ‘information’ age of internet globalization and diversity.

Leaders in education, such as Scandinavian countries like Finland, are moving away from silos of subjects and towards “phenomenon-based” learning for their main stream curriculum. Further, personalization and proficiency or competency-based education is already being implemented across the US to varying levels (seek map link below). Also, the benefit of ‘personalization or individualizing an education plan for all’ would have the added benefit of removing the stigma associated with having an IEP for children with special needs. 

If you refer to the link of the map of competency-based education which facilitates personalization across the US below, you will notice several states with significantly promising state policies and implementation in this area. (Learn more here: https://aurora-institute.org/blog/competencyworks-releases-updated-competency-education-state-policy-map-for-the-united-states/)

The funding needs to be better directed towards shifting to more meaningful methods of assessments, where students will no longer take “fill in the bubble exams,” but demonstrate mastery/proficiency in various ways, such as performance-based assessments. This will require significant attention to and investment in building educator and leader capacity for next generation assessments and allowing for the development of more meaningful accountability with a higher focus on achieving greater transparency and equity with multiple measures of student learning and learning environments.

My reason for giving you a snapshot of what is starting to happen, in fact has been happening for some years across the US as well as in other parts of the world, is to reinforce the importance of customization or personalization in closing the gaps in learning and bringing a love of learning back to our students.

At a time when not only a lot of the states across the US, but also other countries are moving towards personalization of education, so then how can we in Nevada veer away from customization at this nth hour?

Thanking you
Priya Ahlawat
Education Innovation Collaborative

I’m grateful to our wise and hardworking EIC team member and recent college graduate, Michelle Alber, for sharing her compelling story in a video-letter to education innovation advocates. (See letter/transcript here). 

As Michelle says, young people have for too long been disempowered and disengaged in their learning experiences. Even privileged students like her have felt the imposed stress of the current education system to conform to an outdated definition of success; get all As in courses, strive for a competitive college, compete for high paying jobs, earn enough to own a car, home, and raise a family. But the education rat race has left young people feeling unsuccessful, under-prepared for the workforce, unmotivated, in debt, and struggling to make ends meet in unsatisfying jobs. Michelle spent a year searching for a job that leveraged her expensive out of state BA in political science and anthropology, and then settled for an office manager position that taps into a fraction of her abilities and interests. Michelle’s brother will be graduating from college in June to a likely still-COVID-ravaged economy that will be challenging for ALL graduates - whether high school or college - but even more so for a passionate philosophy major.  It seems that both of my children feel the best and only path is to pursue yet another expensive degree - to take on more education debt for a business or law degree that will eventually, hopefully help them make ends meet.  

For less advantaged students, which are the bulk of our population, higher degrees are seen as impractical and out of reach. Even if they get scholarships and Pell grants, today’s young adults know how many of their peers have failed to earn any degree (on average, only 55% of freshmen complete a degree at a Nevada university - and community colleges are even lower). The bulk of education debt is carried by incompleters who also struggle to access jobs that can pay it off.  Clearly it’s not our young people who are failing. It’s our non-adapting system of schooling that is failing to meet new needs. The system must update criteria of “readiness” and “success” in today’s world. Instead of diploma factories for yesterday’s jobs, schools need to start fulfilling their core role in serving a rapidly changing society.
 
I hope we can all agree that that role, simply put, is to prepare every learner to thrive for life. 

I hope we can also agree that today’s systems are not designed to develop and uplift each and every learner to thrive - to honor their glorious uniqueness, unleash their strengths and full genius, or empower their highest contribution to a better world.

While shifting our education system to serve this higher purpose is a daunting challenge, COVID-19 is forcing us to action. Education is the slowest social system to innovate - to integrate new technologies to optimize efficiency and effectiveness - to adapt to the new reality of what citizens need to be successful in our increasingly complex world. As education is the most foundational system to society, its products - high performing self-directed lifelong learners -  are crucial to enabling the high functioning of all other social systems; 

• If our graduates aren’t equitably prepared to thrive in Fourth Industrial Revolution occupations, then the economy will collapse from growing unemployment and income inequalities. 
• If graduates aren’t prepared to optimize their own health and wellbeing, the healthcare system will collapse from the burden of having to handle growing rates of illness, substance abuse, and contagious disease. 
• If citizens aren’t prepared to understand the complex, international dynamics and science of the environment, politics, economics, healthcare, and education, then democracies will collapse from the burden of fear and ignorance that welcomes autocratic rule.  

The education system has been the most bureaucratic of all social systems - slow to leverage new technologies to empower the end-users; to enable learners to be in charge of their own learning. If we act quickly and collaboratively, Nevada has a unique opportunity to leapfrog and transcend the outdated goals, assessments, policies, politics, methodologies, inequitable funding, entrenched politics, and misguided promotion criteria. How? By adopting the EIC mission: to reimagine education to empower every learner to thrive to their potential. 

After years of seeking pathways to realize this essential and urgent mission, the fog is slowly lifting, and we are seeing the bridge to our brightest future. EIC’s team is now working with innovators in several Nevada counties, including Churchill, Washoe, and Pershing, to host student Design Clubs. These small teams of forward-looking students and coaches will work on two key PROJECTS to envision the future: 

1. Design My Life Plan; using their Selfpreneur Playbook practices, each student explores and prototypes potential futures and decides what their learning plan needs to be to achieve their desired future. Their small peer cohort engages in practice together.  
2. Design Our Ideal Thrive Lab for Life; considering all needs of members of the community, small student teams lead the community in visioning the perfect learning spaces and ecosystem to meet every student where they are; to develop their strengths, passions, and interests to serve the needs of their community.  

EIC is well-equipped and excited to support Nevada's youth to design and develop their community Learning Lab Ecosystem. For example, we look forward to supporting Pershing County to expand their Nevada School Television Network, an already successful workforce development CTE program, where students operate the K14KQ TV broadcast channel and produce informational video stories for the community. The work-study program serves to prepare students for the workforce through building in-demand skills and competencies for success in 21st century occupations. These include learning about computer science, technologies, engineering, arts, early literacy, digital and media literacy and production, business management, and marketing. By expanding the broadcast range to Elko, Carson, Reno, and the I-80 corridor, many more students across the region can have meaningful learning experiences by producing content for distribution through the network - including those in underserved rural communities. As students become investigative journalists studying the needs of employers, families, and community civic organizations, their stories will inform each other and community members while also building self-awareness and clarity about their optimal life-work/career pathway. 

In this great video by master teacher John Spencer, Why Journalism is the Subject of the Future, investigative story-telling in and with the community is revealed as a profound and powerful learning methodology. Please visit our website to learn about our vision and plans for nurturing community-based Thrive Lab Ecosystems based on the common principles behind journalism, scientific inquiry, and entrepreneurialism to solve community needs. 

As student Design Club members guide us in re-imagining education, we’ll necessarily need some re-languaging: 

1. Moving from student to learner to Self-Preneur; designer and creator of one’s best life; 

2. Moving from teacher-instructors to coach-cheerleader teams who guide Self-Preneur teams through “collaborative action research and design” project investigations in the real world.  

Does this paradigm shift sound scary, essential, and fun at the same time? 

Please join us to unleash ALL young people to explore their world - to discover their gifts and passions on their hero’s quest to their most fulfilling place and contribution to their community and world.  

GIVE GENEROUSLY to make 2021 an amazing year for Nevada students. 
SIGN UP to learn more and co-create with us!

Mary Alber, PhD, MBA
Founding Director of Education Innovation Collaborative
775.224.3736    mary.alber@eic-nv.org        
​eic-nv.org