Coach Carter Impact Academy
Life is full of challenges. Sometimes trying to overcome those challenges can make us feel like we’re facing insurmountable odds. You may know me, but the “Coach Carter” story isn’t really about me. It’s about a group of “at risk” kids beating the odds, including the academic odds.
In my experience when these kids were on the basketball court and under pressure, it was natural for them to excel, because they were in a constant fast-paced interaction with their environment and they got immediate feedback for their efforts.
However, for these same athletes the classroom setting was not as engaging. It took a lot of effort for them to meet their academic contractual obligation to me. That got me thinking: What if school and learning academic subjects had the same level of excitement and interaction as a game did? What if coaching techniques could be applied to learning? I realized it would revolutionize the entire education system.
Our education system is outdated. The methods and materials we use to teach do not effectively meet the needs of modern students. Today’s kids are immersed in a technologically rich, highly stimulating, interactive modern world of the Internet, text messaging, and video games. But when they go to school, they enter an environment that is passive and boring.
Is it any wonder that so many schools are failing these kids? Is it any wonder that literacy levels are on the decline? It’s not that kids are getting dumber. It’s that the system is broken. It’s not meeting their needs, unlike new styles of learning outside the classroom, which are highly accelerated and which deliver immediate feedback.
You’re probably wondering what a basketball coach brings to the academic table. The most significant components are: knowing who needs to be on the team; understanding what equipment and tools are needed to be competitive; and making everyone and everything work in cooperation to win for the kids.
Coach Carter‘s Impact Academy is a fresh new approach to teaching with the goal of graduating students that are at the top of their academic game. Schools have traditionally been built on the foundation of curricula. The Impact Academy is uniquely rooted in the science of how the brain learns, whether it’s studying physics or making a free throw. Our kids will be exposed to techniques that expand the brain’s ability to learn and learn quickly, coupled with the ability to immediately be able to apply what they’ve learned.
Our team includes respected neuroscientists from around the world, who have spent their careers studying how the brain learns and the methods that enhance the brain’s ability to learn almost anything. These new groundbreaking techniques enhance academic excellence and crossover to include increased athletic performance.
Today’s schools are working with ancient technology. The chalkboard may have been replaced with a whiteboard, but in principle it’s still a board being used as the primary tool to explain things. The Impact Academy is going to exploit the latest in the use of computers beyond traditional tools like word processors and spreadsheets.
Kids use computers to play games, but the vast majority of them teach nothing. The Academy is going to leverage the desire kids have to engage in and get absorbed by these interactive games. These games work with the same excitement factor that exists on basketball courts or football fields. If that can be used to teach, we have won the battle and turned the corner on creating a highly engaging and effective education system. It’s as simple as taking the same technology kids already use outside of school and bringing it into the classroom to create a teaching advantage that will finally catapult our education system into the modern world.
The idea of using video game techniques to teach is great. The problem is that educational games that are as evocative and addictive as World of Warcraft don’t actually exist, least of all ones that cover the broad spectrum of an entire high school curriculum. We need to create that one step at a time.
A coach knows what talent needs to be on the team to succeed. He knows that in order for his team to grasp the concepts, they have to live them, interact with them, and take them deeply. On the Impact Academy team, the neuroscientists know what needs to be in a video game to stimulate the brain, embracing the brain’s natural ability to develop working knowledge.. This includes new techniques for interacting with the player and the subject matter in order to immediately apply what is learned.
The most exciting component that will redefine the education game is the underlying technology or “equipment.” We are bringing in groundbreaking computer software technologies that are game changers. At the core is COOP-ER™, a programming tool for people who have never written software. It is easy and quick to learn with as little as an eight-week commitment. After that short period of time the teacher and the student can create state-of-the-art software that would traditionally require a computer scientist with decades of experience. The Impact Academy will not only have teachers who know how to write software, but, more importantly, it will have students who can as well.
What I did at Richmond High School was give my athletes options beyond sports for their future possibilities. Using COOP-ER™ the Impact Academy immediately offers our kids a life skill that is in high demand. You may be asking how teachers and kids are going use their newly created skills. My vision is that the Academy will serve as a prototype of how all of us around the country can cooperate and collectively reshape the education system to serve the needs of our kids.
Just imagine if kids learn a subject that interests them and then use COOP-ER™ to create an interactive game to teach it to anyone on the Internet who wants to learn it. I see two major benefits to this approach. First, the kids and the school can generate revenues from the game, just like the makers of World of Warcraft. Second, and most important, writing software that rapidly creates games is a skill transferable to any industry. Our high school graduates would immediately have job opportunities in a high-tech, high-demand field without necessarily going on to college. In addition, the Academy can take real-life assignments from companies as “lab” projects that earn academic credits.
You might be wondering how we’re going to get the best teachers in the little west Texas town of Marlin, population 6,000. It’s all about the team you recruit to play the game, and we’ve recruited the best technologists. If we can’t physically bring the teachers to the students, we’ll bring the students to the teachers, regardless of where they’re located, by using the latest in technology.
Imagine every classroom enabled to be a video conferencing bridge, where a teacher can present physics, German, or biology from Boulder, Colorado, into the classroom in Marlin; grade papers and tests remotely; and offer feedback and counseling.
Where do we get these educators? Some may be professionals currently active in schools. Also, some of our best instructors are retired professors and teachers who have a passion for their subject matter and love to share what they know. Some are already on the COOP-ER team. The Coach Carter Impact Academy, like team sports, is based on cooperation and utilizing every available resource.
The teachers that had the most influence on me were the ones that were passionate. These great educators are still with us. They may be retired now, but they still want to contribute. Computer technology and the Internet make it possible for us to bring their wisdom, talent, and understanding to the hearts and minds of students.
Using technology in new and innovative ways at the Academy will allow a highly effective educational platform to rise like a phoenix out of the rubble of a failed and crumbling system.
