Introduction

Previous Chapter

Introduction

Imagine I want to get a new teacher, instructor, presenter, etc. from 0-100 as fast as possible, without giving them any additional materials to copy and paste. Maybe I want to let someone who’s interested in education, but hasn’t start a career in it, also see what they’re going into.

I’ll pretend a reader is in a situation where they start from, well, basically nothing.

That’s my problem here to solve and this book is my solution. It serves as an introduction towards education systems and examines multiple topics broadly.

Think of this book as the Blåhaj ([ˈblôːhaj] or “bloh-hi”) to your IKEA. It’s the companion covering the essentials, the marketing material to advertise the store, and what you can bring along with you as you explore the store (i.e. everything else related to education and education systems). From here, if you need to learn more about, or expand on, a topic, you’ll have a better idea which topic to further learn about insteading of floundering about. You’ll also gain more domain knowledge in education as a bonus.

  • Granted, I’m also going to be like IKEA and cater what products and services I provide, or have opinions about, on certain topics presented to you.
  • Or at least be the person that will speak to you frankly, filter through things, and attempt an honest assessment, which many powerful creatives should have.

An educator exists in many different forms. There’s the formal teacher many students are familiar with, but there are also teachers in unexpected places. Perhaps you’ve shown someone how to ride a bicycle, operate a piece of software, or help interpret a book passage. All those, and countless other examples, are taught by you as you assume the role of a teacher.

Because a educator exists in many different forms, they can come from many backgrounds. A data engineer may create a guide discussing ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load). A designer may touch upon Gestalt Principles and accessibility. An architect may explain why they use a 2x6 wall over a 2x4 wall on bathroom walls where the shower line is installed (hint: it’s easy for plumbing and weather-proofing).

Everyone can teach. If you can communicate a topic you know to another person, and they can understand it, you’re capable of teaching someone.

What The Book Isn’t

To get it out of the way: this book isn’t an advocate for any particular technology, tool, or platform, but I will mention what I personally found useful for myself occasionally. My intention is to present material here to be as tool-agnostic as possible.

Technology rapidly evolves; what could be used today may no longer be used 5 years in the future. The same goes for education systems as well; there can be sweeping changes within 5-10 years towards an existing system. There are some rare exceptions, such as the ongoing persistence and relevance of SQL in the data field, but they’re exceptions and not the norm.

I also do not expect this book to solve all problems related to education systems nor expect one single individual or organization to create such a system. It takes many kinds of people and groups in society working together. Even organizations, like NCEE, with 40+ years of research into education advocate collaboration and community efforts as essential to education systems. If you want an alternative perspective to this book, I would encourage you to read said 2024 findings from NCEE as one example.

This book is also what I’ll call a ground up approach. I feel this approach is the most accessible towards a general audience, which is why I take it. It examines from the school and classroom level, with references up to district and state level education systems. It doesn’t examine from a top down approach, starting from the national/sovereign level and drilling down.

Who Should Read This Book

I designed this book primarily for educators as well as designers and engineers working within or wanting to better understand education systems. It reflects the perspective of someone who taught across multiple educational contexts, including public and private schools serving affluent and poorer communities.

While many methods may apply beyond education, the focus is firmly on applications, potential and real, within educational systems. When examples from other fields, or even lengthy descriptions about non-education fields appear, my intention is telling you how I can see these outside perspectives, practices, and ideas may improve education.

Overall, the goal is to be at least somewhat useful to anyone involved or curious about education and delivering education, regardless of format or setting. As with any work focused on a specific domain, some concepts may translate more directly than others based on the specific situation and content.

Prerequisites

I’m assuming some familiarity with the United States education system, whether it was as a student going through it, a parent with children learning in it, or someone who was curious about how it works in general. Beyond that, you do not require a special background to implement advice and strategies discussed here.

Despite my saying that, I shall bring up concepts more familiar to readers with higher math and science backgrounds. I may also bring in technical terminology you have never seen before. I’ll do my best to explain in the text if it is reasonable (and short enough) to do so, but will otherwise link out or redirect you to more comprehensive resources. Outside of this book, there are many free and open-source resources, such as code repositories, websites, YouTube videos, and so on.

If you have no familiarity at all with education systems, my suggestion to you is to read through this book, take note of the high-level ideas, and look into additional resources when appropriate. You are free, and encouraged, to look up information as you get stuck or confused to fill gaps in your understanding. Education and research is exploring many sources of knowledge afterall!

What You’ll Learn

You may learn a lot of things, but I’d say the following are the most likely takeaways:

  • A high-level overview of various parts involved in creating, operating, and maintaining any education systems
  • Management techniques to handle subordinates, employees, students, and clients within education settings and outside of them
  • Basic data analysis (catered towards education-specific cases) and the type of math you may need to fully interpret research towards education
  • Deciding what materials to use for creating a curriculum
  • How to communicate with people and relations between them (from a educator’s perspective)
  • A framework to design learning for virtually any type of content
  • What other tasks are involved in maintaining education systems
  • How you might keep yourself healthy and manage the chaos of an education system as an employee
  • A high-level overview of finances and how they may affect educational processes and outcomes
  • The implementation of technology, automation, and artificial intelligence as it relates to learning, education, and designing education systems
  • How some aspects and information from other fields relates to and applies to education
  • Surviving the first year as an educator with an action plan to assist setting up.

Conventions and Assumptions

This book is intended for educational and informational purposes. I will periodically explore legal, medical, and financial topics, but under NO circumstances should you assume I am giving you legal, medical, and/or financial advice.

Chapters are split apart by “general domain” and where I feel the information best fits. For example, Gestalt Principles would fit into a design chapter while extensive details about HIPAA better fits into a legality chapter.

Some statements and information may not be independently verifiable because they rely on internal evidence like grades, timelines, surveys, and more. Please understand there’s a significant amount of information related to education I cannot openly share legally and perform methods such as omitting personal identifying information for compliance. Many “results” are based on direct observation and estimations rather than controlled observations. It’s hard to do data collection while teaching simultaneously. - Additionally, student data may introduce two types of bias from non-probability sampling: voluntary response and convenience.

If you’re in education or an educator, I’ll assume you’re at least dealing with reasonable students capable of completing assigned work. While disabilities are considered, only up to minor to moderate disabilities and accommodations will be covered. Any frameworks and systems written here are primarily designed for technical subjects (math, engineering, science, etc.), but can apply to other fields with some minor adjustments.

Sources used are listed and divided into each chapter’s respective bibliography. Sources are directly cited if I’m quoting challengeable text, numbers, figures, etc. or linking directly to text to explain a point. There may be indirect citations if I can cite, in-text, a link directly to the source(s) for reference or further reading. (e.g. “Here’s a blank hyperlink showcasing X idea(s).” and “Here’s an idea (Further Reading)”)

In the event of references to any products or tools, they are included because I found them useful in writing this book, better explain a point I would write about anyway, and/or were useful for when I taught.

Why Make This Free?

If you’ve ever been in education and had to pay out-of-pocket, with your own money, for education supplies, you’ll understand why.

If you haven’t, think about it this way. I don’t want to deny you access to information purely due to financial blockers. As long as you have a means to connect to the Internet and read web pages, you can read this.

Though I list this book under a CC-BY license, due to certain content I reference for topics here, I hope you don’t try and make a profit off this. I won’t be angry if you do; just disappointed.

As for an ulterior motive? It’s a good talking point at least and it fits on a resume if needed. I don’t have to flaunt about the book like a marketing campaign, but whenever education comes up I’ll at least know more than the average bear.

You’ll soon know more than the average bear too. 😃

Bibliography

  1. National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE). (2024). Blueprint: Designing Systems That Work. (2024). National Center on Education and the Economy. 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 5300, Washington, DC 20006. Tel: 202-379-1800; Fax: 202-293-1560; e-mail: info@ncee.org; http://www.ncee.org. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED671660

Next Chapter