World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students - Paperback

by Yong Zhao (Author)

Prepare your students for the globalized world!

In the new global economy, the jobs that exist now might not exist by the time today′s students enter the workplace. To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourceful, flexible, creative, and global.

Researcher and Professor Yong Zhao unlocks the secrets to cultivating independent thinkers who are willing and able to use their learning differently to create jobs and contribute positively to the globalized society. World Class Learners presents concepts that teachers, administrators and even parents can implement immediately, including how to:

• Understand the entrepreneurial spirit and harness it
• Foster student autonomy and leadership
• Champion inventive learners with necessary resources
• Develop global partners and resources

With the liberty to make meaningful decisions and explore nontraditional learning opportunities, today′s students will develop into tomorrow′s global entrepreneurs.

"In this important book, Yong Zhao demonstrates persuasively that the race for higher test scores is harmful to our society. What is needed most now, he reminds us, is freedom to think, freedom to invent, and freedom to differ from bureaucratically devised norms."
--Diane Ravitch, Author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System

"In his latest book, Yong Zhao forcefully challenges us to focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. Zhao has established himself as one of the most compelling voices in 21st century education. He is not an education reformer, trying to improve our performance within the old system. He is truly an education transformer, trying to articulate the outcomes that will matter most to our 21st century students."
--Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21
Founding President of Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Author Biography

Yong Zhao is the Presidential Chair of Global Education and Online Learning at the University of Oregon, where he also serves as the Associate Dean for Global Education and Online Learning and the Director of Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE). He is also a full professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership (EMPL). He is a fellow of the International Academy for Education.

Before joining in the University of Oregon, Zhao was previously University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the Confucius Institute, as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence.

Zhao has published over 20 books and 100 articles. His most recent book is Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. He has also developed computer software, including the award-winning New Chengo/ZON (http: //enterzon.com), the world′s first massively multi-player online role-playing game for studying Chinese.

Zhao is an internally known education expert. He has been invited to speak on educational issues in nearly 20 countries on six continents over 400 times over the past three years. He has been interviewed as an education expert on global education issues by international media outlets such as USA Today, The New York Times, NPR, China Xinhua News Agency, The Times Education Supplement, and Voice of America. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Education Week, Educational Leadership, and The Kappan. He maintains an active blog with a large audience at http: //zhaolearning.com. One of his blog posts received over 10,000 views within a week of posting.

Zhao was born in China′s Sichuan Province. He received his B.A. in English Language Education from Sichuan Institute of Foreign Languages in Chongqing, China in 1986. After teaching English in China for six years, he came to Linfield College as a visiting scholar in 1992. He then began his graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993. He received his A.M. in Education in 1994 and Ph.D. in 1996. He joined the faculty at MSU in 1996 after working as the Language Center Coordinator at Willamette University and a language specialist at Hamilton College.