Education Podcast: It's Their Career Path - Let Them Run It

Have you been asked, or asked yourself: “What is the future of education?” There is no one answer, but changes are happening in pockets all around us, from Kindergarten to PHD’s.

As KI's vp of education, I'm excited to continue a new education podcast, KI Furnishing Knowledge. Within each episode, we sit down with leaders and disruptors inside of education doing just that, to learn what they are building, why they are building it and who they are.

In this podcast episode, we speak with Jeff Bott, a division head at Buffalo Grove High School. As division head for the Career and Technical Education pathways, Jeff leads many initiatives related to new curriculum, education programs and classroom remodels. Jeff recently applied for, and his school was chosen to participate in KI's Ruckus Grant Program. The Ruckus Grant Program gave a number of K-12 and higher education institutions an adaptive, human-centered learning environment. Participants agreed to a six month controlled environment that isolated furniture in hopes of gaining more insight into the role of furniture in learning spaces.

Jeff and Buffalo Grove are setting the bar for progressive learning environments. A firm believer in letting kids chart their own way, he accepts failure, experimentation and innovation as crucial to success both in school and when choosing a career path. If you'd like to learn more about Jeff's background and what drives his educational pursuits, simply click below to listen to the full podcast. It is also available on iTunes.

Jeff Bott has been a dedicated high school educator for the last 17 years. He spent his first 12 years in the classroom teaching engineering and architecture. He now serves as a division head, overseeing the Career and Technical Education, Physical Education, Drivers Education, and Health Departments at Buffalo Grove High School. He has led and has been a part of many initiatives including the development of new curriculum, the creation of a new middle school STEM education program and multiple innovative classroom remodels. Buffalo Grove High School has gained both state and national recognition for these educational facilities.

As an educator, Jeff has received his district’s award for outstanding contributor to education and was a part of a teaching team that was awarded Illinois’ Technology Education Program of the Year. In his second year as an administrator, Bott was named the Principal’s Award winner. Jeff lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and four young children.

Are you an educator attending the Association for Learning Environments LearningSCAPES 2018? Set for November 1-4 in Chicago IL, I will be presenting an education workshop, as well as leading a tour of Buffalo Grove High School. I hope to see you there!