Meet Jeff Schneider, Teaching & Learning Innovator (Digital Desperado)

Jeff Schneider, affectionately known as Slim, shared his extensive background in education, including his 31-year career as a teacher, administrator, and coach, including experiences in both small rural schools in South Dakota and now in large urban/suburban school districts in Ohio. While in South Dakota, he was approached to attend a workshop on teaching methods, which led to his discovery of PAST and TPBL (transdisciplinary problem-based learning).

Prior to this workshop, he thought he had education all figured out with his comprehensive binder full of curriculum, lesson plans, and worksheets. With all of these resources, he was prepared to begin his teaching career in a predictable, replicable manner– teaching students the way he was taught. PAST changed ALL of that!

Jeff and his colleague Mary (also his wife) attended a 40-hour workshop on TPBL conducted by PAST – “which completely transformed their teaching approaches.” As a result, they decided to team-teach their English and science classes by developing a Bio-English course, thereby throwing out all of the rules for traditional teaching. However, clinging to their roots, they did laminate their work to prevent further changes!

In reflecting on the TPBL model’s success, Jeff shared his takeaways. “My passion for teaching and my role at PAST lies in the joy I feel when I witness students and teachers as they gain new insights and skills.” He shared that he particularly enjoys mentoring younger teachers (including staff members at PAST), by providing them with opportunities to lead and learn from experienced educators. He gets particularly jazzed when it involves integrating technology, especially AI, into education, which helps teachers embrace new concepts and adapt to evolving standards, better connecting them to their students.

Jeff elaborated on the growing importance of AI in education. “By 2027, 80% of global companies will use some form of AI, making AI literacy a crucial skill for students. Now that is quite a shift from where we are today!” He continued by emphasizing the need for teachers to incorporate AI into the curriculum, while also encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills. However, he warns, “While AI can be a valuable tool for generating ideas, relying solely on it is unacceptable. Individual thought and creativity remain essential— especially as students face a rapidly changing world shaped by the gig economy, frequent job transitions, and the complexities of social media management. We must prepare students to navigate and adapt to this accelerating pace of change.”

When asked about his future plans, Jeff would like to conduct more professional development sessions, particularly on ‘AI in the Classroom’. He would also like to develop more online offerings and collaborate with his education colleagues at PAST as well as across the nation. Our current education system, which has essentially remained unchanged for 150 years, must change to better meet the needs of students and teachers today.

Jeff shared his personal experience as a teacher and emphasized the importance of student agency in modern classrooms, noting that the traditional control teachers had over students is no longer effective. “Our education system needs to adapt to the current era, particularly as we enter the 5th Industrial Revolution, and teachers, administrators, and parents are starting to realize that this change is long overdue.”

In closing, Jeff shared this insight. “Teachers can integrate new educational technologies without letting them complicate their lives, rather, it should be an addition rather than a replacement of existing tasks.” Spoken like a true “Digital Desperado!”