Because education is often focused on attaining a narrowly defined job or role, the learner is left at a disadvantage if that job or role disappears, is automated away, or if she is not interested in the role for which she has prepared. If instead, a learner is charged to learn to ‘create value’ around a defined problem, the ability to do so will continue to be an asset until the problem is solved. The innovation of a problem-based approach to exploration is that it challenges people to connect their professional training, disciplinary knowledge and humanity to make a difference in the world in their own unique way.
The Realm of Possibility offers a new way for institutions to help students to actively explore based on a problem of concern or an inner imperative instead of focusing primarily on money, power, or prestige. Furthermore, it has the potential to reinvigorate the
spirit of exploration, entrepreneurship and innovation into a risk- averse generation. Schools can frame their curricula, not only as a set of courses, but as a way to understand a problem of concern from a variety of disciplinary perspectives so that they may be a part of the solution come graduation, and as they inherit society.
At the Realm of Possibility, we pioneered Problems & Challenge Career Networks, which unearth how individuals from different disciplines and professions come together to address important problems and challenges in the world. Access to these networks is stratified on education and race. We are committed to making this cultural capital more accessible to students who may not have had access to this information in their household or community, Collectively, Possibility Profiles offer an opportunity to help students think about perspectives they may never have imagined, and they help students to understand ways that their liberal arts education can be used to make the world a better place.