"schools and universities will not exist in 50 years". discuss

“Schools and universities will not exist in 50

years”. Discuss

Colin HarrisonUniversity of NottinghamSchool of Education/Learning Sciences Research Institute

colin.harrison@nottingham.ac.uk

Google the phrase: “… will not exist in 50 years”

Google the phrase: “… will not exist in 50 years”

– The USA– Europe– Israel– The Church

Google: “… will not exist in 50 years”

– The USA– Europe– Israel– The Church

Roger Schank: “Fifty years from now, school as we know it will have atrophied from lack of interest.”

Google: “… will not exist in 50 years”

Roger Schank: “Fifty years from now, school as we know it will have atrophied from lack of interest.”

David Gelernter: “95 percent of the world’s universities will be dead in fifty years.”

Roger Schank: ““Fifty years from now, school as we know it will have atrophied from lack of interest. Education in such a society will be a matter of what virtual (and later real) worlds you have entered and how much you have learned to do in those worlds.”

- How we teach is fundamentally wrong- Most maths is unimportant- History is mostly fiction, and in any event it’s irrelevant- Cultural identity is ‘an interesting issue’, but it shouldn’t be

taught through literature- Science is important, but in school we teach children only to hate

science….

Roger Schank: ““Fifty years from now, school as we know it will have atrophied from lack of interest. Education in such a society will be a matter of what virtual (and later real) worlds you have entered and how much you have learned to do in those worlds.” - How we teach is fundamentally wrong- Most maths is unimportant- History is mostly fiction, and in any event it’s irrelevant- Cultural identity is ‘an interesting issue’, but it shouldn’t be

taught through literature- Science is important, but in school we teach children only to

hate science….- “… and the same arguments apply to college of course.”- “The fact is that college is pretty much wasted on 18-year-old

students”

What should we be doing instead?

Teaching planningTeaching communicationTeaching the skills of diagnosisTeaching judgmentTeaching predictionTeaching experimentation

What should universities be doing instead?…in 50 years– “…there will still be Harvard”– Virtual universities will replace most universities– ‘Just in time learning’– Most students will start college earlier than 18– Degrees and certificates will be less important– Classes will be available to everyone

What will happen to the authority of knowledge?

• Caveat homo doctrinae studiosus

What will happen to the authority of knowledge?

• Caveat homo doctrinae studiosus• Scientific Articles Accepted (Personal Checks,

Too)• Here’s a link to 187 pay-for-publication open-

access journals: http://scholarlyoa.com/individual-journals/

“Schools and universities will not exist in 50

years”. Discuss

Colin HarrisonUniversity of NottinghamSchool of Education/Learning Sciences Research Institute

colin.harrison@nottingham.ac.uk