The Future of Educa/on Insights from Discussions Building on an Ini4al Perspec4ve by: Prof. Sugata Mitra | University of Newcastle

Context The ini4al perspec4ve on the Future of Wealth kicked o the

Future Agenda 2.0 global discussions taking place through 2015. This summary builds on the ini4al view and is updated as we progress

Ini4al Perspec4ves Q4 2014

Global Discussions Q1/2 2015

Insight Synthesis Q3 2015

Sharing Output Q4 2015

Educa/on Systems are Obsolete The educa4on systems in almost all countries are obsolete having been designed for a world that has changed we need to reinvent educa4on to prepare todays students for the jobs of the future.

The End of the 3 Rs Machines will make reading, wri4ng and arithme4c, the three

pillars of primary educa4on, redundant. Knowing will be obsolete because informa4on will be forever at our nger4ps.

Delivering Educa/on for All How do we enable people in remote loca4ons to

access high quality educa4on, what do we need to teach and how can we best deliver educa4on?

Self-Organised Learning By removing adult restric4ons on educa4on and providing children

with Internet access and on-line support and encouragement, children are able to self-organise and learn.

Learning to Learn Children thrive best when le^ alone to uncover knowledge, par4cularly when their imagina4on is charged with dicult ques4ons, and achieve more when they are encouraged and praised for their achievements.

Sparking the Imagina/on Profound changes to how children access vast informa4on are yielding new forms of peer-to-peer and individual-guided learning. We should use it to

spark the imagina4ons and build the mental muscles of children worldwide.

School in the Cloud In the networked age, we need schools, not structured like factories,

but like clouds. We know the way we will work in the future will change. Therefore the way we are educated and learn must change.

An Educa/on System For Our Time The system was designed to t the needs of the industrial revolu4on, we need an educa4on system t for the digital revolu4on. We need a curriculum of big ques4ons, examina4ons where children can talk, share and use the Internet.

Access to Knowledge The informa4on revolu4on has enabled a style of learning that was not possible before and educa4on systems need to evolve accordingly.

If this happens everything will be dierent.

Freedom to Learn In the future teachers will provide prompts, not answers, and then they

will step aside so students can teach themselves and one another. They will create ways for children to discover their passion.

Non-Linear Educa/on Paths Building on the success of online, open courses, there will be a rise in non-

linear educa4on paths. Success will be re-dened to include self-actualisa4on and micro-badging will gain credibility. Interna4onal benchmarks will emerge.

Unequal Access to Educa/on Inequali4es of access to educa4on and con4nuing commodica4on of learning lead to more stra4ed provision. Economic developments con4nue to benet the wealthy and connec4on to technology remains a key global challenge.

Parental Deni/ons of Success The inuence of parents remains core and, with the increased

commercialisa4on of educa4on and the new op4ons that result, parental inuence will keep alive the tension between teacher, parents and children.

Role of Educa/on Educa4on becomes more holis4c and increasingly focused on self-enrichment, responsible ci4zenship and decision-making with integrity. This broad focus guides systemic change in the curriculum, in assessment and in pedagogy.

The Role of Private Educa/on Reshaping educa4on in La4n America is focused on improving policies and changing aftudes towards learning. Integral within this is the role of private

educa4on in sefng standards that extend beyond just the wealthy.

Crea/ve Resilience We move from placing all the value on IQ to a system that values, EQ and learning from risk taking, innova4on and entrepreneurship. We will have

greater focus on developing resilience and wellbeing in students.

Sustaining Local Language and Culture In many regions Western inuence aects values, causing cultural instability at a na4onal level. In the struggle to keep tradi4ons, educa4on will play a key role in helping to preserve language and maintaining balance in the system.

Symbiosis of Educa/on and Industry There is a gap between the educa4on system and the workplace. As industry becomes more involved in learning, new models of skills development will

emerge leading to meaningful internship programmes for students.

Teachers as Coaches Future teachers will focus less on content transfer and more on facilita4ng good learning - coaching students to become beger thinkers and decision

makers is the priority: Many teachers status in society rises.

New Governance Models Educa4on strategy development shi^s from a centralised to a more

collabora4ve mul4-party process: Business, NGOs, students, parents and teachers provide advice to government on curriculum and learning approach.

Crea/ve Values Greater individualisa4on and a focus on boos4ng crea4vity will be

increasingly valued by the young - they will be comfortable with uncertainty, living by new values as well as becoming more adaptable and diverse.

Teacher-less Classrooms If we have driver-less cars then we can also have teacher-less classrooms:

As learning comes from mul4ple sources beyond the school, we reinvent the educa4on experience around project-based collabora4on and sharing.

Curated Informa/on Everything you will need to know will be available online, but it is going to be vital that there is a way of ltering and cura4ng this overwhelming wealth of informa4on in a way that is simple, intui4ve and valuable.

Standards of Learning The learning that takes place on a mobile device at the ins4ga4on of an inquisi4ve learner needs to have the same status as courses delivered in the tradi4onal learning environments of schools and universi4es.

Streaming Learning Learning content will emulate the model of music/media streaming: A

learner will be able to engage with valuable content as and when they need to without needing to subscribe to full courses or a full set of materials.

Paradigm ShiRs The ancient paradigm of a teacher-led learning approach - rows of iden4cal desks or chairs facing the same single point of reference at the front of the room - will be replaced by a more uid, collabora4ve pedagogical method.

Collabora/ve Networked Learning There will be a movement away from a top-down, broadcast approach

of learning to a hyper-collabora4ve global network consis4ng of learners, ins4tu4ons and content providers.

Personal Learning Networks Educators encourage their learners to source informa4on from their own Personal Learning Networks and to also ac4vely contribute themselves

to requests from other individuals within their communi4es.

Learning From The Crowd Embracing adap4ve learning and the crowd-sourced learning solu4ons radically changes the culture surrounding learning and promotes the shi^ from a top-down model to one of collabora4on and exchange.

Deep Distant Interac/ons Reliable, ubiquitous mobile communica4ons will enable deep and

eec4ve geographically-distant interac4ons where the online experience will be dicult to dieren4ate from face-to-face mee4ngs.

Mo/va/on to Learn The need to learn in order to compete in the global workplace will lead to increasing numbers of overseas students at established ins4tu4ons, while others choose integrated learning experiences over tradi4onal academia.

Breaking Boundaries The acceptance of opera4ng in a digital world may result in substan4ve shi^s that break down geographical, genera4onal and cultural boundaries. But this could poten4ally build new e-boundaries perhaps boundaries of access?

Learning to be Crea/ve Gamica4on helps the learning experience shi^ from a focus on avoiding failure to one that encourages learning from mistakes, recognises dierent

learning styles and abili4es and embraces problem solving.

Ability Benchmarks If c20th educa4on was about standardisa4on of levels of knowledge, then

the c21st is focused on ability and insight. In a world of MOOCS and knowledge credits from mul4ple plahorms, a key challenge is sefng the global reference.

Bridging the Digital Divide If access to connec4vity is the core driver of change for educa4on for some, what about those on the other side of the digital divide? Many focus on o-line learning evolve and support the development of the other billion.

Skilling Rather Than Teaching As most informa4on is available on the net, the need to prepare us for the

increasingly unstructured nature of work drives schools to become places for developing core skills emo4onal intelligence / leadership / cri4cal thinking.

The Hybrid Experience Learning increasingly takes place via a combina4on of physical spaces and

digital classrooms and ows seamlessly across both. Students use dierent parts of their brain as educa4on becomes much more experien4al.

Life Lessons There is rising recogni4on of the need to prepare students to become a valuable member of the community through teaching such issues

as empathy, ethics, handling failure and managing ambiguity.

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