Disrupting Education
Digitization is the main characteristic of our society’s rapid transformation. Digital technologies are everywhere and they’re evolving faster and bringing many exciting opportunities but also challenges. This development calls for changes not only in businesses, as I have already discussed in my previous articles, but it also calls for change in one of the most important aspects of our lives: Education.
Education possibly cries for change louder than any other sector. When I look at my children’s education I sometimes wonder how they will be able to tackle the digital future when most of their school education is still happening on blackboards. I am not saying that blackboards are generally not a good tool to use – but it cannot be the only one anymore. There has to be a new way of thinking just as we need it in any other sector today. What has worked in the past 50-100 years will not necessarily have the same impact today. With technology advancing so rapidly, the world is changing faster and faster. And since our children’s education is the basis for their own, and for our society’s future, we need to make sure that they are ready for what’s to come.
Technical Requirements and IT-Skills in German Schools
Modern equipment as well as fast and (possibly) wireless internet access are necessary technical requirements when teaching IT or digital media skills. Without a computer, you simply cannot teach computer-connected topics practically. Children need to try out what they learn theoretically. There are some numbers out there that could raise the question: Are we moving backwards? According to an annual study ?Schule Digital“ by the Telekom-Stiftung in Germany neither the access to Wi-Fi in schools is up to modern standards nor the accessibility of PCs or notebooks. In international comparison we are just mediocre. When it comes to Wi-Fi Access only 34 percent of teaching staff states that there is availability in their classrooms – and apparently the number has decreased from 2015 to 2016.
The basic education of students when it comes to computer science – as in basic knowledge of how information is processed by computers – is only being promoted by one in seven teachers (14.8 percent). Another figure that is hard to grasp when everybody is talking about digitization in the real world. And it also doesn’t come as a surprise that it is mostly younger teachers that are delivering the message through digital channels. It surely is a difficult and most of all costly process to modernize the school system but the fact that we are steering towards a digital future should be reason enough to invest …and modernize.
Customization of Curriculum
?And there is another need for change, maybe even more pressing than “just” the technical advancement. The world has changed and it has changed faster than our education system. The way we teach our children is based on a system that has been developed more than a century ago and it has only slightly changed since then. But times were different a hundred years ago. Children were and still are put into a classroom and have to follow a fix curriculum. If they are not good enough, they repeat a class or two…and then? There are different models of schooling for children with different let me call them “intelligence”- factors and kids are automatically being labeled by what school they attend. Still, whatever category you are being matched with, you follow a very “one-fits-all” education. There is no room for flexibility. Now: Is this 21st century compatible? Shouldn’t we rather recognize that children are individuals with different talents and dreams? And shouldn’t we also recognize that not all children learn in the same way. Shouldn’t we then move away from this stiff and inflexible system and develop a new one that is based on customization? Of course, the essential skills and the basic knowledge should remain but there still should be enough room that allows young people to develop their own particular talent?
Flexibility being a key word as we talk a lot about flexibility when it comes to digitization. Isn’t flexibility a skill that children should learn as early as possible? We should definitely support young people in discovering what they are good at and what they enjoy doing. They should be able to find out what they want to do in their lives while learning. At the same time we should also support teachers and schools in responding to these different needs. Young people will learn if they see learning as important and meaningful. And they should be able to do so at their own pace – at least to some extent.
Education does not end with graduation
When children graduate from high school they are not done with their education. There are, of course, different models in different countries but basically the decision for graduates is the same all over the world: What am I going to do with my life? What am I going to do next? At the age of 17-19 it is safe to say that most adolescents don’t know what they want to do. They either study or start working right away. School does not prepare them for these questions in life. School gives them a theoretic basis on which they can build their future on.
After graduation it is up to everyone themselves what they want to do and how they want to further educate themselves. Or not. While school education is (still) pretty rigid, post-grad education can be very flexible and variable. One sector has actually excelled in popularity: the sector of MOOCs. They originally began as digital content platforms that allowed audiences worldwide to learn. Everybody can now attend these classes from anywhere in the world and at any time and pace. And this is a learning that comes along with digitization – education becomes a service that allows students to further educate themselves in a way that fits their daily schedule.
Disrupt education for a digital future
Education needs to change. If we continue with the same type of learning we will continue to get the same old results. Because one thing is clear: digitization is moving forward. And it will require new skills and a new basis in education. Our schools need to prepare our children on what is to come – technically but also in knowledge and the right skill set. Learning about how digital processes or coding works can be only partially explained on a blackboard. To really learn how it works children need to code by themselves and try the programs in order to find out if it works or where they have to correct it. It is similar to learning a language. Theoretically, you can learn a language in a school room. But you only really learn a language, its meaning, its sound, when speaking to people in that particular language.
The time is definitely here to make the necessary changes in our education system. We need to think differently. We need to learn differently.
Bottom line: Education is key to successful digitization. Let’s disrupt it and create a new system!