Now is the time to hand students the compass to navigate a better world
By Stefanie Leong, Head of Development and Recognition, Asia Pacific, International Baccalaureate (IB)
As detailed by Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, in his book Whiplash: How to Survive Our Fast Future, in a digital society full of complexity and uncertainty what we need (and what our students require) are less maps and more compasses.
For Ito, a map implies pre-defined, unchanging knowledge of the terrain around us as well as the existence of a single best route or pathway. But in a world and workforce that is constantly changing, stable maps no longer apply. The compass, on the other hand, “is a far more flexible tool that requires the user to employ creativity and autonomy in discovering his or her own path.”
In 2020, this requirement for us all to be more adaptable, to think on our feet, and to be well-equipped to utilise the tools around us in the face of uncertainty, has never been more relevant.
For some time now we have been living in a rapidly accelerating digital world; and with the impact of COVID-19, the need for us to accept and incorporate technology into our everyday lives is more prominent than ever. From the smart devices in our pockets, to the endless streams on popular social media networks, we are now linked with one another and to all prior human data, information and knowledge in countless convergent ways. This situation has profound implications for our students.
If the digital age is about interactions and systems rather than static, stable objects and “things”, we must ensure how we learn, teach and assess the outcomes of education is reflective of this change. with them. In this new digital world, it no longer suffices for students to passively study pre-established unchanging content to be recalled or evidenced in archaic analogue formats. This isn’t education for a digital age, but a series of lost opportunities.
As educators, it is our calling to empower students to forge their own way through this data-immersed and media-rich landscape. Through their education, it is incumbent upon us as educators to give them the compass - the skills they need - to effectively navigate the fourth industrial revolution which is already upon us.
As we look ahead to the future of education, we must consider the requirements of the future workplace. Indeed, the successful workers of both today and of the future need to be flexible and mobile, and more skilled that ever before in adaptability, reflection and self-direction. The need for direct skills and knowledge is constantly diminishing; as we lose the ability to predict what the careers of the future will look like, it is in the development of inquiring, curious and critical learners that we will best serve the workforce of the future.
In our increasingly interconnected world, the importance of being able to communicate across cultural boundaries also comes to the fore. No longer are we limited to engaging with those inside of our local network; we have endless possibilities to connect with, to learn from, to trade between, and to develop relationships with individuals from all over the globe. We have an unmissable opportunity to build a global network of collaborators and colleagues, and, as such, international mindedness – a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility to its members – is a characteristic that has never been more critical to success. In our role as educators, we can help foster this mindset through a curriculum that combines local and global contexts and reflects international and multi-cultural perspectives. We can encourage language learning as a tool to overcome cultural boundaries. And we can foster global awareness by creating opportunities for students to explore their role and their understanding of global issues outside the classroom context.
At the International Baccalaureate (IB) we have been foregrounding the value of conceptually rich, holistic, creative and collaborative approaches to education for over 50 years. Through a unique curriculum with high academic standards, we champion critical thinking and flexibility for learning by crossing disciplinary, cultural and national boundaries. Currently, more than 1.8 million IB students attend 5,284 schools across 158 countries. Our internationally minded approach delivers learning through fostering empathy, neurolinguistic diversity and cultural respect. This learning methodology moves past knowledge transfer, to knowledge use, analysis and innovation.
While IB educators from across the globe have been working tirelessly over the past nine months to support their students with the unprecedented changes this pandemic has caused, at the IB we have been doing what we can to help our teachers face this mighty challenge with the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Ongoing professional development is, and always has been, a key part of being an IB educator, but the requirement for high-level learning when facing truly unprecedented circumstances has been crucial during this time of need.
While professional development is normally delivered through a mixture of regional and in-school face-to-face workshops, supported by online sessions, we have now adapted our training so it can all be delivered virtually and we have also introduced a series of additional webinars to address the new challenges our IB educators are facing. In addition, this year we will host the first-ever IB Virtual Conference, which will be the largest online gathering of educators and innovators across the world.
As IB Director General, Dr Siva Kumari, has said: “It is now in our hands to make the world better through education. Going back to the old ways would be a real waste of this crisis.”
Now is our opportunity to tear up the map book and explore new pathways of education. By giving our students their own toolkit of skills, their own compass in which to navigate, we can effectively prepare them to take on the unknowns of tomorrow as successful, global citizens, who are equipped to contribute to a better world.
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