Reinventing schools for the digital age (2/2)

This paper is the second part of a post on the future of education. The first part highlighted a widening gap between the resources we devote to the education of our children and young adults, and their preparation for future work. Let’s now look at some emerging experiments…

The future of schooling: a digital tutor for everyone?

Thanks to the economies of scale made possible by digital technology, what was yesterday a privilege reserved for an elite – personalized teaching with a “tutor” who adapted the pace of learning to his pupil – could become democratized and indeed the norm in the primary and secondary school cycles. The student would have access to a vast range of tools to pick up from.

In the field of higher education, even if lectures will continue to exist, they could easily take the form of on-line videos: at present, more than 4,000 MOOCS, often given by the most prestigious university professors, are already available on-line, free of charge. As with all digital content, a ”long tail” economy will no doubt apply to this offering, with a few talented “stars” scooping the lion’s share of the prize. There is also no doubt however that lecture formats will also face fierce competition from serious games, applications which combine educational and entertainment aspects, for which the market is currently rapidly expanding.

Having said all this, it would be inconceivable for the student, of whatever age, to be left alone in front of their computer. On the contrary, emphasis will certainly be placed on group learning, most of the time with no adult supervision. Thanks to the ”hole in the wall” experiment by Sugata Mitra, we know that children are capable of self-organizing to reach a teaching objective with a computerized tool. It is by multiplying group learning, self-management and collaborative learning situations that we will be able to strengthen the soft skills of the students – these needs can only be addressed through actual practice, obviously not through theoretical teaching on listening, empathy or collaboration.

As for the role of the teacher, it will gradually become the high value-added role of tutor and facilitator, himself assisted by algorithms and tools utilizing artificial intelligence and big data. These tools could for example replace the teacher in answering “routine” questions from the students, concerning the content of the courses. Chatbots could take on a part of the role of the tutorial supervisor. In Georgia Tech university for example, Professor Ashok Goel recently carried out an astonishing experiment: he created a “robot” teaching assistant tasked with answering students’ questions. They did not even realize what was happening.

Automated data analysis could also help the teacher target and tailor his advice to the students. Some American universities have already developed tools to identify students most “at risk”, by combining socio-demographic criteria with their school results. The tools then issue targeted recommendations: modules to be taken, areas of knowledge to be strengthened, exercises to be done, etc. Among certain vulnerable populations, the exam success rate was boosted by a third. Along the same lines, we should mention the “MakerMatch” application that EM Lyon Business School developed for its students. On the basis of cognitive tests, the app enables them to identify their learning preferences; memorization techniques, logical sense, ability to work from texts, videos or audio documents. Each student can then adapt their teaching path according to their profile and collaborate more easily with their peers.

Test and learn to learn

So will the school become a crucible for these innovations? Or will it be too rigid to adapt to overwhelmingly rapid change? Will it be gradually deserted by families who have the means to do so? Will we see an “unbundling” of education? How can we enable the school system to remain in the race between technological innovation and educational innovation? The burning questions are what is the economic model of the education of tomorrow and what is the content we must teach our children in order to prepare them to become citizens and active and fully developed members of society.

We will no doubt need to discuss these subjects again at greater length but, for the time being, I would prefer to conclude with a recommendation rather than a hazardous forecast. This can be summed up in three words: experimentation, independence and sharing. What do we observe in complex organizational systems, such as large corporations or indeed an entire education system? We see that vision and drive from the top are essential, but are not in themselves sufficient to bring about the transformation. The battle is won in the field. It is in the field that the players must be motivated and supported to question what they are doing, through an appropriate mix of teaching methodology, incentives and training. They must then be given the freedom to test, assess the experiments, abandon those which fail or are too costly, learn lessons and disseminate and reproduce on a larger scale those which are successful.