Schools need to teach about tech, not just use it in lessons

Amid an AI revolution, we must reform lesson plans and retrain teachers to educate the young about technology and how to use it for good. (First published in South China Morning Post, 29 Sep 2024. Photo: Yik Yeung-man)

This month, OpenAI released a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that it says can reason like a person to solve complex problems. It will continue to improve. When the smartest “person” in the company is a robot, predicting future professional norms and practices becomes like writing science fiction.

While many rightfully worry about AI impacts on employment and equality, arguably the biggest transformations will be in education. A student entering the first grade today will emerge into a world of work that is almost unrecognisable. An educational revolution is needed.

Technology education is education about technology – what it is and how it is used to solve problems. It is not the same as education technology, which refers to the tools enabling students to learn.

Will future first-graders learn with holographic cartoon tutors? Maybe, but technology education has more to do with learning how holograms are made, and how they can be deployed for public good and regulated to prevent harm. All education stakeholders will benefit from technology education: teachers, parents, policymakers, future employers and students.

Students will rapidly adopt new technology skills. It’s what kids do. They did it with calculators in the 1980s, despite anxiety that they might fail to learn arithmetic.

Learning critical thinking skills will help children discern the truth in a world cluttered with synthetic media. Education in an era of information abundance, some would say overload, must cultivate discrimination, and asking questions to build understanding. Rote memorisation will be a distant memory.

What should be prioritised is systems thinking around technology, how it is developed, applied, financed and governed. Who benefits and who is at risk? Technology is a problem-solving tool, and we have many problems in society to solve, from climate change to inequality. Entertainment and convenience are not the goal, an implicit belief children must be disabused of at an early age.

It’s a lesson for parents, teachers and policymakers too. Critical thinking about the role of technology in society has been neglected in education, and society has paid the price. Educators must challenge the narrative tacitly taught by the big tech companies, who are not teachers, but are motivated foremost by commercial gain from business models premised on seduction, surveillance and monetisation of user data.

As technology is woven deeper into the fabric of society, the technology education curriculum should focus on social utility and its potential for social innovation. How technology supports societal resilience and quality of life are themes our team at The Global Institute For Tomorrow teach in executive learning programmes.

How do we put this at the heart of the technology education revolution Hong Kong needs? For students, the subject cannot be marginalised or left as an extracurricular pursuit. Technology is a multidisciplinary phenomenon to be integrated into physics, chemistry, social sciences and civic education.

Developing human skills is paramount, and too often overlooked. Empathy, communication, self-awareness and building relationships are needed as kids grow up with machines. The consequences of failing to develop these skills are underlined by distressing findings, published late last year, that 24.4 per cent of children and adolescents had experienced at least one mental health issue in the past year.

While not cited in the study, there is evidence that unfettered screen time and social media addiction are partly to blame. The social externalities of digital technology could be a chapter in a secondary school technology education psychology course.

Teachers must be at the front line of this revolution. They need to be upskilled with the mindset and instruction methods to prepare students for the future.

An uncomfortable truth is that teaching practices will need an overhaul to keep up with the times. The role of teachers is bound to evolve to become more like coaches enabling soft skills development according to individual student needs, supported by AI tools that do much of the hard skills teaching and relieve certain administrative burdens.

The government must lead the continuing education of teachers, which cannot be left to market forces, lest some schools get left behind. Parents will need support to understand the changing curriculum and role of teachers. Industry should support hands-on learning activities and future employers should provide input about emerging professional requirements.

Technology education can and should be rooted in the unique context and characteristics of Hong Kong. Students should learn to adopt a world view being part of China’s Greater Bay Area and the advantages conferred in technology career opportunities.

They need not all aspire to be technologists or start-up founders. It is paramount to redouble efforts to improve English-language skills, necessary to bridge the East and West and thereby leverage China’s technology assets in other regions.

Another shortcoming to be addressed with technology education is recognising that the world outside Hong Kong has vastly different technology needs. In neighbouring Southeast Asia and South Asia, producing sufficient food, providing electricity, securing health and managing megacities present opportunities for Hong Kong in its ambitions to be a leading centre of innovation and technology.

Like any revolution, ramping up technology education is a major undertaking, and not without challenges. How it will be funded is a key question. Yet the Hong Kong government’s commitment, to date, of over HK$100 billion to innovation and technology development suggests there is no shortage of resources.

The future will not wait. Hong Kong students deserve to be fully prepared.

Enroll in GIFT's Hong Kong Young Leaders Programme (HKYLP), from 18-23 Nov & 8-13 Dec

https://global-inst.com/projects/2024%20HKYLP%20Brochure.pdf

For an overview of the field project on "Reshaping Education for a Technology-enabled Future" click below:

https://www.global-inst.com/projects/2024%20HKYLP%20Project%20Supplement.pdf