The future of education: Lessons in uncertainty

During this interesting 1 hour session about the future of education, I learned this:

• From minute 8: With many changes happening around us, it becomes increasingly important that each one of us learns continuously throughout our lives.

• Minute 10: Where as every other area of business and industry has changed, the way education is being done has largely remained unchanged. That needs to change.

• From minute 11: Mathematics, reading / writing / speaking in different languages including English, and thinking creatively are among key  skills everyone needs.

• Minute 25: We need to bring students closer to companies, for example through internships / apprenticeships. That makes it possible to quickly match needs that people / customers / users / businesses have with skills people have as well as continuously develop relevant skills.

• Minute 27: We need to upgrade the status of work that is very valuable for people but low paid or unpaid.

• Minute 30: Two students from Hong Kong say they are being taught to do exams well. What is lacking, they say is, for example, to learn to think creatively / work innovatively and to be socially competent.

• Minute 33: We need to change the way teaching is done, for example by 1) encouraging more world class lecturers to do lectures on the Internet, and 2) encouraging mroe tutors / coaches to help students individually.

• Minute 42: We need to think really hard about the meaning / the purpose of education.

• Minute 42: One of the most important human skills is the ability to read something in the paper and spot a fallacious argument.

• Minute 44: People need to learn to believe that they have the fundamental human right to learn and to participate in the creation of knowledge.

• Minute 46: There are 60 million children who do not go to primary school. We need to change that, and we need to use all kinds of media to help everyone get access to education.

• Minute 50: In France, young people used to be able to start an apprenticeship only once a year, on September 1st. Fortunately, this has - just recently - been changed, so young people can start learning / working when they want.

• Minute 54: Students from Arlington in the USA say that coding and, in general, learning to use computers / work with technologies, should be required courses early in their education.

• Minute 59: Refugees need to be given access to the Internet as soon as possible, so they have the possibility to learn when they want.

Another possibility of bringing students closer to companies [minute 25] would be for people, who work for different companies, to use platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs to involve external people. For example, CEO's and other people employed by companies could write weekly blog postings and share what he / she / they are learning. Other possibilities of involving external people to learn and co-create with people employed by companies could be involve external people at hackathons and other events / meetups - both on the Internet and in a variety of physical locations.