Techfestival 2018: Technology is already changing education, but will it manage to change our mindsets?

According to Oxford University, 47% of jobs will disappear within 25 years.  So, what should children learn to ensure they have a job when they grow up?

This question pops up in talks about education and technology at events such as TechFestival Copenhagen (5-8 September 2018). Educators, experts, parents and entrepreneurs increasingly talk about “21st-century skills” — the skills needed in daily life in the future. In short, they are known as the 4Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking.

Are traditional schools ready to teach our kids these principles? To offer personalized learning and a student-centric approach? To switch between highly individualized instruction and project-based learning, all with the help of technology?

Not yet, as evidenced in the “Education and Technology” Summit. For now, “21st-century skills” are not learned in traditional schools.

However, at “Hack your future,” a code school in Copenhagen for refugees, 40 volunteer developers teach the fundamentals of web-development in a 6-month program and guide students towards employment via their network.

And, in the Berlin-based School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe, founder Rachel Uwa and former students are imagining what education could look like in the future. Using technology, they try to solve, in a personal and engaged way, very human issues such as sexual harassment, trash, trust, loneliness and love. The participants experience hands-on learning by working on their ideas and projects in areas such as art, technology, design, and human connection. They also learn practical skills like how to code, work with electronics, and use digital fabrication tools while exploring concepts, narrative, and play. The only admission requirements are to be curious and inquisitive, kind, creative and to enjoy helping others and sharing knowledge.

Are parents and teachers ready to accept this as educational?

Change is taking place in traditional schools all around the world, albeit not as fast or bold as with individual initiatives. Teachers can no longer ignore the fact that technology is an essential part of their students’ lives.

Svenia Busson is an entrepreneur and explorer in the Education Innovation field who has traveled to 15 countries for her research project – Edtech Tours. In the report resulted from her research, she shares experiences, success stories and best practices from around the world regarding the use of educational technology.

Although learning is deeply linked to a country’s culture, we can all extract something from the best practices she gathered: creating innovation cells within schools to involve teachers in the process (Australia), building communities around Edtech using the power of media – Edsurge (USA), an innovative pedagogy called the ‘Learn, Create, Share’ Framework (New Zealand) and transforming school in a co-working place while moving the learning experience out of the building (Finland).

After reading “Edtech 2016: Global Perspectives, Local insights,” available to download on their website, I was curious to find the most efficient way of generating change in educational systems.

“In the successful school transformations, I witnessed across the globe, it was in most cases due to the impulse of a visionary school leader. But a school leader alone, cannot achieve much if he can’t convince his staff (teachers) and parents. I strongly believe in this approach, the inspiration and the motivation for change needs to come from the school leader but then, teachers need to be part of the change process or they won’t adopt it. Parents can sometimes hinder the change process because they are scared of unknown new methods and prefer to reproduce the system they were in, like kids.” Svenia said.

The school of the future involves the use of technology as a tool to facilitate learning and teaching.

However, technology comes with risks. I asked Svenia what she thinks about cybersecurity education for kids:

“It is of utmost importance! Bringing Edtech into schools should mean teaching kids about tech too! They need to understand how tech works, that everything on the internet isn’t true, that they need to verify their sources, that they can’t use any images they find online etc. But also learn about online safety, cyberbullying, and the ethical use of digital resources! We also need to teach them how to be secure on the internet: they need to understand that it can be dangerous to reveal themselves on social media etc.”

In the end, tech teaches us about humanity. Whether we resist or embrace it, it will change concepts such as school, students and learning. Contrary to notions of teachers being replaced by AI, they will be more important than ever to guide and keep children safe.