Education 2047 #Blog 06 (08 FEB 2021)
The title of this blog is inspired by 'Kodak moment' used to describe an occasion suitable for memorializing with a photograph.There was a time in history where uttering the phrase evoked an emotional sense of nostalgia. The Kodak moment also represents that short (and game-changing) time when executives fail to realize how consumers are changing and how markets will transform and head in new directions without them. Yes, Kodak- the giant of analogue photography fell to digital transformation that ironically grew in its own backyard and is now confined to case studies! Having gobbled up Kodak and giving many more Kodak moments in its ascendancy, digital transformation has taken over the world, touching almost every sphere of human lives and the march continues, amplified now by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In its most basic sense, digital transformation reflects the evolution of models, processes and supporting systems to democratization and also optimizing how organizations work. Anything that gets expressed in 0s and 1s gets democratized and Education too has to follow that path. That the academic cycles have survived the COVID-19 global pandemic, clearly points out deep ingress of Information Technology in the Education sector, now ripe for a COVID moment! Read on to know about the moment, but first some momentum to this blog through a bit of retrospection.
Our Education systems have persisted with transactions in knowledge at their core and more specifically, the universities have existed performing the role of repositories and generators of knowledge. The teachers have been there as transmitters of knowledge to equip graduates with knowledge and values who in turn should create value of out the resources and knowledge around, besides cohesive and tolerant communities; not to forget training more of their ilk to perpetuate the system. As intellectuals, teachers offer rational and timely criticism in areas of public policy, and social and economic life, and thus condition the civil society. Certifying the learners as holders of certain 'degree' of knowledge by offering them 'standardized and approximate courses of knowledge' has been another career building/ influencing role of universities. To put it succinctly, universities have been there as repository, transmitter and certifying body- on the academic front besides performing research and training functions (not touched in this blog).
The universities have sourced the human resource needed in the industrial society, for over the last two centuries, as a teacher-centered dispensation. To serve the growing demand for higher education, universities created their Continuing Education wings. In order to further increase the access, Distance Education emerged to reach the learners left out of the conventional education system and also those wanting to move upwards in their workplaces. With improvement and advancement in communication technology- tape recorders, video players, television etc supplemented their learning material. The emphasis was on pushing the material, closing the distance and empowering the learners but the Open & Distance Learning (ODL)- along with its variants and the conventional education remained two! Luckily then internet happened and ‘distance’ started liquidating further, with now learner and the knowledge, a touch apart!
Unfortunately, we still have conventional, open/ distance and online education as separate modes and regulated differently, even though the knowledge imparted through them is the same, leashed though it stands by the number of hours to be dedicated by a learner in different modes. Luckily the COVID 19 pandemic pushed the entire system to go online, creating a historic opportunity for 'integration' of Conventional, Open, Virtual, Internet-based & Distance Education into one. A COVID moment! The pandemic has shown us that academic attainments can be insulated from the mode and there can be just universities, shorn of adjectives giving the autonomous learner, an option not only to choose the mode, but also subjects and the medium; a convergence of what our Prime Minister foresees as Virtual Universities!
With knowledge repositories in their hold, teachers in their fold and academic records held as gold, a university has been a knowledge superpower to a learner who could learn only what the university had to offer and what its teachers could teach. Further, it examined the students in what it's teachers knew and not in anything beyond. This authority and supremacy has continued until the arrival of internet but a learner is now aces up, with knowledge of humanity before her/him on a screen fitting into the palm! Yes, the equation is tilting in favour of a hyper-connected digital learner. The digital transformation, if it gave a 'Kodak moment' to analogue photography, is now poised to give the same to Education too.
The internet has taken away the role of books completely and begun hurting the teachers too, leaving examination and certification in the hands of universities. But this too could be short-lived as focus and expectation of recruiters is shifting towards skills which are not congruent with degrees, a reason why we see rise of nano-degrees or micro-credentials. Interestingly, there are some changes, which universities are failing to note and respond to: decline in writing, note-taking, bookmarking, highlighting, sketching, doodling, map-making, creation of mnemonics, etc.; all suggestive of reducing need to commit information to memory and outsourcing memorization to devices/ machines. Even before the predicted obsolescence of universities sets in, there is an opportunity for them to postpone it by gearing up technologically- on content (multi-lingual), delivery (immersive MOOCs) and assessment (Artificial Intelligence) to suggest a few.
Universities should also grow up and prepare themselves for accepting answers in any language and in any format (written, audio, video, animation, 3D models, etc); embrace open-book examinations and stop proctored limited-hour examinations altogether; encourage peer-learning and peer-evaluation; incentivize teachers for good quality questions, and lastly, give up acknowledging academic failures (which are integral part of learning). Universities must evolve to tell a learner what he/she excels in and not issue a degree that tells what the learner is not good at. It may be argued that online doesn't support practical/ experiential learning, but haven't we pushed it to the sidelines by the emphasis given to theoretical knowledge and generous marks in practicals? I have made a case (in my earlier blog) for 7x24 labs, the ones that must remain open for students 7 hours a day and 24 days in a month at least, for honing psycho-motor skills.
Peter Diamandis, the founder of Singularity University says “As education becomes dematerialized, demonetized and democratized, every man, woman, and child on the planet will be able to reap the benefits of knowledge. We’re rapidly heading toward a world of education abundance.” Should then, in the era of education abundance, the universities not universalize higher-education through their virtual avatar and administer online courses than admit learners selectively? Integration of all modes into Virtual and position it as mainstream, should dim the din on enrollment and increase focus on gross empowerment for access to- anyone, anytime, anywhere & in any language. With digital learners there now having free access to knowledge, it befits universities to not just teach for enhancing knowledge and examine learners on it but also on abilities and skills, to turn out well-rounded graduates. Universities, need to get ready for the 'COVID moment' to live on, than face a 'Kodak moment' to freeze.
P.S. TIFAC had mooted the idea of Virtual University in 2004 and demonstrated in the Meet of TIFAC-Centres Of Relevance & Excellence (COREs) in Surat, but it didn't take off because institutions then weren't comfortable with credit transfer now being pushed by the NEP. The idea figured again in its Technology Roadmap for Education 2035) released in Nov 2017
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Author is an Adviser with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on deputation from Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC).
Views are personal.
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Previous blogs
Reimagining Engineering Education for 'Techcelerating' Times
Uprighting STEM Education with 7x24 Labs
Dismantling Macaulay's Schools with 'Online' Support
Moving Towards Education Without Examinations
Disruptive Technologies in Education and Challenges in its Governance
Technology Roadmap for Education 2035 by TIFAC (Highlights)
Synallagmatic Industry-Academia Linkages