22/03/2021 How Education Can Prepare You for the Future

Individual education concept or individualized learning plan symbol as a group of mortar hats or graduation caps ying in the air and a single graduate hat ying

alonev in the opposite direction

APRIL 25, 2017

Presenters: Michael Bodekaer, Founder of Labster

Manu Kapur, Professor of Learning Sciences and Higher Education, ETH Zurich
Carol O’Donnell, Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, Smithsonian Institution
Saul Garlick, Founder and CEO, Unleesh
Moderator: Chris Luebkeman, Arup Fellow and Global Director of Arup Foresight

Just as education has been in a constant state of transformation since the dawn of learning, education will
continue to transform in the new era of technology. While we don’t know what the future of education will
look like in 2050 or how exactly it will change from our current system, we do know that concepts such as
creativity, critical thinking, and productive failure need to be taught to student to prepare them for this
future of uncertainty. With new and emerging technologies such as virtual simulations and emulations,
however, educational institutions are being given opportunities to guide this educational revolution
through new methods of teaching and learning. Ultimately, with the help of this technology, educators will
be able to teach students the necessary skills needed to tackle a future of uncertainty.

Productive failure is the key to success. By inducing failure in students in controlled safe environments,
teachers are able to prepare students for future failures, how to successfully navigate past them, and
ultimately avoid them altogether when it matters most.

Productive failure induces deep learning. Studies show that a er a student has failed at a particular task,
skills such as creative problem solving and conceptual learning kick in that increases understanding of the
overall task as well as enhances the student’s critical thinking skills.

Productive failure is not a new teaching method – it is a culture. Rather than directly teaching students
how to fail, productive failure focuses on creating a safe environment where students can understand failure
initially in order to reduce the chance of failure in the real world later.

Virtual simulations are being developed to teach productive failure. Unlike the perils of real world failure,
virtual simulations create an environment that is both safe and induces fast failure for faster learning.

“You learn by failing forward.” – Saul Garlick

Education faces several challenges moving forward. With the advent of technology and new theories of
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/education-can-prepare-future 2/4
22/03/2021 How Education Can Prepare You for the Future

learning, it is becoming increasingly apparent that current modes of education are in dire need of change.

Education needs to prepare students for an uncertain future. Despite the fact that 30 years ago it was easier
to pick a career from a few set paths, the students of today’s world are now subject to a job landscape that
changes almost daily. erefore, it is crucial that students be taught skills such as problem solving, critical
thinking, communication and collaboration in order to prepare them for the unknown future.

Education needs to be switched from application mode to design mode. In today’s education system,
students are taught to apply their knowledge immediately to classroom problems as soon as they have a
grasp of the material. However, education needs to focus more on a design mode where students are
constantly engaged in what they are learning.

Schools need to teach skills, not content. With technologies such as the Internet, students now have more
access to information than ever before. erefore, it is crucial for teaching methods to switch from teaching
students what to learn and instead teach them how to learn and think.

Teachers need to facilitate, not just educate. Escuela Nueva, a foundation in Colombia, focuses on
personalized and collaborative learning by placing students in a Montessori-style setting and allowing them
to learn from each other through learning guides with real life example problems and potential solutions.

Technology will lead to more personalized forms learning.

e biggest opportunity technology will a ord humans is capturing human experiences. While skills such
as collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving are inherently human, education systems seem to
continuously fail at teaching these skills. With emerging technologies, however, machines will be able to
observe data sets from both the general population as well as individuals, thereby creating a personalized
learning experience.

Emerging technology will be able to learn how you learn. With machines becoming increasingly closer to
understanding human patterns to learning, there will soon be technology that can monitor and explain
individual learning methods and thereby know how to induce moments of insight with more frequency.

Technology will not overtake education, but simply augment it. While technology will undoubtedly
revolutionize education, learning will most likely remain hands-on and human-centered with technology
being used as an augmentation device instead a replacement for education as so many fear.

Machine learning and big data will allow us to create theories of the particular. With current models of
psychology de ning learning and cognition in terms of averages – the average individual, average
population, etc. – machine learning will become so personalized that learning and cognition will become a
https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/education-can-prepare-future 3/4
22/03/2021 How Education Can Prepare You for the Future

theory of the particular.

“What machine learning and big data will allow us to do is to create theories of the particular.” – Manu
Kapur

You can prepare for the future starting today. While the future is uncertain, you can start preparing for it
by following these simple tasks:

Gain a learner mindset. Make sure to focus on what you’re interested in and allocate time for constant
learning.

Question belief systems. As high school students enter college, they begin to solidify their beliefs in ideals
and how the world works However, these ideals are culturally-bound and are constraints on potential
opportunities, so make sure to constantly challenge your own belief systems.

Pay attention to so skills. While hard skills may land you a job, if you don’t have the right so skills –
collaboration, communication, accepting failure, and not being afraid to question things – you won’t last
long in the world of work.

Travel widely and live around the world. Nothing gives you an education like travelling the world, and the
world needs you just as much as you need it.

Never lose your inner child. Qualities such as inventiveness, creativity, play, and learning new things are all
things we have naturally as children. Interestingly, these are the same skills that you will need as an adult to
be successful.

To read or download the rest of the essays from this special report on the Future of Work and Education,
download our free app on your favorite device (iStore, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle) or click to view
the Digital Edition.

About Winona Roylance:

Winona Roylance is Diplomatic Courier's senior correspondent in Asia and a senior contributing
editor.
e views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.

https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/education-can-prepare-future 4/4