Next Generation Education 4.0 Systems - Part 1

You may have already run across the terms Industry 4.0, Work 4.0, Health 4.0 … It's now time to start talking about emerging efforts to collaborate on designing and building next generation Education 4.0 solutions. This has become even more important given the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. is in the process of developing and implementing Education 3.0, which is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of ways we have been moving over the past decade to better integrate digital technologies into learning using web-based and mobile technologies. It involves moving away from classes and traditional lectures, focusing instead on interactive learning customized to needs of individual students. These efforts will continue well into the next decade.

Looking a bit further into the future, Education 4.0 is a term starting to be used to describe the systems that will be put into place by 2040 to complement and support the global shift to Manufacturing 4.0, Health 4.0, and other next generation advances in every industry and aspect of society. It is characterized by more advanced and innovative systems utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), invisible user interfaces (IUI), and the convergence of many other new technologies - coupled with 'open access' to knowledge, science, and other data resources.

Five Issues With ‘Traditional’ Schools Excerpts from “A Model for the Future of Education” Grading: In the traditional education system, you start at an “A,” and every time you get something wrong, your score gets lower and lower. It’s demotivating. In the online gaming world (e.g. Angry Birds), it’s just the opposite. You start with zero and every time you come up with something right, your score gets higher and higher. Sage on the Stage: Most classrooms have a teacher up in front of class lecturing to a classroom of students, half of whom are bored and half of whom are lost. The one-teacher-fits-all model comes from an era of scarcity where great teachers and schools were rare. Relevance: When I think back to elementary and secondary school, I realize how much of what I learned was never actually useful later in life, and how many of my critical lessons for success I had to pick up on my own. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t ever actually had to factor a polynomial in my adult life. Imagination vs. Coloring inside the Lines: With the factory-worker, industrial-era origin of today’s schools, programs are so structured with rote memorization that it squashes the originality from most children. In today’s world, we need to foster imagination and innovative ideas in our schools. Boring: If learning in school is a chore, boring, or emotionless, then the most important driver of human learning is disengaged. i.e. passion. Having our children memorize facts and figures, sit passively in class, and take mundane standardized tests completely defeats the purpose. An average of 7,200 students drop out of high school each day, totaling 1.3 million each year. Over 50 percent of these high school dropouts name 'boredom' as the number one reason they left.

New Technologies for 'Next Gen' Education Systems

The following is a brief brainstormed list of new technologies, educational needs, processes, projections, and predictions about the field of Education & Training in 2050. Some of the many slowly converging technologies will have a tremendous impact on the future of Education & Training in the coming decades include:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Augmented Reality Brain Interface Technologies Free & Open Source Software Free & Open Access Textbooks Implantable Systems Invisible User Interface (IUI) Language Translation Technology Multimedia Educational Materials Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

Mobile Technology & Apps Personal Learning Assistant Robotics Social Media Telepathy Televideo Virtual Reality Virtual Classrooms Wearable systems 3D Printing Technology

The question is, what attributes will be most critical for our children to learn in order to be successful in the future? We'll explore that further in Part 2 of this series. In the meantime, check out the following selected links.

Selected Links Building the Future of Schools 4.0  Education 4.0 - Learning and the 4th Industrial Revolution Education 4.0 Images Education 4.0 Videos Education & Training in 2050 Forecast 4.0 – Education & KnowledgeWorks Higher Education 4.0 – Trends and Future Stanford 2025