Two articles in The Economist provide an overview of the major upheaval underway in education.
The lead article is E-ducation. The in-depth article is Catching on at last.
The articles cover much of what is going on the education world. I’ve tried to touch on those issues on this blog.
Check out the two articles for better explained, more in-depth descriptions.
Here is a recap of several of the major trends, from the lead article. I’ve split two very long sentences into key ideas:
..At its heart is the idea of moving from “one-size-fits-all” education to a more personalised approach,
..with technology allowing each child to be taught at a different speed, in some cases by adaptive computer programs,
..in others by “superstar” lecturers of one sort or another,
..while the job of classroom teachers moves from orator to coach:
..giving individual attention to children identified by the gizmos as needing targeted help.
Many of the changes come together in one core idea:
In theory the classroom will be “flipped”, so that more basic information is supplied at home via screens, while class time is spent embedding, refining and testing that knowledge (in the same way that homework does now, but more effectively).
Again, from the lead article, here is a recap of the key technologies in play:
..high-speed mobile networks,
..cheap tablet devices,
..the ability to process huge amounts of data cheaply,
..sophisticated online gaming and
..adaptive-learning software.
This rolls together into a key component:
..new interactive digital textbooks with built-in continuous performance assessment [that] can change in real time
For more detail, check out the two articles above. The detail article expands on each of the individual components summarized in the lead article.