What is the 4th industrial revolution
Though there are various cities, regions or countries who have very good literacy rate but at the same time, some of these nations are not innovative, but some might have very low literacy rate, but those will low might be innovative. The reason is that we have been mixing skills and knowledge with literacy which means a literate person is not necessarily educated. Another problem is that generally and traditionally we have been working hard to get the piece of paper (a degree or a certificate) but we have forgotten that gaining knowledge and developing skill is more important than just earning a certificate by memorizing books.
We are living in a tech-savvy
era where technology is transforming the societies in every second, economies
have become digital, concept of digital cities is also becoming obsolete, but
the concept of smart cities is being implemented, many cities globally has
become smart cities. But question, what was their literacy rate? Of course, not
more than some of the cities of under developed or developing courtiers, but
what lead those cities to grow and sustain? It was the Education System, the
Schools, colleges and universities who are helping them to gain knowledge and
skills and just passing an exam.
IT Buzzwords in 2020
We are today in year 2019, where Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial and Augmented Intelligence, Robotics, EIOT, Block-chain and various other new concepts are very popular, Data Science a subject is high in demand, because now “The Data is The New Oil”, and world needs the data scientists, but unfortunately we have not yet produced enough to fulfill the need of Industry. As a proof, in October 2017 , Jack MA (Chinese Richest person running an e-business Alibaba) visited Canada and met Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau they had a very good discussion on the same subject that how they are expecting gap in skills required vs skilled available, and they mentioned that in next 30 years, today’s students will not be fit for industry and they will not be able to fit for any job, in short, the education system which we are into will not help these today’s students to be part of a transformed industry.Industrial Revolution in 2020
If you know about industrial revolution, we are into 4th Industrial revolution where most of students of 90s are not fit for jobs, and 5th Industrial revolution, most of the jobs will be replaced by robots, Blockchain, AI and ML based technologies. Though this also needs explanation that what those technologies will look like, it is simple driverless cars have already replaced drivers and there will be planes in future without pilot. Block Chain technologies will replace bankers, government service officers, immigration officers, Lawyers etc. Robots means precision, where a heart surgery will be so precise that human will not be able to do that correctly. Imagine how many jobs are going to be replaced?
Answer is short? Transformation
in our Education System. Instead of producing degree holders, who
can get degree or certificate by passing the exam with good grades but
what if they will not be fit for industry, we must focus on helping them
to learn new knowledge quickly, fit for industry doesn’t necessarily means
doing job, but doing anything they like to do like job, business, consultant or
any profession.
Today, in vast ocean of
knowledge and various streams of subjects, it is not possible for an education
institute to teach the knowledge, but it is important for them to teach how to
learn new knowledge. Yes, you got it right, how to learn new knowledge is very
important. Our traditional education system is obsolete, because it can teach a
subject/filed of study, but one can’t gain knowledge. In my opinion, education
institute should focus on teaching how to learn a new knowledge.
With innovation in technology
all sectors are being transformed be it Medical, Hospitality, Transport,
Telecom, Manufacturing or Education all the sectors are being affected and
there is need for new professionals to join and those professionals who can
learn anything quickly. This proves quick learners can somehow fit in future.
Method of Education System
Our Education system has traditionally been teaching by using maximum 3 methods or stages of transferring knowledge and most of the cases it is 1. In my opinion the method of education to be changed, I must mention one hear before I explain all is that teaching is a learning tool. I remember when I started teaching, I was able to learn more. So teaching is in fact part of learning and it should be part of education. We need to utilize all our senses to learn new knowledge, all the stages of learning are below;Attending Lectures:
here our listening skill will mainly used which helps us to gain maximum 10% of knowledge but the moment we don’t revise this will no more remain in our memory. If it is a plain lecture without any visuals, images then students will not learn much, that is the reason white board, charts etc. is being used because listening and visual senses are working so both together can help to learn 15-20%.Asking Questions:
During or after attending lectures, students must be encouraged to ask the questions that will help them to memorize from events, though knowledge is not necessarily to memorize but people tend to remember events, this will play role to improve knowledge from 20-25%.Reading from Book:
Once lecture is finished one must read it, or even just reading from book also helps but it gives only 15% of knowledge. But revision to stage 1 and 2, through book can help to gain 25-30%Writing what you know:
Once the person who learns new knowledge, starts writing what he learned in stage 1 – 3, he will improve his knowledge and his will further improve and by this stage he might have gained 30-40% of knowledge. Till this stage most of the educational institutes are focusing, but till this stage ever after various revisions maximum 50% of knowledge can be retained but it will be volatile.Group Discussion:
This is most important in class rooms, discuss with your fellow colleagues, group study, discussion on topics and listen from others, this helps to clear various ambiguities, and this helps to improve your knowledge by 50% up to 60%. This stage plays vital role but in most of the education institutes this is stage is missing.Presenting:
The most important is presenting what you have learned, teaching others will help to gain more and in-depth knowledge, unfortunately this stage is thought to be for teachers, in fact this is for everyone, that is the reason we see that most of the professionals are not good speakers, because they have never got chance to present their knowledge or speak in public, though public speaking is a soft skill but this is a tool to gain technical knowledge and this will help to gain up to 80% of knowledge.Answering Questions:
in 6th stage there might be many questions asked by those who are listening you, and it is always good not to answer the question one doesn’t know and come back by saying, “I will come back to you on this”. To answer and to find the answer to the question being asked will help to gain 90% of knowledge. And for sure one can’t get 100% knowledge because it is an evolution, and revision of all stages can help to improve.
Above is standard
learning method, which every education institute in the world must adapt, but
most important is that what knowledge are we transferring them, what basics are
we teaching them. Basics of English Language is ABC, basics of mathematics is
1234 but basics of robotics?
There are many schools in
developed countries who have introduced Raspberry PI3 as mandatory tool for
students to learn robotics from 1st standard, this computer is said to be ABC
of robotics, programming or computers.
I will enlighten this further
in some other post, but to end I must say, can our teachers teach the students
what should be taught today? Answer is yes and no both.
Today anyone can study from
distance using e-learning platforms, teachers can use that platform but as I
mentioned 7 stages of learning, e-learning misses some of the stages and
e-learning can’t be considered as best tool, that is the reason e-learning or
distance learning has not yet replaced education institutes. But at the same
time, it is important for teachers to learn new knowledge to teach their
students, and students should be taught how to learn new knowledge.
You can teach programming to
students, but he can develop many programs using that language, same way you
can teach students how to write an essay, once he learns he can write essay on
any topic. Therefore, teachers must apply the same logic for transferring
knowledge.
“In this age of technology,
where everyone can’t learn everything, so teach the students how to get new
knowledge than focus on learning only specific subject”