I was thinking about education lately. How can we make it better, more engaging, pump up the retention and return percentage? I am going to tell you my problem and maybe you could help me find a solution. Let's begin!
The future of education
100% education will be made on the internet or something that comes after. The old school room with a teacher in the front holding all the keys and slapping all the wrists will disappear. So today I will not talk about the public school system and how to make it better. That system is already dead and making it better is useless. It would be like making the candle better after the invention of the light bulb. It's time to move on. The real problems that we face are found in online education. Before we get to that I need to state the goals of education as I see them.
Goals: There must be a structure for children to follow, yet we must not fall prey to the crippling cage that we put children today in. No, a structure should be more like the human skeleton, it defines the body yet not your actions. You create a structure that promotes maximum independence, freedom, and adaptation to the unpredictable environment.
The question then is what if we need more basic structures? One surely is not enough, we see the failure of schools with one size fits all, but how many? One solution would be to make structures according to the 16 personality types (https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test) yet it seems too impersonal and abstract for a child to comprehend.
An idea struck when thinking about how naturally children from the structure of the future self. They copy parents, siblings, friends, celebrities, people they read in books, historical figures. They want to be like them piecing together like a puzzle something that could be original, new. I believe this is what we want new, original people, that never lived before. Too many just live the life of their parents, teachers, etc. What a waste to walk on the same exact path, like so many before you. We are not ants to live the same life over and over again. We are information scavengers, every brain has the potential to discover something new, fresh, useful to share with others.
The basic structure of this online education system should be flexibility. You should be able to start from a place and end up somewhere else, based on your choices and how you change your perspective.
A system where you pull a thread and untangle the intricate knowledge needed to become a human in the real sense.
A firm example would be: You first go to a site/interface/VR and you as a child start to look at people. Examples of real people selected to match the personality types described above. They would be able to listen to them, interact with them, see them how they handle different situations in life, experiencing how they live, what they do, how they feel and think. (similar to what people do now on youtube, they want to see people living, expressing, thinking) After the child expresses preferences for a type of model on the site he will be presented with the list of skills and behaviors that define that person. If he chose a famous mathematician - he will have listed all the skills: mathematics, logic, reason, scientific method, writing, etc. He can begin to learn the skills "from first grade" to "genius level". The method of teaching would be visual, the teacher explaining the concepts and with the help of an A.I even answer the questions every child has. This would be true for personality and behavior also.
Any time a child wants to follow another example of human he/she can choose from the selection. This process would begin to differentiate the child from the first model, ultimately helping him to become an individual like no one else with a unique set of skills and behaviors learned from the best. This is the first phase in development when you need models.
This will enormously help the children that are raised in poor parts of the world that have very few good models around. For the price of a cheap computer and an internet connection every child of the world can access the best people that lived and understand what they have to do to be like them if they want, or parts of them.
Future education key features:
+Flexible structure determined by the choices of the learner.
+Real life models that you can follow
+Hybridization between models
+Visual progression on your chosen tree skill and how well it matches different "jobs skill trees"
+Interactive and actionable information
+Adequate personality teachers.
+Community
+Low price/free
+Ability to organize gatherings with children that have similar skills
+Business world integration
+Statistics and learner satisfaction measurement
+Information presented by different teacher types
+Information online -> learner everywhere
+The problem with education today
The internet today is full of MOOCS, courses in video format that teach you everything you need to know. They, however, don't give you a structure. They are cheap or free, a very good sigh, a step ahead of the government system that costs 40 000$+. The cost is down, the information is there, some interaction but this is not enough.
The rate of abandonment is very high, not many finish the courses. They need goals, serious goals not points and digital diplomas. We are not at school anymore where a child is forced to be present and no one cares about their intrinsic motivation. We need models, a sense of progression. There is not enough practice. It is still passive, the knowledge that is accumulated by the child is the same as in school, only in another format. We are so damaged by the previous system that we can't think right.
Another thing is the lack of relief for the mind. No humor, sometimes you should find a few minutes of fun to rest your brain after a certain time of focus.
This lack of attention to what motivates people. It should be like a journey, every skill you learn. You should see all that beautiful skill trees get completed. Something to get from games(MMORPG). Children can concentrate hours 4+ in games like World of Warcraft. We should ask why and not hate that children waste time playing.
Why not make something with similar incentives in order to get them addicted to becoming a great adult?
If we make the educational process like an addictive game, we would have achieved our goal. This is not yet happening in online education. Even games that are educational are boring and dull. There is something wrong when we think about education. We tend to believe it can not be fun. Think now about the concept of education. What do you experience? Happiness and fun or duty, seriousness, hard but necessary?
MOOCs lack:
-Bigger picture
-Serious Goals
-A new way to present information
-Practical application
-Involvement for students/children
-Motivation and game elements ignored
-Ability to pick and choose
-Overall skill tree and life models
-Third party information from the internet
The possible solution
This section is for your ideas Tuber! What do you think, how can we make education work better than never? Leave your idea in the comments and contribute to a new system that could revolutionize not only what we learn and how we learn it but will also support children.
The first system that will help children flourish and not stuff them in a box because we know what's best for them.See you next time! Don't forget to subscribe!