WHY LEARNING?
There is no doubt in my mind, that we have begun one of the most relevant transformations of humanity: the search for educational models that engage new generations and remain relevant for life while generating better learning outcomes.
These early stages of a collective transformation have many dimensions and are being felt in all countries social, economic, political, technological, agendas.
Arguably, the most relevant change of them all, is how our society, begun changing and addressing the World that we now live in…
I will try to provide some of these views under a particular proposal for ways to deal with what will come to us from now on, at unprecedented speed and with the accelerated impact of, potentially (if we do this right), solving most of humanities critical challenges: inequality, poverty, climate change, cultural development, innovation.
As Nelson Mandela clearly stated: “Education is the most powerful weapon that we have to change the World” I feel that this weapon has becomed obsolete, and now, we are in the midst of finding ways to keep it sharp and active for that great potential.
Citing a recent statement from John Chambers are the World Economic forum: “There are two equalizers in the World: Internet and Education”
Initiatives to transform education are capturing headlines all around the World. New trends are being monitored about technological impact, student behaviors, teaching methods, remote delivery capabilities, broad access, quality improvement, personalized learning, etc.
{TEXTPECTATION} The feeling of anticipation you feel when a text has been sent and…
WHY NOW?
What will come next? How to begin this transformation? Who is doing it right? How soon will traditional models become irrelevant? Is technology going to disrupt education to a degree where Universities, teachers and facilities, dissapear? Are going to be able to train for the work environment of the future? Is there a better way to create learning outcomes?
Are new generations able to compensate for what our generations did to the planet, to the poor, to women, to people with dissabilities, to cultures, to race?
These and many more relevant questions are being discussed in many forums around the World and with many different perspectives: Technology companies, Academics, Governments, School authorities, teachers, parents, students, employees, employers, investors, entrepreneurs…
{NONVERSATION} The interaction that is completely worthless
WHY ME?
Throughout my professional career I have been fortunate to be exposed to unique experiences, industries, epochs, capabilities, people, strategies and companies that enable me to feel at ease with transformational change, to incorporate views that come from diverse perspectives and to innovate on the way to connect the dots.
Having being an entrepreneur, a teacher, an investor, a student, a corporate leader, a board member, a consultant, a professional soccer player, a corporate trainer and a father. Having relevant experience in industries like, technology, marketing, insurance, consulting, media and entertainment, for both start up ventures and big corporations, I have now a unique opportunity to provide perspectives that have (fortunately for me) become more relevant to confront the transformational nature of education.
Furthermore, being born in Latin America, lived in 4 countries, including the US and travel extensively around the World for over three decades, allow me to see a World of different realities, visions, social structures, human behaviors and institutional capabilities.
All these experiences integrate rather well with my current leadership role at Cengage Learning, a major player in education, with unique capabilities and values that bring a solid, innovative and legitimate perspective for the future of education.
{ERRORIST} Someone who repeatedly makes mistakes
HOW?
First of all, it is imperative that we recognize that the World is changing at a much faster phase than ever before. That cycles are shorter and this is only the beginning.
There will not be human environments that can remain static just thing about religions, universities, companies, media, entertainment, food, fashion, utilities, energy, government, science, art, sport, music, or any other field, which is not evolving and reinventing itself under a continuos process.
Information comes to us under a diversity of formats, media, devices, perspectives and sources. We all now have different personalities, as we interact online, offline, among networks or privately.
We are exposed to global issues and immediate points of view, there is data about everything and anything, and our voice can be expressed freely and globally.
Yet, our span of attention is barely a few seconds until the next element engages us. Many of the most relevant moments that we live today, are being captured to be shared, which changes some of the meaning from living the moment.
The challenge of engaging people with content is one of the most relevant today and there are significant initiatives that are looking into this from the perspective of education, information, media, advertising, film, music, entertainment, art etc.
Another significant challenge is to care. Inspiring for positive action, connecting to what really matters and motivating behaviors that evolve towards closing the gaps that have been generated in areas such as gender inequiality, access, poverty or climate change.
“When you invest in a girl’s education, she deeds herself, her children, her community and her nation.” Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway
Taking these challenges as part of the transformation in education is also imperative.
We tend to focus too much on the end result; achieving a certificate, obtaining a degree, etc. That we do not see that it is the journey of learning what matters most.
For the first time in history the headlines of education are reaching mainstream. Also, for the first time, we have a female teenager Nobel Peace Price winner in education.
We have new clusters of edu/preneurs being created globally; there are new companies that aim to merge science with entertainment for girls. Women will finally play an active and relevant role in humanity.
The same will start to happen with poverty, children that are first generation to access education will transform their social and economic environment.
Education does not need to happen under a roof, with a guide and with an established structure that ressembles a Tree of Life. It will become a living network where all stakeholders are living nodes that keep this network growing, evolving, connecting, reaching and adapting for a lifetime of learning.
{UNLIGHTENING} Learning something that takes you nowhere
LEARNING FOR WORK? WHAT TYPE OF WORK?
Most of our educational efforts prepare students for a work environment that does not exist anymore. The skills required to succeed today are not repetitive, nor they require memorization, they still tend to build capabilities for permanent, or at least lenghtly employment. All these realities has shifted for a more dynamic, complex future that is built for freelance, working in projects with small duration and utilizing skills that require changes of companies, teams, even industries, and last well over what traditionally, used to be the age of retirement.
A more global work environment, where interconnectivity is the rule, requires new skills of adaptability and diversity. These new abilities are developed under environments that promote virtual collaboration, multi cultural developments, and multi discipline applications.
A data driven work context which is driven by the exponential amount of data generated across processes, people, even things, calls for data minded capabilities, new cognitive processes, trans-disciplined environments.
The new realities conformed by extreme longevity, abundance, rich media, machine interactions and new forms of value creation, require sense making, novel thinking, social intelligence, and design mindset and media literacy.
An approach of linear progress, even at an accelerated phase will not be enough!
We need exponential improvement, disrupted innovations and constant reinvention to cope with such a future, this is only the beginning! Cycles will become shorter and all these impacts will have exponential dimensions.
We need to model education under existing and known models that also prepare us for the future and all possibilities.
These novel environments are not theories and predictions. Most of them already exist and are making waves in our daily lives.
• What does Netflix teaches us about customer options? Or story telling?
• What does AirBnb teaches us about intelligent use us existing and inefficient assets?
• What does Waze teaches us about route planning, adjusting or time management?
• What does national Geographic teaches us about inspiring to care about the planet? About curating and promoting new scientific development?
• What does TED teaches us about sharing ideas? Or mixing entertainment with knowledge sharing? Or giving presentations? Or curating content?
These and many other existing references need to be brought into the academic and professional training space. They need to provide the role models and generate de DNA for innovative, adaptive learning experiences.
The academic structure that is based on the end result, a grade, a diploma or achieving the next level, is an obsolete view of a world that follows the tree of life, as opposed to a networked, interconnected and live world by which all nodes depend on each other, enrich each other and outgrow each other.
A networked approach does not allow for inequalities to exist, does not create imbalances with our planet, or does not leave behind gender, races or social nodes that are part of the network, doing so, will permanently damage the whole network where every node needs to take part. Only the nodes that are further away, feel these imbalances, but eventually, they connect as well.
There will not be an academic system, curricular development or even grades or diplomas. There will be experimentation and exploration environments, co/creation activities in which all stakeholders, specially students will take an active role into their own learning, teachers need to evolve into a curator role, and they need to design engaging learning experiences for this environment to flourish.
It is the Journey of Learning what matters most. It is creating a new Learning Experience, ensuring student engagement; systematic experimentation, expanding the network and making us care, for better outcomes.
A lot is being discussed around the fact that, for the first time, education can be managed under more scientific methods, big data, adaptive learning, personalized learning experiences, etc.
We seem to be struggling to find the next method, the next system, when in my view, there will NOT be a next long term best, unless it is co-created permanently by all stakeholders (nodes in the network) with the same levels of influence (not only academics deciding for students) it is experimental in nature, it integrates formal and informal learning for life, in any place and with any device, including books!
15 MINUTES OF FAME
It used to be that only TV stars, famous artists, famous sports people, or film actors and actresses, achieved global fame, were know by millions and their work, roles, stories and personal life was a conversation topic in social and professional gatherings.
Today, fame is becoming a commodity, each and everyone of us, can and some argue, will be able to achieve global fame, Youtube stars, Vine Stars, Instagram Stars, SnapChat Stars are being followed by millions of people around the World. Their ideas, art and perceptions impact entire generations.
{FIND} Aaron Carpenter: Instagram 1.6Million, Twitter 1.6 Million, Vine 1.2 Million
This scale was only achievable by major accomplishments only a decade ago. Now we have a culture of sharing, creating content and expressing ideas, at any age.
There of course are new dangers and challenges: I was fortunate to meet recently, the self-proclaimed founder of the cyberbulling industry at TED, Monica Lewinsky when at 22; she was the first social media reference. Now, at her 40s is actively seeking to inform and protect others who could be subject of similar negative visibility. An industry full of possibilities!
EDUPRENEURSHIP
Capital has begun flowing into education, until recently, this industry was not the most attractive to innovate, but now, the need to disrupt Education has created an unprecedented impulse for entrepreneurs to focus on.
Still, there are strong barriers for them to succeed, they need not only solid technological or business models, but they have to become legitimate in education and understand the different stockholders to begin transforming from.
The first clusters to incubate, accelerate and potentialize edupreneurs has begun! Hundreds of new companies are being launched to disrupt education around the world. Typical models for incubators and accelerators are helpful, but the nature of this industry requires a legitimate approach to enter the core of education and disrupt from within.
{EDUPRENEUR} A little crazyness, lots of perseverance.
Just by analyzing the changes that are happening in industries like entertainment, media, filmmaking, publishing, travel, financial services, or any other established incumbent, it is clear that education and training (as much as health) resisted for too long.
It is now time a new Learning experience needs to emerge, one that captures students and keeps them engaged, one that is connected to the relevant imbalances that previous generations created, and one that is guided by curators, experience designers and innovators that enable all stakeholders (nodes in the network) to connect, expand and evolve into a future full of human possibilities.
