3. TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
The most repeated and discussed issues related to the evolving relationship between technology and education.
There was a general belief that technology affords an opportunity to enhance education by allowing cost-efficient
flexibility, customization and personalization of education programs. Not only will web-based technology allow
unprecedented access to education, it can facilitate virtually unlimited participation in lectures, readings and user
forums, allowing a new kind of community interaction between students, professors and teaching assistants. It also
affords the possibility of introducing new teaching modalities, such as the use of interactive gaming techniques, into the
curriculum.
This, of course, is not without challenges. Educational institutions have been especially slow to embrace new technology,
integrate it into their teaching programs and adapt their “business models”. Web-based education programs are
becoming more widely available, but there are questions about content, accreditation, legitimacy and susceptibility to
fraud. There is also substantial resistance from old-line educators who not only question the efficacy of new technology,
but whose livelihoods are directly threatened.
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are an increasingly important educational resource. First introduced
in 2008, distance learning continues to expand as computer technology penetrates emerging markets, students
and teachers become more familiar with online tools and techniques, and MOOCs are legitimized as an accredited
learning method.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic teachers become a kind of force multiplier, allowing personalized
education programs to become widespread. Initially, this trend simply increases the efficiency of teaching
particular subject matter, but over time, it shifts control away from large school bureaucracies, dramatically
reduces costs and improves distribution of the most current educational information. However, the long-term
impact of these technologies on the creativity, social cohesion and employment of humans in education is poorly
understood at best.
• Digital textbooks, 3D printing, the use of games and other knowledge dissemination, and learning
techniques not only reduce costs, but allow reading materials, tools and a variety of interesting material to be
transferred quickly and efficiently to students. While this raises a host of legal questions about licensing and
intellectual property protection, it also introduces design creativity and massive cost savings into the educational
environment.
• Human interaction remains important. The digital world may offer fast-paced, interactive and engaging
experiences, but it does not totally replace the social experience of collective learning with peers and not all
students are psychologically or behaviorally suited to learn in the digital environment. While some argue for
a blended learning environment, there are few ideas advanced on how this can or should be accomplished.
Advancing the role of technology not only improves the flexibility, reach and effectiveness of education, it is also
seen as the leading opportunity to reduce costs worldwide.
• Technology creates new, cost-effective ways to transfer knowledge – and hence creates economic opportunities
– to the less fortunate. In fact, using technology to replace existing teachers has become the only way to reduce
the price of education, which has been rising far faster than inflation and creating a significant burden on younger
generations.
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5. EDUCATION AND JOBS
The role of education – particularly higher education – is a central theme in the consideration of a life quality. At its core,
the question comes down to whether education, as William Deresiewicz once put it, should be more about learning or
about success.
There is a divide between education systems designed to “better qualify the next generation of global laborers” (as one
writer put it) and those that see opportunities – largely through technology – to enhance general learning, train people
to address societal problems and support the education of polymaths. The majority of such systems focus on improving
the connection between education and jobs.
• From a top-down perspective, the importance of education for the sake of employability emerges as the focus of
how broad economic, technological and social trends shape education. In essence, education develops into a kind
of super-vocational training, without really addressing the implications of pushing out generations of students
into a volatile skills marketplace answering solely to the desiderata of the immediate job market.
• From a more bottom-up perspective, the value of higher education as a route to employment comes into question.
Observations and concerns about the role of education in creating knowledgeable, well-rounded citizens remain
quite general, in sharp contrast to the nuts-and-bolts applications of education for the sake of employment.
Technology’s ability to generate flexible learning opportunities and focused skill training, allowing individuals to quickly
acquire the skills necessary to address the requirements of a particular position, is still uncertain. This continues to pose
challenges for defining the adequacy of the approach, standardizing recognition of technology-based proficiency, and
creating a global mechanism for standardization of learning or certification earned this way.
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7. STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS
• No true paradigm shifts were forecast, and the current trend towards linking education with employment is
expected to continue. This implies that generalized learning and education, divorced from the rewards of degrees
issued from accredited institutions and/or various forms of certification, will continue to be less important than
pedagogy as a pipeline to jobs.
• Despite the focus on jobs, one consequence of knowledge becoming freely and widely available across the globe
is that it will depress the value and wages of so-called “knowledge workers”, continuing the exportation of jobs
away from wealthy countries and consequently reducing the post-school employment value of receiving a higher
education.
• In the coming decades, technology will allow equal access to information. While this will provide knowledge and
information, it will eventually cause major disruptions in the business of education, though it won’t necessarily
change the content of educational programs.
• Modern education’s focus on test-taking skills, rote learning and intense competition for admission to colleges
and universities was not significantly challenged, except to raise questions on the overall affordability of tertiary
education. This is likely to lead to a generation that is less creative, less culturally adaptable, less honest, and less
well-rounded.
• Globalization’s impact on the system of education is already established – only the scale and scope will increase.
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9. Written by:
Douglas Olin
Edited by:
Eva Dubinsky
This report is based on the collaborative effort
of more than 50 Wikistrat analysts held in
December 2014.
April 2015
21ST
-CENTURY EDUCATION
OPTIMIZED
