TECHNOLOGY BASED EDUCATION

Education has undergone relatively few revolutions in thousand years. Our

current education system evolved with the invention of printing press in the heat
of industrial revolution where standardization was the rule and conformity the
desired outcome. Students of the same age are presented with same material and
assessed against the same scale of achievements. Like an assembly line, students
progresses from room to room to be taught by different teachers specializing in
separate disciplines. This industrial model of education with its emphasis on rote
memorization of facts is no longer necessary. Facts are what Google does best. We
have to do things that havent been done before. This means we are training our
students in the skills they rarely need while ignoring those they absolutely do.
In the rapidly changing technological culture and ever growing information based
economy, creative ideas are the ultimate resource. Teaching students how to
nourish their creativity and curiosity is the best way to prepare them for future.
The current system is not only killing creativity and talent of students but is
unable to deliver the qualified workforce needed to suit the requirement of ever-
changing markets and environments. Creativity, collaboration, critical thinking
and problem solving, are the skills which have been repeatedly stressed by
everyone from corporate executive to educational experts as fundamentals
required by todays jobs. The current system of one- size -fit -all has started giving
way to the computer based tomorrows version which is decentralized,
personalized and extremely interactive. We once again are in the midst of an
education revolution, a revolution powered by technology.
Still we have 23% (130 million) of worlds children who are not in school
(UNESCO); we are short by 18 million teachers forget about educational
infrastructure. The technology based education is the only instrument which can
change this bottom billion into the rising billion within short span of time. With
the convergence of infinite computing, artificial intelligence, ubiquitous
broadband coverage, low cost tablets we can provide nearly free and
personalized education to anyone, anywhere anytime. These newly invigorated
billion minds would be an incredible force to improve the global living standard.
The student teacher dynamics is drastically changing as internet has reduced the
information gap between experts and non-experts. The teacher is no longer the
king of the classroom but rather a middleman between information and student.
Instead of a passive sponge soaking up knowledge, the student has now become
an active informational architect, procuring, rearranging and displaying
information. If boredom and disinterest (especially in academics) is the number
one cause of truancy then our new education system needs to be effective,
scalable and wildly entertaining. With an exponential expansion of IT
technologies, personalized learning will soon be available to just anyone who
wants it, no matter where in the world he/she lives. The brand new generation of
educational games will help us come out of the existing schoolhouse model as
researchers have found that as more types of information are placed on a screen,
we remember less of what we see, but we can absorb, learn and think better when
information is placed tangentially. With the US President Obama stating, I am
calling for investments in educational technology that will help create
educational softwares as compelling as the best video games" may be a great leap
forward.
The khan academy video tutorial has shown how effective digitally delivered
education can be. Its approach of minimally invasive education in the self
organized learning environment is pulling in over two million visitors a month,
and is growing exponentially. Bill Gates after watching the Khans presentation
commented I just got a glimpse of future of education. And he sounds so very
true.
The stakes are high: there are two futures out there. One is a dystopia of endless
illiteracy, poverty, and declining quality of life. The other is one of economic and
social growth led by newly educated rising billions. Technology based education
may catalyze second.

Atharva Shukla
282, O