By Carlos J. Ochoa, Co-Chair Education Committee carlos@thevrara.com
Preface
Today, we are at the beginning of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Developments in genetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and biotechnology, to name just a few, are all building on and amplifying one another. This will lay the foundation for a revolution more comprehensive and all-encompassing than anything we have ever seen.
Smart systems—homes, factories, enterprises, grids or cities—will help tackle problems ranging from supply chain management to climate change. The rise of the sharing economy will allow people to monetize everything from their empty house to their car. The question, then, is how business, government and individuals will react to these developments. To prevent a worst-case scenario—technological change accompanied by talent shortages, mass unemployment and growing inequality—reskilling and upskilling of today’s workers will be critical.
Building Innovation Bridges
While much has been said about the need for reform in basic education, it is simply not possible to weather the current technological revolution by waiting for the next generation’s workforce to become better prepared. Instead, it is critical that businesses take an active role in supporting their current workforces through re-training, that individuals take a proactive approach to their own lifelong learning and that governments create the enabling environment, rapidly and creatively, to assist these efforts.
Disruptive changes to business models will have a profound impact on the employment landscape over the coming years. Many of the major drivers of transformation currently affecting global industries are expected to have a significant impact on jobs, ranging from significant job creation to job displacement, and from heightened labour productivity to widening skills gaps.
Education 4.0 vs Industry 4.0
In such a rapidly evolving employment landscape, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future skills requirements, job content and the aggregate effect on employment is increasingly critical for businesses, governments and individuals in order to fully seize the opportunities presented by these trends—and to mitigate undesirable outcomes.
We can talk about Education 4.0 in a future and adequate context to train students in a scenario of needs and new skills demand for Industry 4.0. In this Industry 4.0 scenario, new technologies converge in a disruptive and complex ecosystem and basically comprise it.
The Smart Innovation Space
Advanced reality (Virtual, augmented, mixed…reality), Additive manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Cars/ Drones, Big Data and Real Time Analytics, Cloud Services, Cybersecurity, Digital Twins, Internet of Things, Machine-Machine interface, Robots, Total Systems Integration…
To do this, new training, skills and training are required, which will enable this new industrial revolution to be addressed in an efficient and sustainable manner.
- Empowering teachers: Empowering and training teachers with tools and methods to become real entrepreneurs of the educational community and improve the engagement factor with students as coachers.
- Diversity of time and space: Through immersive learning, students have the opportunity to study at different times and in different places, encouraging self-training.
- Adaptive learning: Different levels of complexity will be adapted for each student, empowering those who present more difficulties for learning.
- Experimental Learning: From a simply ‘learning’ topic to ‘interact and experiment’ the content. This allows a student to explore, to experience or to be involved in something “real”.
- Free choice of content and learning path: Each student can prepare with the tools and topics needed to perform in the industry.
- The Immersive Experience: Traditional educational materials fail to inspire and engage further learning with most students as it forces them into a form of memory testing rather than retaining knowledge through practice and immersive experience.
- New Evaluation Methods and Processes: In this new context, new evaluation process has to be defined, according the new “student learning objectives”, and defining new performance indicators according to that. That means, the exams should change radically. With the help of technology and new methodologies, it is possible to carry out a complete follow-up on the training process, measuring the different indicators according the evaluation criteria, impact in society and added value provided.
Now, let´s think about it. This is the future that VR/AR technology promises and it’s not that far away. Will you take it one-step further? Participate in our Education Committee today!
