How regional schools, students, and curriculum are transforming

The Fourth Industrial Revolution—sometimes referred to as Industry 4.0—is a new chapter in human development and is marked by breakthroughs in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, Internet of Things, and quantum computing that have no historical precedent.

Moreover, if we think about what the world was like only ten years ago, we could appreciate how these advances are happening at an exponential rather than linear pace, disrupting entire disciplines, industries and economies.

It is clear that this new world requires new sets of skills both technical and personal, such as cognitive flexibility, critical thinking, complex problem solving, or emotional intelligence. Although information and techniques needed to develop these skills are not typically found in a course textbook, educational institutions are nevertheless ideally positioned to help train the ideal workforce for this new world.

Simultaneously, institutions can also leverage these new technologies to achieve better outcomes for the student of tomorrow. But how can this happen?

New learnings

It is important to remember that students learn in different ways and at very different paces. New teaching and learning models allow for personalised, competency-based learning and have the power to dramatically boost student success through scalable approaches and a continuous, integrated cycle of assessment.

For example, blended learning — an approach to teaching and learning that combines online materials and opportunities for interaction with traditional classroom methods — is creating a new hybrid teaching system that is particularly suited to the new generation of learners.

Most professors in blended classrooms use a course management system application to connect with students online. Through these platforms, students can access videos of lectures, track assignments and progress, interact with professors and peers, and review other supporting materials, such as presentations or reference articles.

The flipped classroom model — in which students watch or listen to pre-recorded lectures online, on their own time rather than during class — frees instructors to interact with students in the classroom.

Student insights

Using advanced analytics can significantly transform the way educators work by enabling new ways to engage students, increase enrolment, improve retention and completion rates, and even boost faculty productivity and research.

Learning analytics turns raw data into valuable information, offering insights to improve teaching and learning. It can identify at-risk students, optimise assessments, promote reflection and self-regulated learning, establish feedback loops and even boost faculty development.

Over time, institutions will increasingly use more data as a base for their decisions and strategies. Liberated from the task of simply describing what the data are, analytics allow institutions to focus on more important questions about what they mean, and what we should do about them.

Transforming schools

Considering all the elements, it is clear that to benefit from the opportunity presented by advances in technology we need a complementary revolution in the education sector, not just to meet the needs of industry, but also to deliver the best possible learning experience.

First, institutions need to change their perspective. They need to realise that the way they have been providing education, typically through in-person lessons, is not suited to today’s digital natives who expect a personalised, anywhere-anytime, seamless learning experience.

Second, universities are the ones expected to change, not the students. Forcing students to adapt to pedagogical approaches that do not answer today’s requirements only because that is how teachers were trained to teach is a recipe for failure.

Third, institutions need to implement technology to look at what is happening outside their walls. Many countries within the Middle East in particular have ambitious goals for transforming their schools and education sectors — and they recognise education technology as an essential conduit to make it happen.

Regional market

According to a recent report the number of students in the GCC is projected to reach 15 million by 2020, making it one of the fastest growing student populations in the world.

To prepare the workforce needed for the digital economy, the region’s educators are adapting their curricula to include tech-powered tools that will positively impact areas such as curriculum applications, universal access to classrooms, data applications and behavioural analytics applications.

For instance, in the United Arab Emirates, in line with the nation’s Vision 2021, nearly one-fifth of its federal budget has now been allocated to the education sector. The UAE Innovation Strategy refines these efforts, promoting innovation in the classroom and beyond by introducing creative teaching methods.

Simply put, today’s education must not be confined to the classroom or traditional techniques. Technology can deepen the education experience for learners and for teachers, particularly through personalised learning and data-driven insights.

Educational institutions that fail to adapt their teaching methods and infrastructure to these new developments will fall behind, crippling student success in the process. Developing students’ critical thinking and social engagement with education technology is an essential element to the success of modern pedagogy.

Key takeaways

• According to a report, the number of students in the GCC is projected to reach 15 million by 2020, making it one of the fastest growing.
• To prepare the workforce needed for the digital economy, the region’s educators are adapting their curricula.
• Tools include curriculum applications, universal access to classrooms, data applications, behavioural analytics.
• New models allow for personalised learning and can boost student success through integrated cycle of assessment.
• The flipped classroom model, frees instructors to interact with students in the classroom.

Digital technology is changing teaching and schools and curriculum architects need to transform, explains Robert Speed at Blackboard.