Reimagining worldwide education, has the potential to improve outcomes.
But first lets look at where we are, in regard to worldwide education.
In my TEDx talk in October 2023, I revealed some educational statistics.
For example, 263 Million children and youths aged between 6 – 17, don’t attend a school.
This is according to a report by UNESCO in 2018.
Another statistic, is that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that 2.6 Billion people don’t have internet access in 2023.
So as you can understand from these two statistics, we can’t reimagine worldwide education, without first addressing education inequality.
Lets first address the challenge of providing universal education to all.
This could be done using online learning, in remote areas that are not served by schools.
To facilitate online learning, we first need to address the unconnected 2.6 Billion people, the ITU has identified, in their latest report (September 2023).
Traditional connectivity methods, are too expensive.
Traditional methods such as fixed broadband connections, requiring cables to be laid under the ground.
Terrestrial based Mobile / cellular broadband is also too expensive, as it requires Cell Towers to be located near to the phone users.
Cell Towers require being connected to the network, which includes expenses such as electrical power, and fibre or microwave backhaul connectivity.
Neither of the above solutions, are viable for a commercial telecoms company, requiring a ROI (Return On Investment).
So how can we in wealthy countries, lead the way in addressing this inequality.
An inequality that not only affects the education of millions of children, but also billions of the worlds population.
One solution could be using technologies such as Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEO), or High Altitude Platforms (HAPS).
Both technologies have the potential to provide connectivity, to the places that currently do not.
So lets pretend that we now have connectivity for all people already.
That even those that are not able to attend a school, have at least online learning.
So do we want the status quo?
Do we want education to be the same as it has always been?
I believe change is needed.
AI can already monitor learners and make adjustments to lesson delivery, based on inputs from the learner.
Could a wider ‘net’ of data be trawled, to provide a more personalised learning experience.
What I mean by wider net, is data from internet sources, such as social media.
By doing this we could build up accurate pictures of what the learner is interested in.
This would of course need to be a consensual ‘opt in’ , by the learner, but could further personalise the learning experience.
For example if a learner was into Suzuki motorbikes over 500cc, and watched a lot of YouTube videos & Instagram photos on the subject, then this data could feed into the AI based learning system.
When I teach in the classroom, I try to motivate learners, by finding out what they are interested in.
This could be automated, and is likely to be a more accurate and true reflection, of the learners true interests.
Its been said that the ‘internet’ knows more about ourselves, than we do.
Using AI, fed by social media, could really make education more interesting to learners.
We already have google and other platforms, serving us advertising, based on our search history.
Why not adapt a similar approach to personalised learning.
An AI powered system of personalised learning, fed by wider data, could help increase educational attainment, though greater learner engagement.
That’s just one way that we can start reimagining worldwide education, and create a more interesting learning experience.