The future of learning: Where is the world heading? New educational platforms

5 September 2019

The future of learning: Where is the world heading? New educational platforms

KEY CONCLUSIONS

School education needs new methods and approaches

“Personalization requires more teachers that need to be more qualified. Teachers should become better in their subject, <...> become better mentors, master additional competencies in psychology,” Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation.

“It is not only about changing the environment, but also about the need to create new formats of collaboration and cooperation and train people in the working process,” Elena Kharisova, Deputy Vice President for Academic Affairs, Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU).

“If a teacher, when asked the question ‘What should a teacher do?’, answers ‘learn’, then both teachers and students will be interested in learning process,” Tatyana Kiseleva, Director, Tekhnichesky (Technical) Lyceum, Vladivostok.

We should not rely exclusively on technologies

“It is important to explain to parents <…> that Internet and gadgets are the reality that we cannot escape; the question is, what is inside,” Herman Gref, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank.

“All technological media can just identify facts <...> rather than understand why you did not do something or what motivates you: it is a question that is far beyond the content,” Natalya Chebotar, Director of Strategy, Yandex.Education.

PROBLEMS

Insufficient quality of existing school education

“51% of population believe that it is impossible to pass the Unified State Exam and the State Final Certification without a coach, it is a sign of low quality of education <…> Three people stand in our way <...> a bureaucrat, a coach and a consumer. Student attending a lesson is a consumer who thinks that somebody is supposed to give them something. Teacher who has to reconcile with coaches <…> And a bureaucrat who lets a coach and a consumer interact and mispresents it as high-quality education,” Elena Kazakova, Director, St. Petersburg University Institute of Pedagogy; Academic Advisor, Platforma Novoy Shkoly (New School Platform) NPO.

“If we look at the modern school <...> there is no collaboration and cooperation. There is no special environment,” Elena Kharisova, Deputy Vice President for Academic Affairs, Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU).

Inequality among regions in terms of education availability

“We are getting tools that will help solve the inequality problem. Our country is huge, with 85 regions having very different capabilities,” Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation.

Ineffectiveness of existing system of learning evaluation

“The (examination) process itself discourages students from learning. <...> One of my objectives is to kill exams,” Herman Gref, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank.

“Auto-evaluation is more useful than external evaluation. As long as school and evaluation are tied together, other components or processes will not be of interest,” Elena Kazakova, Director, St. Petersburg University Institute of Pedagogy; Academic Advisor, Platforma Novoy Shkoly (New School Platform) NPO.

SOLUTIONS

Use of digital technologies for personalization of learning

“Personalization of learning <…> used to be unavailable for most people <…> The good thing about personalized learning is the use of digital technologies to make it available for everybody <…> Digitalization provides us with opportunity to give more attention to those who lag due to various reasons. All children are talented, but their opportunities are different. Now we are equalizing them, and we will provide teachers with this tool so that they could work with children more flexibly,” Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation.

“The world has grown a virtual reality. Before, we used to live in the physical world, now we live in both of them simultaneously <...> In these two co-existing worlds, we need to learn to live in a certain way in order to preserve our human nature, our meaning, our destiny <...> Platforma Novoy Shkoly NPO is building such digital platform of personalized learning, in which this ideal might be achieved to a certain extent, but not in one particular school, rather in many of them,” Elena Kazakova, Director, St. Petersburg University Institute of Pedagogy; Academic Advisor, Platforma Novoy Shkoly (New School Platform) NPO.

“Since 1 September, 15 schools have started working on this platform <…> It is not a platform for some specialized schools; it is designed for all schools, so that it can be implemented everywhere, teachers can be retrained, and it can start working. It is a non-profit project, the platform will be free,” Herman Gref, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank.

Creation of an incentive system for students and teachers

“The ideal of the 21st century is a person who can educate themselves, but in a well-organized society. Nobody has ever succeeded in effectively learning by themselves <…> School should become a motivational space,” Elena Kazakova, Director, St. Petersburg University Institute of Pedagogy; Academic Advisor, Platforma Novoy Shkoly (New School Platform) NPO.

“We do not work enough with motivation; not only for children, but also for teachers. Teacher becomes the person that owes everyone. <...> But, at the same time, we use old methods to train teachers without giving them an opportunity to be proactive,” Natalya Chebotar, Director of Strategy, Yandex.Education.

For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en.

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