“ Paradigm shifts in education”
The phrase ‘paradigm shift’ gained traction from the well known book (1962) by Thomas Kuhn “ The structure of Scientific Revolutions” which challenged the earlier view that Science progressed almost linearly as “development-by-accumulation” of accepted facts and theories. Kuhn argued for an episodic model in which periods of conceptual continuity, which Kuhn referred to as periods of ” normal science”, were interrupted by periods of revolutionary science.
Kuhn’s view was that a ‘paradigm shift’ was not a logically determinate procedure. He took the example of the Copernican revolution to make his point. The Darwinian theory of evolution of species and Alfred Wegener’s theory of tectonic plates are similar paradigm shifts as are Quantum principles.
Clayton Christensen went beyond the focus on Scientific Research and referred to similar trends in innovation as ‘incremental’ or ‘disruptive’.
In the field of education and learning we are witnessing two major revolutions, the 4th Industrial Revolution which was heralded by Prof Klaus Schwab at the World Economic Forum in January 2016 and the 4th education revolution, which is the title of a 2018 book by Sir Anthony Seldon. I strongly urge all educators to read this book, where two important assertions by him are that there have been only 3 education revolutions so far, and that education is the Cinderella of the AI story. Fundamental paradigm shifts in the education and learning domain are therefore inevitable. And like the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back, we had this unexpected Covid 19 pandemic.
There are several manifestations of this paradigm shift, but in this post, I will confine myself to a few important elements, where I have created some approaches to align education to the future needs and expectations.
Referring to the need for new skills in the 4th Industrial Age, the WEF has listed 10 top skills for 2020 and beyond. For these 10 skills and two more skills of Computational Thinking and First Principles, I have created a suite of 12 WhatsApp weekend courses whose details are available at: https://mmpant.com/ss321/
Students and teachers are the primary stakeholders in any educational system. The parents of young learners also have an important role, and they are learners too as lifelong learners. Everything else is overheads.
The first aspect of paradigm shift is the transformation of the disinterested and passive learner ( who has to be compulsorily educated to acquire minimum levels of learning) to an active self- motivated and self-directed learner with an immense curiosity and a virtually insatiable appetite for learning that lasts a lifetime. For such a learner, learning has changed from a spectator sport to a participative one. Such a learner has many more opportunities for learning, going beyond the confines of the classroom. I have created a set of 4 weeklong WhatsApp courses to facilitate this transition. They are:
WLL01: Learning with WhatsApp, other Mobile Apps and MOOCs
WLL02: Dispositions for success
WLL03: Learning Agility
WLL04: Getting a world class education in your hands
To know more about these, please visit : https://mmpant.com/asl/
This transition will not be an instantaneous binary on/off type, but somewhat graded and gradual over time during which the learner progresses over several levels.
In 1997 David Nunan had proposed a scheme of five levels for encouraging learner autonomy in relationship to use of learning materials. He labelled these 5 levels as : awareness, involvement, intervention, creation and transcendence.
In the year 2020, I have created my own framework for 5 levels of autonomous learners, and also listed the set of 10 skills expected at each level. I am sharing that set of skills towards the end of this post.
I have included in this list of skills, the abilities to deploy artificial Intelligence tools and Apps to engage in self-directed learning. I am proposing the following levels of an autonomous learner. This structure is analogous to the levels of self-driving cars approved by the Society of Automobile Engineers ( SAE).
Level 0: No self-learning disposition or ability
Level 1: Some inclination towards self-learning and core abilities of self-learning
Level 2: An autonomous learning system that supports the learner but can be superseded by the human educator ( an AI fluent SmartEducator)
Level 3: The Autonomous learning enabling system requests to be superseded by the human educator ( an AI fluent SmartEducator)
Level 4: A fully autonomous learner that can function well in limited domains ( cognitive geo-fencing)
Level 5: Fully autonomous learner with the right dispositions and skills
The second element is the educator.
The most important quality desirable in a modern 21st Century educator is one of being a lifelong learner. Educators are lifelong learners that develop other lifelong learners. They appreciate that transferring the knowledge of subjects ( and preparing for terminal Board exams or entrance tests for further education) is far less important than fostering a desire to learn, the ability of learning to learn fast , and building of learning power.
Sir Anthony Seldon called on educators everywhere to open their eyes to the fast approaching revolution in Artificial Intelligence, and asked if we are ready to embrace this revolution and shape AI to the best advantage of education and humanity as a whole. The impact of AI is acknowledged in the NEP2020. “23.8. This policy has been formulated at a time when an unquestionably disruptive technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged. As the cost of AI-based prediction falls, AI will be able to match or outperform – and therefore be a valuable aid to – even skilled professionals such as doctors in certain predictive tasks. “
But adopting the Ostrich policy, it ignores readying educators to use it in educational applications. However like the Giraffe, we wish to stick out our neck to see what’s coming, and prepare ourselves for that. Inspired by Newton who said that “ If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”, we are building on the foundations already laid down by others.
Anthony Seldon in his book referred above has said that Artificial Intelligence will significantly transform education, and that educators should take a lead in the deployment of AI in education. In analogy to the 5 levels of the learner, I have proposed 5 levels of the future ready educators.
These are :
Level 1: Progressive Educators
Level 2: SmartEducators
Level 3: AI-familiar SmartEducators
Level 4: AI-fluent SmartEducators
Level 5: AInEd Evangelist
Descriptors have been created for each of these 5 levels, and programs have been developed to reach each of these levels.
To be at Level 1, the educator seeks knowledge and information on Educational innovation including pedagogies, good practices and uses digital resources to keep up with the changing paradigms of education.
To reach Level 2, of SmartEducator I have created a suite of 4 one weeklong programs that can be comfortably pursued using WhatsApp with mobile phones in one month. For details visit : https://mmpant.com/smarteducators/
These are :
WLL09: Becoming an Independent Educator
WLL10: WhatsApp for Educators
WLLL11: Artificial Intelligence based Teaching-Learning
WLL12: Educational Leadership in the age of Artificial Intelligence
At this stage, most educators, especially those who do not have an irrational fear of computers would want to learn about AI in some depth and try their hands working with AI applications in education, and even developing some new AI based educational solutions themselves.
To be at Level 3, there is a one month program with the following 4 weeklong courses:
AIFSE01: The Landscape of AI in education
AIFSE02: From Data to Learning algorithms
AIFSE03: Learning to learn AI/ML
AIFSE04: Deep Learning for educators
Further information about these courses can be seen at : https://mmpant.com/aifse/
At the end of the term, having done these 4 courses they are ready to become “AI-familiar SmartEducator”.
Those who are now motivated and excited to learn more and at depth, will pursue the following two weekend courses:
AIFSE05: Emerging Technologies in education
AIFSE06: Hands on AI experience
Having done all the 6 courses as well as a project of AI application in education, they will qualify for “ AI-fluent SmartEducator”.
The 5th level of AInEd Evangelist is achieved by being a Practioner in the field for a few years, and having written books, delivered training programs, workshops etc. to help spread AI awareness amongst other educators. Both educators who have become adept in AI technologies and AI professionals who are interested in education and have applied themselves towards learning interventions will comprise membership of this category.
Having described in detail, the levels of the educator, it is now time to share the full list of dispositions and skills at each level of learner autonomy. Here is a framework that is ” Made in India, but made for the world”.
Level 5: (10 skills) Fully autonomous learner with the right dispositions and skills
- Developing foresight
- Identify Self-learning needs
- Set self learning goals
- Effective Decision making
- Research competence
- Ability to teach others
- Developing dispositions for success
- Avoiding stupidity
- Ideas: their creation and dissemination
- Computational Thinking
Level 4: (10 skills) A fully autonomous learner that can function well in limited domains ( cognitive geo-fencing)
- Identify your own learning needs
- Set learning goals to address those needs
- Identify experts and mavens in your domain to follow and get inspiration from
- Curate appropriate resources to achieve your learning goal.
- Process the knowledge resources to achieve your learning goal
- Apply appropriate learning strategies
- Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy
- Finding your Ikigai
- Evaluate the outcomes of your learning
Level 3: (10 skills) The Autonomous learning enabling system requests to be superseded by the human educator ( an AI fluent SmartEducator)
- Cognitive Flexibility
- Negotiation Skills
- Complex problem solving
- First principles
- Social Learning/ Peer Learning
- Multitasking
- Information Management
- Team orientation
- Attention to detail
- Digital presence and communication
Level 2: ( 10 skills) An autonomous learning system that supports the learner but can be superseded by the human educator ( an AI fluent SmartEducator)
- Using mind maps
- Learning agility: learning, unlearning and re-learning
- Ultralearning
- Google search skills
- Using AI apps for better learning: text to speech, speech to text, machine translation
- Learning from YouTube
- Using an app to get the text of an audio or video narration
- Grit : determination to overcome one’s barriers to learning
- Open mindedness
- Knowing your element
Level 1: (10 skills) Some inclination towards self-learning and core abilities of self-learning
- Creative thinking
- Critical thinking
- Fact checking
- Effective learning techniques
- Time Management
- Avoiding/ overcoming procrastination
- Learning from WhatsApp
- Learning from other mobile Apps
- Learning from MOOCs
- Enhancing the span of attention (focus)
Level 0: No self-learning disposition or ability.
The 50 listed above can be acquired by joining a self-learning for future readiness program given at : https://mmpant.com/mfr/
Finally the third important element of this paradigm shift is the role of parents.
This is acknowledged in the initial part of the NEP2020 document.
“1.1. Over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6, indicating the critical importance of appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in a child’s early years for healthy brain development and growth.”
That is why I have often said that the home is the first school, the mother’s lap the first classroom and the mother is the most important and effective teacher.
An educated and informed mother is therefore the best assurance of a child’s holistic development in the foundational years. As universal secondary education is achieved, almost all parents ( with appropriate online remote training modules) will be able to fulfil the learning needs of their own children at the school stage. And when the GER of 50% is achieved, all parents will be able to build self-learning capabilities and life-long learning dispositions in their children. A desire to learn, and the mindset and capabilities to learn very well.
The paradigm of the Kothari education commission (1964) that ‘ the destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms’ would have changed to the new paradigm of ‘ the destiny of India is in the hands of its children, their teachers and parents’.
In the coming years, learning will not be only at the formal School, College and University, but continue throughout life. Karl Jung had pointed to the need for the ‘School for the 2nd half of life’. We have created a set of 4 WhatsApp delivered weeklong courses towards this goal. Details are given at: https://mmpant.com/msai/
To get such lifelong learners to start their learning journeys, we have created a suite of Weekend Evening one hour talks that facilitate good learning techniques and thinking skills that are detailed at: https://mmpant.com/weet/
For those who have a sudden urge to learn, we have a set of 3 one hour courses that can be joined anytime. More information at: https://mmpant.com/atl/
Quantum Technologies including Quantum Computing are progressing very fast, and this is the right time to prepare a Quantum Ready workforce. We have accordingly developed a suite of 5 courses towards this. They are QR1: Quantum Readiness, QR2: Quantum Concepts, QR3: Quantum Computing, QR4: Quantum Botany and QR5: Quantum Technologies. More details at : https://mmpant.com/qr/
When the British started ruling India, they enquired as to how education was organised in the country, and were told that it is organised by the community. And they took a decision that such community based learning must be replaced by state delivered education and the community delivered education must be declared illegal. Mahatma Gandhi had criticised this, but to date we are continuing with the British model, with a few occasional cheers for Finland.
Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to win the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics for her work demonstrating the effectiveness of the community than either the Government or the private corporate sector. In pursuance of her work, and forced by the Covid 19 pandemic, I have seeded a learning community to explore social and collaborative learning for the 3rd decade of the 21st Century. It is a unique group where members propose what they want to learAnd other members of the group work to create explanatory content of 10, 20 or 60 minutes,with links to curated additional resources. It functions primarily as a WhatsApp group. To join the group, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724
In the realm of Physics, the earlier paradigm is called ‘ Classical Physics’ and the first decades of the 20th Century saw the development of Quantum Mechanics. In the field of learning, we may refer to education models till the 20th Century as ‘traditional education’. Since the new Science of Learning is to develop now building upon the advances in Machine Learning and Neurosciences, I refer to the innovations that we will see during the coming decade as ‘Learning 321’ for Education in the 3rd decade of the 21st Century.
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