Anthony Seldon in his book “ The fourth Education Revolution” says that only three education revolutions can be said to have occurred in the last 3 to 5 million years. Schools and Universities today would be recognised today by our forefathers as far back as the year 1600.
Most of this will change with the 4th education revolution that is taking shape. Education 4.0 harnesses the latest digital technologies ( Blockchain, AR, VR, MR, AI and Machine Learning etc.) and pedagogical research ( NeuroScience, Cognitive Science to enhance teaching learning and assessment.
The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by 2030. Goal 4 about education is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. The slow progress in achieving SDG Goal 4 so far is reminiscent of another important target, about 140 years back.
The U.S. Constitution required that a population count be conducted at the beginning of every decade. This has been happening since the year 1790. As the country grew, each new census required greater effort than the last, not merely in collecting the data but also to compile it into usable form. For the processing of the 1880 data, it was realised that it was nowhere near completion until 1888. It was then that a new technology of Hollerith punched card was introduced and the count then proceeded so rapidly that the work was completed very soon. This later evolved into the famous IBM company. IBM led the way in perfecting card technology for recording and tabulating large sets of data for a variety of purposes.
The fifth education revolution will be driven by the desire to achieve SDG Goal4 by its planned target date.
Five features of education 5.0:
Shift of focus from teaching ( by educators in an authority driven and regulated educational system, directed by mandatory educational policies) to learning by interested and motivated learners who seek experiences and opportunities for lifelong learning.
Such experiences and opportunities will be most readily available in the Metaverse.
Shift from certificates that depend on performance in monolithic exams like board exams to an on demand demonstrations of cognitive and other intellectual abilities of a parson, at anytime.
Accelerated Learning: to catch up with the rapid growth and expansion of the frontiers of knowledge. This will facilitate the rapid development of a Quantum Ready workforce.
The movement towards the fifth education revolution would be driven by the Science of Learning, perhaps the youngest Science, based on advances in Neuroscience and a better understanding of Artificial General Intelligence.
Towards being ready for education 5.0, I have created a suite of courses that can be accessed with a mobile phone on WhatsApp, whose details are given at mmpant.com
Prof. M.M.Pant has a Ph.D in Computational Physics, along with a Professional Law Degree, and has been a practitioner in the fields of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation.
Drawing upon his experience in world class international institutions and having taught in various modes of Face-to-Face, Distance Learning and Technology Enhanced Training, Prof. Pant is now exploring the nature of institutions which will be successors to the IITs, which represented the 1960s, IIMs, which represented the 1970 and Open Universities which were the rage of 1980s & 90s.
He believes that the convergence between various media and technologies would fundamentally alter the way learning would be created, packaged, and delivered to learners. His current activities are all directed toward actual implementation of these new age educational initiatives that transform education in the post Internet post WTO era..
Prof. Pant, has been a Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has been on the faculty of IIT – Kanpur (the premier Engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and Faculty & Visiting Professor - University of Western Ontario-Canada.
He has been visiting scientist to research centers in Italy, England, Germany & Sweden and has delivered international lectures with about 80 papers published.
During his association of almost 15 years with the IGNOU, Prof. Pant has served as the Director Computing and has been the Member of All Bodies (i.e. School boards, Academic council, Planning board, Finance committee and the Board of management).
With his interest in Law, backed with practice of Law in a High Court, and his basic training in Science and IT, Prof. Pant has been particularly interested in the Cyber Law, Patent & trade mark issues, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues etc. and has been involved with many activities, conferences on “Law & IT”
Prof. Pant is presently;
• Advisor to Media Lab Asia - Chairman of working group on ICT for Education, chairman of PRSG handling projects on ICT for education.
• Lead Consultant for an ADB funded project for ICT in Basic Education in Uzbekistan
• Member of the drafting Group for India’s National Policy on ICT in education
• Chairman of the group creating books for class 11 and 12 students on ‘Computers and Communication Technology’ appointed by the NCERT
• Preparing a ‘Theme Paper” for the NCTE in the area of ICT and Teacher Training
• Advisor and mentor to several leading Indian and Multi-national Companies in the area of education.
Prof. Pant has in the recent past been ;
• Member – Board of Management – I I T, Delhi for 6 years (two consecutive terms)
• One-man committee to create the Project Report & Legislation for Delhi IT-enabled Open University
• Advisor to the Delhi Government on Asian Network of Major Cities Project (ANMC-21) distance learning project in association with Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
• Chairman Board of Studies, All India Management Association
With his mission to create and implement new business opportunities in the area of e-learning & learning facilitation, Prof. Pant has promoted Planet EDU Pvt. Ltd., as its Founder & Chairman, along with a team of highly experienced and skilled professionals from Education & Training, Operations, IT and Finance.
