How To Fix Education (Part 1 — The Future Classroom)
In the previous two articles, I discussed why the classroom model is obsolete and why we are in desperate need of a new learning model that better serves the purpose of education. This model has been discussed since as early as 1993 but only with the most recent technological advances has it become viable.
Flipped Classroom
In 1993, Alison King published “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side,” in which she focuses on the importance of the use of class time for the construction of meaning rather than information transmission. While not directly illustrating the concept of “flipping” a classroom, King’s work is often cited as an impetus for an inversion to allow for the educational space for active learning.
The picture below illustrates the typical classroom model: a teacher at the centre of the classroom where the focus is on transferring information from the teacher to students.
The next picture illustrates the flipped classroom. Here students work alone or in groups and take learning into their own hands. They use online learning resources to engage actively and grapple with the content. The teacher’s role changes from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”. The teacher’s role is to act more as a facilitator to answer questions and guide the social process of learning. However, at its core, it involves students using online resources on their own or in a group to cover a syllabus.
Not only is this model orders of magnitude more effective than the traditional approach when done right, but it is also orders of magnitude more scalable and cost-effective.
Active and Self Driven Learning
The platform the student uses should encourage active learning. Brilliant and Datacamp are exceptional examples of how to implement active learning. There is very little distinction between theory and application in these platforms, whereas traditional education involves a 50-minute lecture followed by some questions. Brilliant and Datacamp ask questions after every small bit of theory, problems and challenges are baked into the very nature of content delivery. When you learn like this, it feels less like you are memorising a formula and more like you are creating knowledge from first principles. It is deeply rewarding and incredibly effective at causing students to remember things for longer.
I cannot understate the importance of active learning, it is truly the only way to learn, and we waste 90% of our education sitting in classrooms and consuming information. If there is one thing we should prioritise about the current education system, it is eradicating passive learning from our schools and universities.
The subtle shift of putting the student in charge of their own learning is immensely powerful. It illustrates to the student that they do not need to be dependent on their teacher or one source of information to learn. They have access to an uncountable number of resources that they can pull from. Additionally, we help students build their confidence. Knowing that you can grasp a concept by yourself means the next time you fall behind it’s less scary, the next time you make a mistake on a test you can self-adjust without needing expensive tutors.
Enabling the educational content of the future
There is already educational content available online for free, which simply blows 99% of content taught in schools out of the water. There is no better explanation about linear algebra than 3Blue1Brown’s YouTube playlist. Why should we put up learning from, at times, awful teachers that can ruin entire subjects for people when there are some of the most inspirational teachers teaching the most exceptional lessons ever created at the tip of your fingers.
There is a company I think at the forefront of understanding this: https://www.outlier.org/. They take the best lecturers from the best universities globally and produce high production value university courses whose credits can be transferred. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I see a future where educational content is made with the same budget and production value as blockbuster movies.
In the US alone, the education industry is valued at $6T dollars. The size of the entire global movie industry is a mere $33.8Bn in comparison. That is 0.56% of the education industry, and with that, we are able to create some of the most-watched and engaging content in human history. From movies like Interstellar to works of art like The Tiger King 😉.
could you simply imagine what education could look like if the education industry stopped wasting trillions of dollars recreating the same content year after year and rather centralised it’s efforts and created it once!
So many other benefits
There are so many other benefits of this approach that I simply do not have the time to explore.
- Flipped classroom requires fewer teachers! Meaning it is cheaper to set up and scale (This is how we educate the billions in Africa and SE Asia that do not have access to education)
- It can be done remotely!!!
- You create the potential for hyper-personalised adaptive learning tailored to the needs of each student.
- Students can simply press the pause button and rewind if they do not understand something!
If there has been one benefit of COVID-19, it has accelerated the adoption of this model. It has normalised the idea that students do not need to be in a classroom in order to learn effectively. Yes, of course, the flipped classroom has its challenges, and it is not all sunshine and rainbows; however, at the core, it is just a better model at equipping students with the tools they need to lead happy, meaningful lives.
This post is part of a 30-day writing challenge I am doing. Every day for 30 days, I am posting an article of at least 500 words. If you notice that I miss a day, I will buy you lunch.
