After two full years of the global pandemic, we all experienced remote work, school closures, protests, elections and many other stressful things. Truth be told, today we need education more than ever, but its future has never been more uncertain. When things calm down, what do you think education will look like?
Luckily, we have the internet and its many experts to bring discussions and explore the future of education for us. Let’s see how education has changed and what path is it aspiring to take in the upcoming years and decades:
Future of education after the pandemic
The pandemic did a lot of things to our society, but the main difference we have today is the heightened gaps and disparities in education and pay. It’s definitely necessary to reimagine how our systems work and what kind of schools, instructions and instructors we have. What many experts concluded is that schools have no idea about what kind of lives their students lead and what kind of attention they need. If the schools of the past spent more time on getting familiar with students and staff, today we would have been enjoying establishments designed to fit our needs. We recognize this mishap today, and hopefully, the schools of the future will know just how to recognize the identity of students and take their health into consideration when designing quarters, curricula and tests.
Remote learning
Many teachers and parents don’t like the idea of having technology in the classroom, thinking that it makes students lazy and disconnected. However, technology in the 21st century is not a privilege—it’s a requirement. And the truth is that thanks to technology, kids and adult can have their own classroom anywhere and anytime. It’s possible to have students collaborating on projects who are thousands of miles away. Remote learning also allows sick students to stay at home and heal while not falling behind at school. Technology doesn’t only provide us with a world of knowledge at our fingertips, but it also connects people and allows inclusivity.
“Soft” skill teaching will rise
Modern machines are very smart and can take over different human jobs. However, what is inherently human, such as our social and emotional skills, will become irreplaceable and very sought after, especially in the workplace. The rise in demand for these soft skills also pushes the need for better education in these fields. For instance, it is expected that Ethics will become an essential skill in the future, especially niches like AI ethicist required by the companies looking to develop and use AI in ethical ways. Workplace diversity experts will also become a viable career path for the future.
Modular buildings
The pandemic demands social distancing and immediate action when it comes to adapting spaces for students’ use. This means we need to come up with more space almost overnight and give students more privacy and better health opportunities. The solution of the future hides in modular classrooms that provide communities and investors with accelerated project timelines, better prices and less disruption. These classrooms are indistinguishable from traditional ones and can be 100% permanent. What sets them apart is that they can be designed, installed and ready to welcome students and staff in as little as 90 days. If there’s ever a need for more space for distancing and more classrooms for smaller groups, modular is the way of the future.
Better focus on skill-based education
The pandemic thought us the importance of immediate skill training and all the opportunities it gives to people. It is more than obvious that 4-year degrees are not the only option for young, aspiring professionals—community colleges, vocational schools and workforce training centers offer a lot of opportunities for different people in need of education and skill. And since most jobs require education beyond high school, it’s necessary to stay in school at least a bit longer. Community colleges of today offer strong vocational education, but in the future, they will certainly adapt to teach the next generation of technologies and vocations. It is expected that the change in the economy will finally lift up community colleges and give them the recognition worthy of true centers of learning.
Need for flexibility
The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the main causes for the shift in the education sector, especially when it comes to flexibility. It’s crucial today and tomorrow for schools to develop curricula that are flexible and aligned with new educational practices. Teachers already made adaptations to many changes, and almost 90% of educators report that they improved their ability to use technology since the pandemic started.
Many experts and leaders in education predicted that the sectors will have to become more flexible soon, but we didn’t even know how strong is the need for flexibility actually was. In the past, many educators have already petitioned for system flexibility, especially when it comes to replacing classic four-year degrees and liberal arts systems of function. The approach called “badging” or “micro-credentials” allows students and working professionals to pick up new skills and knowledge without having to go back to school for real. These skills usually include popular fields like 3D printing, human-centric design, programming, robotics, nanotech, AI, VR, AR, etc.
Better testing and teaching thanks to VR and AR
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have the potential to completely change education and push the learning systems towards complete personalization that was once the stuff of science fiction. It’s not possible to change certain milestones in education that are age-specific, but it’s possible to allow students to gather in a virtual environment wherever they are located and expand their limits of traditional education. With skill-targeted testing, it’s possible to group students who need more help or can handle advanced learning in a VR space. These kids and adults can have access to expert instructors with specific knowledge, so the school doesn’t have to employ these educators directly—it’s much more cost and time-effective.
Education is the key element of human existence and formal education won’t go anywhere in the perceivable future. However, we can expect many aforementioned changes to emerge as soon as tomorrow in schools near you—we have an exciting future to look forward to.