It is already known.
The pandemic left behind
a strong educational impact
: students who lost valuable learning, others who dropped out of school, the gap between "integrated" and "excluded" widened like never before.
At the same time
, work was transformed
and not only because there is more
home office
.
Companies are changing, as are the skills they require from their employees.
This disturbing scenario is the framework in which the International Congress of Educational Innovation, the largest education meeting in Latin
America, is taking place these days, until Wednesday, in the city of Monterrey, Mexico
.
Organized by the Institute for the Future of Education of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, the congress brings together
more than 4,200 people from 36 countries
, including specialists, teachers, educational development entrepreneurs, NGOs, and authorities from educational institutions and governments.
It is an annual congress that
returns to full attendance
after 3 years and where there is little presence of Argentines.
International Congress of Educational Innovation, in Monterrey, Mexico.
You can see, yes,
a lot of enthusiasm
in the spacious and very modern campus of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, where keynote lectures take place, as well as presentations on more than 500 educational and research innovation experiences, panels, book presentations, workshops, spaces for "networking" and presentation of posters by educators and experts from different countries and institutions around the world.
The call aims to
address the most urgent challenges of education for the future
and, in this sense, what the experts highlight most in their presentations is that as a consequence of the pandemic
, changes
in the type of jobs demanded and the ways in which companies and organizations are organized, and that
facing this requires a profound change in education
that responds to this global transformation.
Meeting of teachers at the International Congress of Educational Innovation, in Monterrey, Mexico.
Change of model
Michael Fung, of Singaporean origin and executive director of the Institute for the Future of Education, explained it this way: “255 million full-time jobs were lost worldwide due to Covid, another 85 million will be lost two years from now. cause of automation.
Faced with the many disruptions of these years,
education has to improve and evolve
if it wants to remain relevant," he said.
"We have to go from a preloaded model -16 years of basic education for the student to eventually apply that knowledge in a labor market that already changed when he finished studying- to
another more flexible model and lifelong learning
," he added.
Michael Fung, director of the Institute for the Future of Education, at the International Congress of Educational Innovation, in Monterrey, Mexico.
And he continued: “Education does not have to end in high school or university.
And it has to be
for a wider audience,
including those who have to re-enter the job market.
Academic institutions must be
more agile
and respond to
the needs for new skills that industries demand
”.
The expert Gary Bolles, author of the book
The Next Rules of Work
(The next rules of work) among other works, emphasized that the current educational system is based on an industrial model that no longer exists.
And that it must correctly adopt
the new technologies that help to adapt to the new global scenario.
“Traditionally one divided his life into three segments: learning, employment and fun.
There was a time for each of these segments.
Today we are going to a model in which
all of this is combined
and everyone has their own portfolio of learning/employment/lifelong fun.
At the same time that we work, we learn and we can entertain ourselves.
It all goes hand in hand.
You have to see it as human energy and the challenge is how we channel it.
This is also a challenge for education,” she said.
Gary Bolles, author of the book The Next Rules of Work, at the International Congress of Educational Innovation, in Monterrey, Mexico.
Consulted by
Clarín
about future work scenarios, especially in countries like Argentina, Bolles emphasized the need for training.
"In the United States we have 10 million jobs open and we are missing 6 million people. In other words, for many people there is a lot of work and yet others cannot find work.
That is the trend of the work of the future
. Those jobs demand better skills, knowledge of digital technologies, ability to solve unique problems, and now if you trained in the old way of working
you will be less prepared to find a job
".
the black swan
In all the conferences and talks in Congress, the issue of
ChatGPT
was present , the new chatbot created by an Elon Musk company with a
very powerful artificial intelligence
that is capable of
creating complex answers by itself for any type of question
and that opened the doors to unthinkable scenarios in the world of education and work.
Gary Bolles described it as a
“black swan”
(unexpected events that have a great impact) such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, and that it will have a
strong impact on the world of education.
He explained that this chat is already capable of passing medical exams at universities and the challenge that this implies for all educational institutions.
Will it go back to pencil and paper tests?
Meeting of developers of educational technology projects at the International Congress of Educational Innovation, in Monterrey, Mexico.
Nina Smidt, director of Siemens Stiftung, an NGO that is in charge of promoting STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and that although she was born in the Siemens company, today it has become independent from it -Smidt clarifies- said that education It is an essential human right and that, today, cannot be guaranteed
if it is not through a STEM perspective
.
In short, without students having
a good command of knowledge in those disciplines.
He also emphasized that these skills must be taught not only in basic education, but also to adults.
And especially, to those
of the most vulnerable sectors.
From the NGO that he directs, he explained, they put together a network that already brings together more than 180 educational institutions (universities and foundations) that provide educational solutions of this type in 14 countries.
In Monterrey, more than 120 of these institutions that promote STEM learning came together.
exponential technologies
Through the corridors of the International Congress of Educational Innovation there is much talk about technology.
And above all of the so-called "exponential", which cause great changes in a short time.
Of course
applied to education
.
An attendee at the International Congress of Educational Innovation tests a holography solution for the classroom.
There is a contest to determine
which is the best "Edtech" project
(educational technology) and samples of different advances and projects, from holographic teachers to virtual, augmented and mixed reality applications, immersive learning and through avatars in the metaverse.
It is
a world of opportunities
for businesses linked to the broad and growing market of education but, at the same time, a preview of many of the changes that we will soon see in many educational institutions as well as in other types of organizations that will take advantage of the fact that
the Education will be throughout life.
From Monterrey, Mexico
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