Education 4.0: Future of Learning With Disruptive Technologies

Introduction

Global connectivity, smart machines, and new media are some drivers reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and how we learn and acquire the skills to work in the future. The concept of a “100 year life” becoming the norm, and the majority of that spent studying and working, means that learning will be more important, and different, for next generations. Most people will have at least 6 different careers that will require fundamental reeducating, whilst the relentless speed of innovation will constantly require new skills and knowledge to keep pace, let alone an edge (Fisk, 2017).The basic purpose of education and training is to empower an individual to lead a successful life and contribute best to himself, family, society, nation and humanity.

Since youth are the main asset of any nation, education becomes the most powerful tool for social transformation. India's demographic structure is transforming, while the world grows older, the Indian population is becoming younger and by 2025 about two-third Indians will be in its workforce (Fisk, 2017). A constantly growing older world offers a huge opportunity for talented and competent young generation as this older population will retire making way for youths to come in the mainstream. To reap full advantage of this transition, the youth need to be prepared by higher quality education thus making them most productive. Therefore, the system needs transformation completely.

The current system of education comes from the Prussian system which was designed to create good employees and obedient soldiers, who blindly follow orders and always need to be instructed. This system was not designed to teach students to follow orders and not to think.(Schrager 2018)

A few pertinent questions are:

• (i)

  Whether India's higher education is “relevant to the era”?

• (ii)

  Why should a student pay for education, when he is unable to earn his livelihood after getting his 'Degree'?

• (iii)

  Why should a student attend classes, when more updated knowledge is available to him via outside resources?

The World Economic Forum @ Davos-2016 announced the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and predicted 'major shift about the future of jobs'. Disruptive technologies, driven by Industry 4.0 have been adding more fire to the already volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous world and effecting our lives, our relationships, and what future of jobs.

The technological breakthrough is rapidly moving the frontiers between the work task performed by humans and those performed by machines. We are in transition, the learner is at the epicentre of a futuristic learning ecosystem. It is expected that “Education 4.0” is likely to require paradigm shift in

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  Demand-led instead of supply-led education which means that education should be as per what students want and their requirements rather than following a set established pattern.

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  Competency-based instead of knowledge-based which requires that education should be such that matches the competence of students and should be customized as per that.

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  Incorporate disruptive technologies &skill-sets which requires focus of education to be skill based rather than a normal standardized pattern.

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  Lifelong learning instead of front-loaded learning which means that topics taught should be such that students are able to apply it practically and it stays with them throughout rather than just confining the knowledge acquired in their brains only.

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  Emphasis on EQ than IQ alone so that the youth is emotionally stable and sensitive enough to empathize rather than just running in a rat race.

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  Focus on purposefulness, mindfulness leading to overall Happiness & Wellbeing leading to creation of a positive world.