FOTE14: Dave Coplin 'The Future of Education'
A few weeks ago, researchers at Harvard University, announced the results of an incredible project that enables computers to understand human thought, albeit at a very rudimentary level (the computer was able to understand a single word when the human thought of it). Minutes after the announcement, the world of social was filled with the dystopian visions of digital mind-control and telepathy and before you knew it we were locked back into a conversation that is essentially about the battle for power between humans and machines and how should be wary of our new digital overlords.
Of course, I don’t think the future will play out in anything like the sorts of scenarios that we see in the movies but I am continually bemused as to why we, as a society, so often see this as a conflict. Why is it always about humans vs machines when surely the whole point of what we have been doing for the last decade (although I would argue we’ve been doing it for much longer) is about the incredible opportunity that lies in front of us when instead we think about the potential of humans plus machines? A place where the technology does not replace us, but instead lifts us, it augments our capabilities to help us achieve and do more.
This conversation is becoming more and more relevant in education, if we are to prepare our children for the future world of work, we need to start thinking very differently about the skills they’re going to require in order not just to survive, but to thrive.
The world of technology is going to present more and more challenges to our workforce, as it becomes more powerful it will drive further disruption. This is a world where, when fed with enough data, the algorithms will be answering our emails, planning our projects and more of our working tasks will be automated such that we can sit back on our ample backsides and bask in the glory of all that we have created. It’s usually at this point, someone hits the big red button labelled “panic” and we all start worrying about our jobs because after all, the computers can do all this stuff better than us can’t they?