The Future of Education @ ASU + GSV Summit 2020
Building it forward: Key takeaways at the leading ASU GSV education summit
Two months ago, I attended the virtual ASU GSV conference. Battling differing timezones and a few hours of shut-eye, I was thrilled to actively engage in key discussions of an immediate experience that all students could relate to virtual learning. A collective of minds across tech, education and venture convening in a conversation weighted in the pace and disruption of a pandemic that determined an unpredicted reality of online schooling, zoom calls and prolonged attention spans. Situated in a digital experience along with a coffee cup filled with optimism, I found myself reflecting upon these three takeaways after a week of learning.
- Reframing approaches to education
Attitudes towards edtech from the offset determined the rate of adaptation and the success of shifting to an online system of education in ‘building it forward’. The unprecedented set of events forcibly compelled institutions to accept, adapt and adopt within weeks, signalling an ostensible requirement for a remodelling of the education system rather than that of pure resistance; identified in colleges armed with bins of sanitisers and wet-wipes in persisting with in-person classes. Markedly, choosing to optimise for arising opportunities rather than withstanding the threat of change differentiated early movers from institutions that carried an undeniable burden from holding onto the former system of on-campus learning. Embracing the pandemic-proof and online education system has accelerated the digitalisation of education by approximately 15 years and with the calcification of the prior system to a more personalised approach has drastically shifted such views. Additionally, market opportunities exist for dealers to innovate with the experiential goal of simulating the social element of the college experience. Identifying that a market exists for ventures to provide solutions tailored to self-organising student bodies to recreate aspects of the college experience in remodelling the socialisation element via communities.
2. Leveling the playing field
Equity is a sound problem that has been further elevated given general divisions within accessibility that has already pervaded this space. This is evidenced by the have and have-nots: those who have privilege to choose and those who can opt in for online-classes given the technological resources and capabilities. The privilege of choice serves as a great divider that further drives a deeper wedge for those less equipped with immediate assistance. This does however accelerate our thinking and creativity regarding how education is viewed with solutions that are built out-side-the-box to ensure equality of opportunity. Curriculum offerings through low-cost alternatives and personalised learning tools are the way forward. Take Datacamp, Quizlet and Khan Academy as supplementary solutions to bridging knowledge gaps and as study aid tools. I can attest to the effectiveness of such tools in supplementing learning and forging an environment driven by personalised self-learning in bridging necessary gaps.
3. Leveraging AI to improve student engagement and success outcomes
Core capabilities of teachers alone have consistently been challenged with the involvement of AI. I too have questioned the particular use-cases and interplay of education with tech. It’s interesting to say that the role of a teacher becomes more important than ever. We identify this in the question and answer capability of online classrooms that clearly points to the success of teacher and student interactions. However AI plays a key role particularly in situations of testing.
Alina Von Davier brings forward the success of blending AI with psychometric testing. The environment has validated efficiency of measurements and learning e.g. Duo Lingo, is a unique test where all test development, administration is artificial intelligence based. The role of teachers stands concrete in ensuring feedback loops, ongoing interaction and delivery where the role of AI is set apart as a virtual teaching assistant-described as a mere tool deployed if anything. From the panel, Sergey Karayev at Turnitin puts that it is of assistance with certain tasks i.e. grading, data extraction and grouping. AI doesn’t replace the grading functionality rather it assists the role of grading i.e. grouping individual responses, without removing teacher feedback and agency. Edtech has evidently become a hot topic driven by the advances of AI in service of speed, scale and consistency.
As we shuffle the deck of cards, the Edtech space becomes increasingly driven by the availability of choice and the efficiency of time- the market of learners want choice and variability. Increased adaptive use of data, pathways to new skill sets, which leads to increased market opportunity.
For all these points of regard, I have come to value the weight of the conversations discussed at ASU GSV to serve as timely reminders of repurposing how we think ahead. Thinking ahead in the Edtech space, given that predictive measures of success are disrupted by the advent of unexpected circumstances. And a dreg of thought lingers as my coffee cup sits empty- If not now, when! To think ahead, is to innovate with the new system and to bridge the gaps existing.
