Calling for an Educational Revolution: For the sustainable future we want

Editor's Notes

• #2: Calling for an Educational Revolution: For the sustainable future we want 14 September 2016, UNISA, Pretoria, South Africa Introduction I am honoured and delighted to be invited to speak for the UNISA council. UNISA is a lighthouse, a flagship for fair, open and distance education – not only in South Africa, but in all regions of the world. I am sure UNISA also will be in the future, for inspiration for all of us. While UNISA is looking at strategies for the future – ICDE has a similar process – to have decided a new Strategic Plan for 2017 – 2020. I am happy to share some of the observations, analysis and suggestions from that work. Never before has the world been up to such recognised, big challenges as today, addressed by the new Sustainable Development Goals – and never before have the need for building a sustainable future through innovation of education been more important. At the same time, never before have the opportunities for building a sustainable future beneficial for all been better. When we look at higher education – enrolment globally has doubled since 2000 – and shall according to forecasts more than double towards 2030. In Africa south of Sahara, the numbers are expected to be even bigger. The elearning market is this year stipulated to more the 165 billion USD – and is according to World Economic Forum expected grow to amazing 255 billion USD in 2017 – it is booming. Many new actors enter the educational market place offering all kind of technology supported education. How can we ensure that this future educational market – for students will be the fair, accessible, affordable inclusive, equitable and offer the quality education we want? Having artificial intelligence, cognitive technology, robots and big data in mind, how can we ensure that the future development in education will be in the interest of humanity, in the interest of people, will follow sound ethical standards and defending education as a public good? For education the situation is that while our leaders have agreed in ambitious goals, SDG Education 2030, the first status shows we are far from achieving them if things continue as now. Key targets set to be met by 2030 ,like “Universal Upper secondary completion”, will in Sub-Saharan Africa first be reached after 2100. The situation is so serious the UNESCO calls for a “fundamentally change if we are to reach our global development goals”. The Globe has got a framework for joint actions for Education 2030 – now we need to see that the issues we are up against are understood, the directions are right and a number of sound actions can create that educational revolutions we need – for the sustainable future we want. This speech will after a brief introduction of ICDE, give a rough picture on how South Africa is seen from the outside – through a number of indicators, then I will outline those trends that ICDE observes as important for educational development, in particular higher education, the next years. Next will be to summarize how the new SDGs address education as a priority for achieving the future we want, including indicating state of play, based on the recent Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report by UNESCO. Quality education is a key for Education 2030 – and initiatives relevant for higher education that will be rolled out by UNESCO and ICDE will be discussed. Finally, the key messages based on this overview will be summarized: A call for an Educational Revolution for the sustainable future we want Quality first: quality digital, open and flexible education Collaboration: on all levels, on content, courses programmes, methodologies, infrastructure, internationalisation…. Take leadership for change: for the future we want – lead educational transformation
• #28: What before was in the margins, open and distance learning, is now going mainstream in large parts of the world, materialised as online, blended, open, flexible, technology enhanced and e-Learning. Convergence is here, followed by increasing competition (and collaboration) and diversity in higher education. While this is the main trend, the situation in some regions will provide a different picture, e.g. in parts of the south. Digital transformation is challenging the relevance of educational institutions and services all over the world, so also for ICDE members and those that have been in the distance and open field for a long time. While digitalisation is penetrating all fields and all regions, the pace and situation is different among regions, between developed and developing countries and within nations. Skills and the relation education - employment, is becoming an increasingly hot topic around the world and in different contexts. The new SDG 4 puts utterly pressure on massification and the relevance of sustainability for education, to achieve the SDG goals. Lack of resources or lack of understanding of the concept of online, open and flexible education is observed in some parts of the world as a major threat to scalable quality higher education both on a national and institutional level, and therefore also as a threat towards SDG 4. Quality, quality assurance and accreditation have become more important than ever and are top priority issues – having the alternative in mind. New developments as OER and MOOCs have been championed by ICDE member institutions, e.g. Athabasca University, Canada, coining the term MOOC in 2008, and Maryland University College introducing an OER based curricula up to Bachelor degree, August 2015. Through new methodologies and concepts becoming mature, such as learning analytics, Big Data, MOOCs and new online education systems, a real shift to adapted, personalised learning and assessment – with great progress for student success – is becoming realistic, though – it is not a quick win or low hanging fruit. This development opens up for pedagogical changes and improvements in a number of other areas, e.g. curriculum content and design. Open University, UK, provides an annual overview “Innovating Pedagogy”, exploring new forms of teaching, learning and assessment, to guide educators and policy makers. In the report “Online Education: A Catalyst for Higher Education Reforms” (2016), the MIT Online Education Policy Initiative suggests that education is on the brink of a revolution caused by convergence of outside-in and inside out research. Ref. the figure below. Collaborating on learning-related work across disciplines through an integrated research agenda could yield powerful advances in optimizing online learning experiences, the report suggests. ref: http://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-releases-online-education-policy-initiative-report-0401