Something More than a Gimmick

“The old model of education where you go to college for four years and coast for the next 40 just doesn’t work in today’s world,” Andrew Ng on CNN Tech.


In order to stay competitive, workers must be ready for ongoing change. What does that mean to someone who has worked at the same job for years? Even in tech, there are people who have been doing the same thing for 10 years despite evolving technologies.
More importantly, what does this mean for the future of education?
For one thing, it means a constant learning path much like the one Oracle had in place for its consultants. Each year every consultant was required to take a course in something new. This is how many of them got into Cloud computing or big data management even before the buying public saw the need for trained personnel.
Those courses were instructor-led either in person or remotely. Now with virtual education that could be enhanced with interactive learning environments, the learning process could be greatly changed. Add Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the mix and you may have a real opportunity to move personalized business education forward.
Like ABC Mouse for children, business education could be more fun to use. Enriching the experience with interactive videos, maybe even games and other learning tools, these would certainly cover how more people learn. AI could provide a back end that allows users to interact with the educational tools in a sophisticated way and personalized to their skills and interests.
The idea is to enhance generic skills that will be required for accommodating broad, changing demands of jobs. Problem-solving, communication, group work, and generalized understanding of evolving technology and its applications are expected to be skills required to retain jobs in the future. People who have been doing the same jobs the same way may find themselves at a loss to cope.
This new approach will not necessarily eliminate the need for teachers. No matter how supportive a virtual environment may be, no matter what the AI features are, there always comes a time when human guidance or assistance is required. Still, the manner in which educators relate to students is likely to change. Even if AI progresses to the point where a virtual teacher is assigned to every student, what is the likelihood that the “teacher” will be able to handle the student? After all, at the moment AI is still learning to climb stairs.
In the face of evolving technology, we must all be ready to adapt. We must, at least, monitor the proposed changes to our environments. Virtual reality and AI are tools that will expand their reach. Still, change is, as we know, the only constant.