The Internet is Changing Education as we Speak

Aug. 31, 2014 - PRLog -- Peter Legrove will be giving a speech to his daughter's school about the future of education as it could evolve. The internet has changed the world as we know it, but education is a bit slow to change. Just remember the mighty dinosaur was replaced by a rodent the size of a cat. At the moment we do not know what is the dinosaur or what is the cat.

Hello parents, students, teachers, Members of the Board, I'm after a bit of information, thank you.

Has anybody here had anything to do with the Khan Academy, please? Khan spelled K H A N, Thank you, thank you. Has anyone taken part in the Khan Academy, please?

Now, we are at school so you can raise your hands. Thank you, thank you.

Now has anyone got any idea what a MOOC is, please. M O O C thank you Has anybody actually done a MOOC. Thank you.

Raise your hands please we are at school, thank you.

One more thing 'have you heard of “The Hole in the Wall Project” thank you.

OK thanks.

Now my question to you is. “How can you steer this school into the future, when you do not even know what the present situation in education is?

We are at school now, so for homework preferable tonight or this week, but definitely before you make any decisions on the future of this school, google, yahoo, bing or whatever search engine you use.

Khan Academy and watch one of the videos, or better still watch one with your daughter. Khan academy was one of the first threats to the schooling system of today. It started when one person wanted to help his school age relatives to get better at math. And it has now gone around the world. Khan Academy started in 2006.

Next up google MOOCS and find out what they are, then do one or better still, you and your daughters do a different one each. So you know what the present situation in education is. MOOCs area disruptive technology, that is upsetting the entrenched bureaucracy of the established education industry around the world. MOOCs are changing education as we speak. They are less than three years old. If you do not understand what a Disruptive Technology is, there is a MOOC about it. Do it and find out the future.

Now we move onto the “Hole in the Wall Project” An internet connected computer was put in a slum in India to see how the slum kids would react. And they taught themselves English with no teachers, no textbooks and no classroom. They knew English was important so they learned it. The kids taught themselves and each other. Do you know what this means for your daughters? It means your daughters are competing with the slim kids of Calcutta. To find out more, google it. This project was the winner of the TED talks award in 2013. To find out more go to TED talks and listen in on some of the videos, they are usually only 15 minutes long and are very informative.

Your daughters are up against the lifelong learners who learn math from the Khan academy, get qualifications doing MOOCs.

Theinternet has leveled the playing field in ways you cannot even imagine.

The top 10 most in demand jobs in 2013 did not exist in 2006.

That means life long learning is the future. The jobs your daughters do after they start their working life have not been invented yet. There are two skills your daughters need to survive the future in any profession. Does anybody know what they are? The first one is typing at 60 words a minute plus. Can your daughters type at over 60 words per minute? It looks like video is taking over the future, but the internet is still text on a page. And you have to type to put it there.

The internet is information and to absorb the information you need to survive the future. Your daughters need to be able to read fast and understand what they are reading. Therefore speed reading is part of your daughter's arsenal for the future. And these two skills you have to learn yourself. Your daughters should start learning these skills now in their spare time, because they will need them.

After the financial crisis of 2007 the world changed. The middle class was destroyed, now the middle class is dead. How does that affect your daughters? Primary school prepared kids for secondary school, secondary school prepared students for university and university prepared young adults for the middle class. Now there is no middle class. If you want to find the middle class you have to go to Asia, Russia, China and India and possible South America. In Europe, America and possible in the Pacific the middle class is dying.

So you can ask, why send your daughters to university, when about half what they learn is obsolete before they graduate. Why let your daughters go into student debt when there is no guarantee of a job. The future is lifelong learning. So what do your daughters going to do. At present university is still on the road to the future and it is still recommended. But for how long.

The system we have in place now does not prepare you for the future. To become a master in your chosen field you need to do 5,000 hours of learning. To become a grand master you need 10,000 hours of learning. Start reading now and doing MOOCs.

The future is Asia. After your daughters graduate from university let them have the option to go to China, Russia, India or possibly South America, to teach English so they can also learn the language. The languages of your daughters generation are Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish, and Portuguese for Brazil.

The future of this school is in the choices you make, but before you make them, google it.

Thank you for your time.

Peter Legrove http://animalsdinosaursandbugs.com