It seems as though education is ripe for change right now, for the precise reason that it hasn’t changed for so many years. Originating in the industrial age, a shift in education is far overdue.

With the financial situation not permitting an increase in education budgets (which would only bring about marginal change anyway) and increased competition in the job market, where degrees and doctorates are no longer a ticket to employment, it’s understandable why people are questioning the education establishment.

Growing disparity between rich and poor in New Zealand, with the 7th highest wealth gap in the OECD, is also a catalyst for conversation in this area. People are beginning to point to an old education system for the answers, and increasingly they’re demanding a better solution.

More than catch up

As a democracy, we may not be obligated to share our wealth and belongings with the less fortunate, but at the least we have a responsibility to offer equal opportunity. In today’s competitive world, opportunity starts with education. There are many components that make an education system democratic, the most important aspect being free schooling for all students.

Second to that is offering a consistently high and indiscriminate standard – which today means technology that is ahead of, and not behind, the current trends. It also means ensuring that a school’s decile rating and socio-economic situation don’t factor into the offering that students receive.

A new direction

Where education is concerned, bureaucracy is always a challenge. We have an established hierarchy of teachers, administrators and then government bodies who may or may not have a clue as to what constitutes an effective technology strategy. This leads to a “design by committee” approach which can cause the more bold and endearing options to be lost.

With technology, it becomes a battle to balance costs and buy new equipment. We often encounter the argument in which one side says that we’ve already got enough computers in our schools, and the other that we need more. The way I see it, the solution is neither. We need to instead look at new ways to make this technology useful, integrated and universally accessible – not simply more abundant.

The tools

First, we can start at the top, with a nationwide computer strategy. Now, I’m not sure how the current system works, but as far as I know each school is given a budget with which to buy technology in line with the school’s requirements. The trouble here is that the onus falls on each school to find and finance their own computers.

If we want a common standard, we could start by offering common tools, financed on a nation-wide level. This would help us cut costs and also pave the way toward a more cohesive e-learning system that was common across all schools.

Branching out

I feel that the view of many schools is that an effective technology strategy means more computers, and maybe other hardware like cameras too, as if a school can be considered more in line with the times if it invests in the latest machines.

But it isn’t the hardware that students value at all. It is the systems and the software behind these computers that either helps, or in some cases hinders, learning. It is irrelevant how many computers a school owns. It is how they’re used – actively, by students, and not just in theory – that is important.

I can imagine a system, as others have more comprehensively envisaged, in which every class lesson is the branch to a plethora of other leaves – extensions and reinforcements upon the core topics covered in that class.

Think about science as a tree, if you will. Every student can access this tree through a personal account on a web browser, in school or at home. The growth of this tree is tracked and logged, the progress visible to student and teacher.

Every time a new concept is introduced to the students at school, a new branch sprouts out. This branch, when accessed, contains an overview of the topic in question. And from this branch are leaves, each leaf a sub-topic off the core branch.

The content of each leaf is a mixture of media, with the most relevant diagrams, text and video accompanying each idea.

At a glance

This concept is not new, by any means. The Khan Academy has already begun offering a similar model that I believe has a lot of potential. But what we really need is a tailored solution, one designed for the New Zealand curriculum.

If we are prepared to embrace these tools and ideas, I think we’ll quickly realise that this technology is not very radical after all, but a natural evolution of education that keeps pace with the changes in our lives outside of school.

Here’s how, at a glance, I see such a system benefiting New Zealand education:

• Students can easily see where they are in their learning and in which areas they’re succeeding or require more work. Teachers have a similar view of progress and can direct their students accordingly when in class to reinforce certain areas or offer extension.
• Gone are many textbooks and photocopied handouts, instead this material exists as leaves on each student’s learning network.
• For those who are behind or who wish to move ahead, they can do so with confidence, knowing that what they are learning is in line with the standards of the curriculum.
• Resources would be comprehensive and media-rich, offering videos, diagrams and quizzes for students that are even more reliable and up-to-date than the text books and lesson plans of today.

There are certainly more reasons, as there are obstacles which I haven’t addressed here. What I really want you to realise is that education can be exciting and straight-forward, democratic and individual.

As the way we communicate has changed time and time again in the last few decades, and the capabilities of technology has outgrown the humble PC, it’s about time we consider how education can adapt to reflect our evolving way of life.