Remote learning is a phenomenon that has penetrated our educational system in 2020. Covid-19 emptied our classrooms, so schools were forced to provide online alternatives. Fortunately, a lot of great tools, like Microsoft Teams and Zoom emerged, which provide us with the opportunity of attending virtual classrooms. Not only virtual classrooms have become a crucial part of education. We use grading tools, educational games, plagiarism software, attendance checks, communication tools, and lots more. US Tech Giants are becoming more and more important stakeholders in educational systems over the world. Not only do they provide software tools, but they also have their own philosophy regarding the way we educate our students. Reoccuring themes among companies like Google and Microsoft are that we should shift focus from knowledge-based to skill-based learning and focus on ‘personalized learning’. A question we should ask ourselves, is: what role do we want businesses to fulfill in education?
‘The future of learning will be profoundly social, personalized, and supported by teachers and technology.’ This is how Microsoft foresees the ideal future of education. By putting more focus on emotional and cognitive skills, students will not only be ‘work-ready’, but also ‘life-ready’.
For private-sector businesses, profitability and efficiency are some of the most important factors. With their vision, the private sector can have a major impact on making education more efficient, and, more generally speaking, make younger generations more resilient towards challenges that our future will bring. A problem with public schools is that, although it’s clear a lot of educational systems are outdated and non-efficient, reform is very slow.
On the other hand, do we really want big tech companies to impact our educational systems? A major issue that should be considered is that one can have little impact on private companies. In our public system, one can vote for a party that serves one’s interests when it comes to one’s preferences regarding education. It also might be out of place to have a foreign company’s vision taking on a major role in a child’s education.
Another important factor is that companies are economically driven, so their goal will possibly be to educate in a way that will enhance skills best suitable for economic purposes that align with their own businesses.
Privacy is another issue people are concerned about. By learning interactively from a very early stage, with devices like the iPad, all information is being saved and added to a profile. This profile could take over the teacher’s view on the level of a pupil.
Taking everything into consideration, schools should be openminded as well as critical towards tech companies and their interference in the educational system. They should consider if the visions of both parties correspond. I think the keyword is cooperation. The publicly arranged school system must partner up with tech companies to develop a shared vision on how upcoming generations can be educated to deal with challenges the future will bring.
References:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2018/06/20/the-three-steps-to-make-google-vision-for-education-a-reality/#1ab6b39973aa
https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2020/08/disruptions-and-opportunities-navigating-hybrid-education/https://
www.microsoft.com/en-us/education
https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/
