Mrs. Akhila Prabhakaran presented on reimagining education. She discussed how the current education system needs change to become more learner-centric and adaptive. She highlighted issues like lack of quality teachers and faculty, lack of employable skills in students, and absence of updated curriculum aligned to global standards based on surveys. She proposed building an education ecosystem that focuses on learner-centered approaches, uses technology to enable collaboration, understands social contexts of learning, improves teacher development, and leads to broader outcomes beyond standardized testing. She envisioned self-organizing learning centers that are integrated with communities and businesses to continuously improve based on evolving needs.

1. REIMAGININGEDUCATION
8th February 2020
F R O M A U T H O R I T A R I A N T O D E M O C R A T I C E D U C A T I O N T O T H E G O A L O F L I B E R A T I O N
Presented by
Mrs. AKHILA PRABHAKARAN
IISc Bangalore

2. REIMAGININGEDUCATION
8th February 2020
F R O M A U T H O R I T A R I A N T O D E M O C R A T I C E D U C A T I O N T O T H E G O A L O F L I B E R A T I O N
Presented by
Mrs. AKHILA PRABHAKARAN
IISc Bangalore

3. 2
Reimagining Education
Current Education System (What?)
• History, Purpose and contemporary relevance
• Case for Change
Building an adaptive learning ecosystem (How?)
• Organizational Transformation
• Technology driven collaboration and engagement
• Understanding the Social context of Learning
• Teacher Education, Development, & Leadership
A broader set of outcomes (Where to?)
• Student Centered Learning
• Broader Learning Ecosystem
• Emergence of Self-organizing centres learning
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

4. 3
Education – History and Scope
• In the beginning, for hundreds of thousands of years, children educated themselves through self-directed play
and exploration. (world)
• Ancient India had the Gurukul system. (India)
• In America, in the mid 17th century, Massachusetts became the first colony to mandate schooling, the clearly stated
purpose of which was to turn children into good Puritans. (World)
• The modern school system was brought to India, including the English language, originally by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay in
the 1830s. (India)
• Madras Presidency had 11,758 schools, and 740 centers for higher education in the Presidency, and with the exception of a few
European missionary schools were funded and managed at a community level. (Minutes on Native Education, in 1822 and 1826, Sir
Thomas Munro) (India)
• “Factory model of education” – Buckets, assembly lines, age-based cohorts, whole class instruction, standardization
• In recent times, the methods of schooling have become less harsh, but basic assumptions have not changed. Learning continues
to be defined as children's work, and power-assertive means are used to make children do that work.
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

5. 4
Education – Purpose
• Social order, awareness and upliftment
• Equip learners with a sense of purpose, knowledge, skills and values
• For individual and collective well being
– Access to material resources (income, wealth, job, housing)
– Quality of Life (healthcare, civic engagement, social connections, environment, life satisfaction)
• Provide manpower for science, technology, academia and industry
• Research & Higher Education as twin foci of universities
• Should result in full development of human personality and character
• Happy minds and thoughtful leaders
• Make a positive impact to society
Character is the most precious gift of education A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

6. 5
Case for Change – Global Surveys
Teachers
• The world needs 68.8 million new teachers to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. (UNESCO Institute For Statistics, 2016)
• 77% of teachers feel they are in an innovation hostile environment. Talis Global Study, 2018
• 81% of teachers said they have considered leaving teaching in the last year because of the pressures of workload. National Education Union Survey, 2018
• 66% of parents fear their child will not find a job. Baker Dearing Trust, 2015
• 46% of parents are worried that their children are unhappy. Sturgeons Parent Survey, 2017
Parents
Business
• 88% of employers believe school leavers are not prepared for the workforce.
British Chamber Of Commerce Workforce Survey, 2018
• 4 out of 10 employers in the EU report difficulties finding employees with the
right skills. OECD, Getting Skills Right, 2016
Students
• Only 36% of millennials feel they have the knowledge and skills they need
to thrive in economy 4.0 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 2018
• 87% of teachers wish that school prepared children to make a positive difference to
society, but only 36% think this is the case. Big Change YouGov Survey, 2019
• It’s going to take another 100 years for children in developing countries to reach the education levels achieved in developed countries.
(Brookings, Why Wait 100 Years, 2015 )
• At the current rate of progress it will be 50 years to reach an equitable education system. Education Policy Institute Closing The Gap, 2017
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

7. 6
Case for Change – India Surveys (continued)
• Over ½ billion people in the age group (0-26) by 2020.
• India needs close to 370 thousand new teachers to meet its demand for primary education. About
3 million recruitments will be required for the same by 2030. (UNESCO Institute of Statistics –
2015)
• Indian higher education system is now one of the largest in the world, with 51,649 institutions
GER – 26.3% Target – 32% by 2022
• Admissions rate at IITs has been < 2% for years, while other prestigious institutions like the
Christian Medical College, Vellore admitted a miniscule 0.25% of applicants in 2015.
• 374,520 applicants competed over 800 available seats in MBBS programs at India’s top-rated All
India Institute of Medical Sciences in 2018.
• Inbound degree seeking students: 44766, Outbound degree seeking students: 277387 (World
Education News and Reviews)
• More than 70% of Indian students in the U.S. are enrolled in STEM fields.
• India’s engineering programs pump out some 1.5 million graduates annually, but many of these
alumni cannot find quality jobs.
• Unemployment rate is highest among youth with education until diploma (37%), graduate (36%)
and post graduate and above (36%) [Kotak 2019]
• Agriculture sector employs the most people in India, accounting for 44% of all jobs. [Kotak 2019]
India aspires to take its place beside the United States and China as the third largest economy by 2030-
2032. Our ten trillion economy will not be driven by natural resources, but by knowledge resources.
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

8. 7
Case for Change – National Agenda (continued)
SOURCE: 2019 Deloitte Deans Survey
10.1
27.5
34.8
43.5
63.8
78.3
79.7Lack of quality faculty
Employability of students
(when they graduate)
Absence of fresh curriculum that is
benchmarked with global standards
Lack of global perspective
Lack of quality jobs
Increasing fees
Others
Problems faced by Higher Education in India (Deloitte Deans Survey)
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

9. 8
Case for Change – What is Needed? (continued)
• Meet the rising demand for education
• Reduce cost of access
• Improve quality of education, which will be a key part of the
transition to the knowledge economy
• Understand and restructure evaluation mechanisms for
learners, institutions and teachers
• Social and emotional skills (soft skills) including cultural
awareness and empathy, perseverance and grit, teamwork
and leadership, among others
• Need for an effective system with engaging, integrated and
flexible approach to learning
• Relevance of skills and achievements in the current context of
technological advances, major social and environmental
changes and globalization
• Align with global sustainable development goal – “inclusive,
equitable, quality education & promote lifelong learning”
A system that advocates lifelong learning– beyond standardised testing, skills assessment and careerism
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

10. 9
Building an Adaptive Learning Ecosystem
Redesigning
Learning Spaces
Technology
driven
collaboration and
engagement
Learner-centricUnderstanding
Social context of
learning
Teacher
Education
development
and Leadership
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

11. 10
Redesigning Learning Spaces
Teaching environment preferences for specific course-related activities and assignments
SOURCE: EDUCAUSE Faculty Study 2019
AI / Analytics Driven Student Success Tools
• Alerts for declining progress
• Suggestions about new or different academic resources
• Suggestions about how a student can improve performance
• Guidance about courses students might consider taking in
the future
Integrated Technology Experiences
• Communication Technologies
• Reliable Access to Wi-fi throughout campus
• Online/Virtual Technologies
• Support for getting work done remotely
• Web conferencing
• Security and Privacy
• Physically re-arranging classroom seating
• Smart display devices
• Access to mobile devices in classrooms
System wide Policies
• Online and blended degree/certificate programs
• CRM for covering student lifecycle
• Technology adoption
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

12. 11
Technology Driven Collaboration and Engagement
Increased accessibility
• MOOC
• Mobile learning
Innovative Learning Spaces
• Blended Learning Designs
• Adaptive Learning Classrooms
Engaging content
• Augmented Reality, VR, MR
Securing the learning footprint
• Blockchain
Transforming the ecosystem
• Analytics
• AI
• Virtual assistants
Incorporate, Evaluate and Upgrade Technology driven learning tools
Accessibility
(Accessibility standards, user-focussed
participation, equipment, cost-of-use)
Functionality
(Scale, ease-of-use, tech-support,
hypermediality)
Integration
With LMS, responsive design,
privacy and security
Social Presence, Teaching
Presence and Cognitive Presence
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

13. 12
Understanding the Social Context of Learning
• Integrate with Community (Community-centric Learning Goals)
• Integrate with Businesses to redesign curriculum to address skill gaps
• Communities of Learning” (CoL) that encourages schools that are
geographically close to each other to work together as a network in
addressing a shared student achievement challenge
• Systematic understanding and analysis of need for funding and integrate
it will community partners (CSR) and local government to enable
prioritizing community and national goals in curriculum
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

14. 13
Teacher Education, Development, and Leadership
The quality of higher education faculty performance is critical to society. University faculty are also top producers of innovative
research, enhance disciplinary progress, contribute to institutional visibility, & are the largest contributors to scientific progress
• Need faculty trainers and leaders to develop capacity and create support system for educator training
• Faculty Development programs especially in Higher Education, need to be aligned with learner expectations
• Align classroom technology with faculty teaching preferences
• Capitalizing on personalization, participation, and content creation
• Centers for learning excellence in higher institutions with new roles like instructor, content designers and learning specialists who plan,
delivery and assess learning experiences and interface with corporate and community requirements
• Evaluate and improve based on making the learning process much more dynamic, creative, and generative
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

15. 14
Restructuring Institutions
Incubators
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

16. 15
The Future: Student Centered Learning
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

17. 16
The Future: Broader Education Ecosystem
Collaborative design and delivery of
knowledge and need based evaluation
National Policies
Globalization
Community
Businesses
Continuously
evolving
learning goals
From formal
curriculum to need
based courses and
assessments
Instructional Designers and Learning
Specialists with Researchers, tutors,
course and lab assistants
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

18. 17
The Future: Emergence of Self-organizing Centres of Learning
Design Courses/Curriculum
• Collaborative Design and Decision Making (new roles and courses envisioned)
• Curriculum that is recalibrated to standards and constructively aligned
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles incorporated in all courses
• Active lecture design
Delivery process
• Mastery-focused classrooms
• BEST evidence teaching approaches
Feedback loop / Improvement
• Learning and teaching analytics
• Reflection based upon multiple feedback sources (not just student feedback)
• Criterion based assessment
• Learning strategies for students
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

19. 18
Key Takeaways
• Institutions are learner-centric, self-organizing centres of learning
• Students (parents/community) and teachers are co-creators of knowledge
• Learning goals and curriculum is integrated with contemporary community needs
• Critical thinking, independent inquiry and quest for learning – recognized as goals
• Integrated centers of learning excellence work with corporates to strike a balance between
learning and job-readiness
• Evaluate and measure success based on parameters that simplify, sustain and grow
the ecosystem
• All agents continuously incorporate, evaluate and upgrade technology driven learning tools
• Recognize teachers as lifelong learners and the most important agents in the ecosystem
dedicated to the goal of creating lifelong learners
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N

20. 19
तत् कर्म यत् न बन्धाय, सा विद्या या विमुक्तयय।
आयासाय अपरं कर्म, विद्या अन्या शिल्प–नौपणमर््
— श्रीविष्मणपणरामे प्रथर्स्कन्धे एकोनविंिोध्याय
That is action, which does not promote attachment; That is knowledge which liberates.
All other action is mere effort/hardship; all other knowledge is merely another skill/craftsmanship
A K H I L A P R A B H A K A R A N