{"id":14786,"date":"2018-05-11T02:25:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T02:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelitek.com\/?p=14786"},"modified":"2024-04-08T16:39:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T21:39:07","slug":"what-is-education-4-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intelitek.com\/2018\/05\/11\/what-is-education-4-0\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Education 4.0?"},"content":{"rendered":"
In the last 250 years, society has experienced four Industrial Revolutions, which have entirely changed the face of industry as we know it. Here at Intelitek, we believe that the changes in industry should and must have a direct impact on the way we build the education system for today\u2019s students. If your goal is to create students who can become valuable members of the workforce and independent problem solvers, educational paradigms need to be rebuilt alongside each new revolution in society.<\/p>\n
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In 1780, the invention of the Steam Engine by James Watts changed the workforce forever. Suddenly, manual labor was less in demand, as machines were able to complete jobs faster and more accurately. New jobs working machinery were created, and families moved from the countryside to the city, from agricultural life to a life of industry.<\/p>\n
These kinds of jobs were in demand until around 1900, when the production line became popular during the second industrial revolution. Soon, workers all had their own role to play in the production line, with expertise in one small area, instead of end-to-end knowledge about a product. The production line improved efficiency, and allowed for high quality products to be sold cheaply to the masses. Notably, Steel production heralded the creation of Skyscrapers, Railways, Electric motors, and more. Society had changed again.<\/p>\n
Just 70 years later, the computer brought a third industrial revolution. The rigid systems of the production line were suddenly made flexible, and computing quickly spread across all industries, from Agriculture, to Banking, Management and Shipping.<\/p>\n
In 2000, the ubiquitous nature of the Internet ushered in the fourth industrial revolution, the Connected Computer. Connectivity between systems has made remote working and collaboration a possibility, allowing businesses to become global enterprises, and retail to explode internationally with the help of production, shipping and finance online industries. Society has adapted to be more social, more knowledgeable, and many believe the world is a far smaller place than ever before.<\/p>\n
If we look back at how education has changed since the first industrial revolution, we might better understand the challenges for students and teachers today.<\/p>\n
In 1780, there was little to no expectation that children would have any education whatsoever. People learned a trade, typically with on the job apprentice training. Where it existed, education was a luxury for the rich. Later, when the second revolution occurred, industry needed skilled workers, who needed to be literate in order to be valuable in the workforce. Suddenly, an education was needed. And this education system, founded on the needs of the second industrial revolution is in many ways still in place today.<\/p>\n
Based on earlier life learning models, schools taught knowledge. Students came in with no knowledge, the teacher fed them information in specific subjects and at the end, the student was tested to evaluate if they remembered what they were taught. This fostered a rigid framework of study disciplines, education standards and eventually standardized testing. A production line!<\/p>\n
The introduction of the computer did not change the underlying ethos behind our education system. Instead, education professionals simply took advantage of the technology and replaced teachers with computers, enabling teaching, learning and assessment to be handled by machine. While long distance learning and a vast amount of information is now accessible thanks to the Internet revolution, the structure of our education system has still been left unchallenged. Learning outcomes are still being tested by the criteria set out in the second industrial revolution. We are still treating educators and students like they are part of a production line.<\/p>\n