The evolution of civilization challenges the academic and
educational system of civilization since the birth of logic and science. Even during the time of the great philosophers
from the lyceum of Aristotle to the modern philosophy and logic, education is
still finding the right approach on how to deliver the right avenue of
communication to the general public from the past until to the present
civilization. Educational system around
the world are still in a dilemma on the application of the knowledge attained
by students from academic institutions that are not so relevant in the modern
industries and civilization of today.
Different approaches and modern techniques of educational system are
brought to the limelight of the academic world to cater the present challenges
of many educators around the world.
Many
of the educational institutions today focuses more of their academic practices
in terms of TESTING but not TEACHING. A
famous educator and researcher in the field of education is Sir Ken Robinson
who is interested more of researching and preaching the hiccups of education in
terms of the academic evolution of civilization. During the time of the industrialization age
were industries in Europe requires human resources that are capable to achieve the
task given in order business industries starts to connect more vividly with
educational institution to upgrade future professionals in coherence to the
actual job requirement of the industries in Europe at that time. Thus, in the field of business for example,
the academic study of business is only segmented into one area of study in
business and economy. But due to the skill
and knowledge requirements of the industries the evolution of many segmented
studies and expertise of business turns out to be more specific in nature. Thus, the study of business today is segmented
into different areas like marketing, finance, economics, computer business, and
many other new relevant fields that will corelate to the continued broadening
of the scope of operations and study of business.
Business further reaches to the academic discipline
of engineering granting that the study of business and logistics touches many
aspect of engineering studies specifically in computer engineering and modern communication. In this blog article I just simply cited the
example of business study granting that I am teaching in the field of business
but considering the empirical observation of Sir Ken Robinson, not only
business studies are expanding their horizons of study connecting with other
academic faculties like business to engineering but almost all sciences are
already intertwining their studies and practices to achieve new and higher
ground of innovations and discoveries to create surprising products and innovation
for the present society. Moreover,
business who sell the new products created by engineers and scientist tends to
follow the basic law of product life cycle that by the modern time obsoleteness
is more rapid and competitive in nature that replicating and copying of distinct
features of certain products are just overnight. As such, the bubble of education and academic
practices applied to modern businesses starts to get more complicated. The challenges of actual classroom testing open
that dilemma that students can actually get their answer from “google” but not
from the textbook given or the teacher in charge of the class. Thus, we cannot deny the fact that during actual
examination testing many are opening their google accounts and finding the
right answers across the web. Indeed,
many educators today are in trouble of finding the right testing materials for
the students that even though the learners will use the internet or not still
it will test their analytical skills and reasoning.
Thus, many academic institutions today are enhancing
their testing materials. Relatively, changes
in testing materials will also change the approach in teaching. At this point collaborative teaching and
testing program using the internet will make the learning more wide and
colorful. According to Sir Ken Robinson
education system today needs revolution instead of evolution. This concept occurs
when creativity of education integrated with the use of internet technology and
learning. The behavior of students today
differs in a huge manner in terms of how they acquire their references in
satisfying their academic predicaments. According to Guy Claxton “Helping young
people to become better learners, both in school and out. It is about creating
a culture in classrooms and in school more widely that systematically
cultivates habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty and
uncertainty calmly, confidently and creatively.” Moreover, Robinson further implicates
that in building learning power there are three fundamental beliefs from the ideas
of Claxton that educators must consider. First, is the core purpose of
education is to prepare young people for life after school; helping them build
up the mental, emotional, social, and strategic resources to enjoy challenge
and cope well with uncertainty and complexity. Second, the purpose for education
is valuable for all young people and involves helping them to discover the
things that they would really love to be great at, and strengthening their will
and skill to pursue them. Third, and the last is this confidence, capability,
and passion can be developed since real-world intelligence is something that
people can be helped to build up.
Now how can academic institutions relate and
communicate to the modern learners using the internet infrastructure, one of
the best example that Sir Robinson stated in his publication as an example for
e-learning online is the educational program of Khan Academy. Robinson cited Khan
Academy program with a respected pedagogy that learning is from your mistakes
with a creative process and outcome.
Students are subject to errors that traditional learning process and
testing failed to consider. Learning
from errors allows the mind of the students to open and be creative. The concept of learning from mistakes drives
the idea that creativity doesn’t require perfection. Going back to the concept of traditional
school testing, one student may always consider that perfect score is relative
to 100% learning. Though the mean for that is high but due to the diverse
situation of learning now a days one can consider that education can’t be uniform
anymore. In the concept of the US
program of education “No Child Left Behind” we cannot say that everyone is
perfect to the program of the government.
There is always a child that is left behind but it does not mean that he
is not smart in the academic discipline given but maybe his inner qualitative
personality doesn’t fit to the academic learning given. Thus, many academic institutions today consider
greatly the psychological capacities of learners enrolling the given academic
discipline knowing that many learners who are in a certain program for example
are not fitted to the academic teachings and activities. Robinson greatly adhere to the modern concepts
of creative learning comparing the huge difference during the time of the industrial
revolution were learning is uniform in terms of teaching and testing. But as modern science and arts integrates its
system by using internet as a medium of communication Robinson’s concept of
independent and creative learning widens the horizon of future learning and
collaborative research uplifting the arts and sciences and its impact to the
modern society.
The adaptation of
Lesikar’s system in business communication from the book of Kathryn Rentz,
Marie E. Flatley, & Paula Lentz proves that modern internet and computer technology
can enhance the business communication study and learning across the supply
chain. Furthermore, continued learning during
the professional learning process e-learning are creating a bigger opportunity
for professional learners to interact online with other professional learners
both in the actual business and in university campuses. Thus, more recent theories and researches are
being applied to the educational system of many countries around the world
affecting to the overall knowledge and academic performance of the overall
civilization affecting the actual living conditions of mankind. The activism in terms of learning and
education of Sir Ken Robinson resonate to many new theories hoping to adhere to
the call of modern education.
For
example the fundamental curriculum framework of Cambridge communication
publication are based from the theory of “Bloom’s Taxonomy” that comprises the
six components of remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and
create. With all these areas of Bloom’s
Taxonomy of learning critical thinking and empirical research learning
atmosphere must be the main outcome of the learning process by allowing the learners
to engage in evaluative and analytical task that are designed to ensure they do
all of the thinking and information-gathering required for the end of unit writing
or reporting in oral presentation task for example.
With the all the educational approaches of
Lesikar, Benjamin Bloom, and most importantly Sir Ken Robinson, the activism of
modern approach of teaching relative to modern approach of student learning continue
its evolution since the industrial era.
The bubble of the academic degrees will burst as to the need of Masters
degrees from BAs are required and Phds from Masters are required. In the future according to Sir Ken Robinson,
the skill will matter most in terms of the performance of the given HR
professional relative to the job specification given by companies rather by the
achievements of the diplomas. What are
the next challenges of teachings and academic learning that will give a great
impact to civilization?
Bloom's Taxonomy
Sir Ken Robinson
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