Why Technology will Shift the Culture of Education for the Better

Technological advancement leads to more widespread and inexpensive access to technology. Computers eventually made their way into our households and gave people access to new capabilities and tools.  The same thing is happening with fabrication technology, biology, hardware, and so on. Additionally, the interface with these technologies becomes better suited to our use (ex. we no longer have to program computers in assembly language.)

One of the most aspects of this (which we’re closing in on) to me is the implications for education.

The metric for a student is primarily grades; society emphasizes grades and tests scores more than anything for a student.  If anything, grades are a metric for a student’s ability or penchant for academic learning, as well as a metric for “doing as you’re told.”

This is all well and good (or not), but it’s only one scale for measurement.  In my biased opinion, it’s also not the most important scale.  In fact, I think it’s pretty clear that there is a huge disconnect between education’s measurement system and the “real world.”

What we need to emphasize to students is the importance of real skills.  However, this message will never get across as things are now; the metric and culture for comparison is the synthetic system of grades and test scores.

To prove the disconnect and problem: universities, particularly the top universities, don’t focus on grades and test scores.  It’s secondary; “well you did well enough in school, but what did you really do? what’s the evidence that you’re capable of producing real value? “  However, the measurement system for students causes the culture to not focus on building tangible value and skills.  Consequently, many students are very confused when it comes to building and presenting a solid application to admissions offices (I used to work in MIT’s admissions office, I spoke to a whole lot of them).  Universities are much closer to the “real world”, and thus have a better perspective on the scales for assessing an individual.

Due to the developments I’ve listed above, students are capable of doing real work.  They are able to gain access to technologies that allow them to learn and use real capabilities.  Scalable access enables the development of an educational culture that focuses on a student’s portfolio of work. Personally producing something of value is a totally different set of skills.

-Kevin
4.5.2010