Last week, we had the opportunity to speak with two institutions—the Colégio Dante Alighieri in São Paulo and the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas in Mexico—as well as Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, at events organized by Bett and Cisco.

What these organizations have in common is that, when the pandemic forced schools and universities around the world to close, they already had experience using technology in educational processes—even if only on occasion—to supplement in-person teaching practices.

Does that mean they were ready to provide high-quality emergency remote learning? Everyone says no, not at all! It was a time of great learning. Teachers, administrators, and IT staff had to join forces and figure out, “What do we do now?”

The fact is, they had the foundation they needed to get started. They didn’t have to debate which learning platform to use, or whether they would hold synchronous classes, or how they would go about it. As a result, it seems they cut a long road to starting their remote work—which relies on technology to function—and simply figured out what worked best as they went along.

And what are these organizations doing nine months after schools closed, even with some partial reopenings in Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay?

They are implementing new forms of formative assessment and consultative assessment; they are using data to identify which students need more support; they are implementing initiatives to personalize learning based on this data; and they are considering changes to the curriculum to make it more engaging and better suited to the 21st century. They have come to understand that anywhere can be a place for learning, but that school is the premier setting for socialization and a space for developing 21st-century skills.

They discovered which content students learn best on their own, and when they need help from the teacher. They saw that teachers are indispensable even in a 100% remote learning environment and that they need to stay up to date. And the teachers, in turn, created mutual support groups and realized that technology will not replace them, but is their ally.

It may seem that these findings are exactly what education theorists and the webinar participants themselves already knew would be the future of education. The difference is that, in these institutions, these new practices have become the present. We already have significant examples of large institutions in different countries—and even a nationwide program, such as Uruguay’s Plan Ceibal—which, even without knowing one another or exchanging ideas, have followed similar paths.

If this is already the reality in so many places, we can say that personalized education—which uses technology to bring people together in flexible settings, uses data to set priorities, reflects on its teaching, socialization, and assessment practices, and in which teachers engage in lifelong learning and support one another—is already a reality, and schools that are not doing this will quickly find themselves at a disadvantage, both in terms of market competition and in terms of what public school systems offer their students in terms of effective learning.

If the path taken by such diverse organizations has been so similar—and is so closely aligned with what theorists predicted—we can conclude that we are already beginning to glimpse the future of education. Other institutions that invest in reflecting on their work facilitated by technology will likely follow similar paths.

And if the future is already here, new demands for a quality education will arise, because the world never stands still.

May schools reopen as soon as possible and may technology continue to empower teachers and bring people together. That way, we’ll make the leap in quality that we all need.

 

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