Microsoft giant shares his vision for the future in education IT
Mitch Benson, Worldwide Industry Manager for Education Solutions at Microsoft, gives his views on a much broader understanding of the future of ICT and e-learning in education. Mitch recently presented on this topic to the LSDA Northern Ireland conference.
Do we really know this generation of students? I don’t think we do. We all have a lot of work to do as business people and educators in understanding what our ‘customers’ expect? How can we be certain we effectively combine the learning outcomes we expect with the expectations students bring into the learning experience?
Many teachers walk into classrooms and tell students to turn off their iPods and mobile phones. I believe these devices can be used as useful tools for learning. Today’s students live in a world radically different from the one we grew up in. We should be taking such devices and turning them into useful tools for learning where interactive feedback is received by students from teachers; where supplemental resources, or courses themselves, are distributed, and where communities organise to interact. The idea that e-learning is a ‘bolt-on’ tool is antiquated; it should be fundamentally embedded in our approach to learning.
Why is this approach important? We do a lot of thinking about the future world of work at Microsoft because we need scientists, engineers and skilled, critical thinkers. So do the rest of the worlds’ employers, governments, and service organisations. The need to provide a well-educated population of employees and citizens is critical to a long-term, positive future. I don’t have all the answers. Nor do most of you. Empowering workers and citizens with information is more than giving them software and more training. We need to make it easier for people to leverage their talent. Together, I’m certain we will forge the technical and pedagogical innovations necessary to drive quality education at scale, individualisation of those experiences and access to a relevant, engaging education for as many students as want it.
In the past when you hired someone, what did you hire? You hired an individual, someone with a specific pedigree or background. In today’s environment, if you ask an employee to do something and they can’t do it, it’s not the end of the process as it once was. Today you hire a social network. You hire the employee and their network of easily reached, constantly online friends and colleagues. This way of working and living has radically changed … and the pace of that change continues to accelerate. We are in the midst of global transformation. We work in global companies, with a global workforce, with a global set of skills. Geography isn’t as relevant as it used to be. The real differences between ‘work’ and ‘life’ are artefacts of our generation … and not ones readily embraced by today’s students. The digital lifestyle overlaps the digital work style and students expect experiences and tools that facilitate this convergence.
People of our generation remember the world when this wasn’t the case. Young people growing up today know nothing different. The world is simply connected.