Key breakthrough issues in education that cannot wait

You never know where to find inspiration. The great master Picasso quoted that inspiration exists but it has to find you working. Agreed. A vocational job does not stop when the clock punches the card.

Fortunately, in the educational system, we found many vocational people, passionate professional experts. This week I have met again a great team in Bahrain.

This kingdom sponsors the UNESCO ICT & Education Prize that we awarded earlier in February. From the Ministry of Education to the President of the only one public university in the country, they all show a high commitment to providing the best educational opportunities to their students. They also look after disadvantaged people across the World, thanks to the prize and other actions.

Extracting a piece of the chain that can be improved, applying the improvement and implementing it. Like a transgenic work, like transgenic learning

 

We shared a day at the university, with students, faculty and staff, and we had many points in common. For instance, the need to combine formal and informal learning. The increasing relevance of Open Education and the integration with regular, official programmes.

The key role of the facilitator or cross-subject tutoring staff to support every student along the way to finish their studies and achieve a better performance. The balance between universal education and sustainability, so that finance to support the university allows for providing some free key services and content.

These are the real breakthrough issues to move forward thanks to a disruptive, transgenic approach to online learning. We cannot focus just on basic, daily, operational issues that overload the management procedures of professors and administrative staff.

Neither we can follow an already parameterized grading and assessment system for fixed learning paths and students. We require an urgent modification of the educational context, an evolution, some progress that can be designed and implemented in a sensible but challenging way. Extracting a piece of the chain that can be improved, applying the improvement and implementing it. Like a transgenic work, like transgenic learning.

Daniel Burgos, Bahrain