How The Education System Can Take A Great Leap Forward With Technology

Many start-ups are targeting the education market, as technology makes it easier and more cost effective to bring education to the poorer regions of the world. It's one of the hot investment areas and where there is profit, there is progress. Education is key to economic wealth and as Horace Mann so aptly stated, "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery."

But what about the richest countries whose education system haven't changed in generations and are under budget pressures? The government has grant programs for those start-ups looking to improve the American education process and today, investors think favorably of government funding as it does not consume equity in a start-up. On the downside, investors don't like the education system because it is notoriously cheap, has long sales cycles, and is risk averse. With such government emphasis on education improvements, the investors are sure there will be some start-up winners.

Last year, my local school district anticipated a budget shortfall and asked parents for suggestions. When I took a look at the school district's budget, I saw their problem. They needed to cut millions from their operating budget, yet 85% of their expenses were labor. It simply wasn't possible to reduce the budget in the non-labor areas by the amount needed.

Let's step back for a moment and take a quick look at what happened with telecommunications. When telecom and networking were taking a great leap forward in the bubble, the developing countries skipped the landline infrastructure and went directly to wireless and cell technologies. Now landlines are in decline in the developed countries as wireless became more cost effective, capable and preferred by customers.

Education is likely to follow suit. We have been dabbling with distance and online learning for more than a decade. The technical capability is there, now it's just a matter of adoption. The poorer and developing countries will lead the way and start with using technology to educate the masses more efficiently. Eventually this trend will transition into the US school system.

As a parent, elementary school children aren't capable of being self-directed learners, they will always benefit from the constant daily attention of teachers. As children become older, they are more capable of being self-directed and by the time they get to college, students spend little time in the formal classroom setting.

So why isn't this transition made sooner in the education system? Why can't middle school and high school students spend 2 to 3 days per week, accessing online, distance learning programs and not being taught by costly teachers?

Automation in any process produces consistency. Now there are continual complaints about the disparity among the schools in the US, some districts score well on the standardized test and some don't. Wouldn't a system encompassing partial online learning produce more uniform results? It does in manufacturing plants.

In my experience, when you have a severe budget problem and labor is biggest component, there are usually two things that happen: automation replaces labor and/or a less expensive source of labor is found.

Education is poised to take a great leap forward, which means this is a great opportunity for start-ups. My daughter is being taught like I was taught, and I was taught the way my parents and grandparents were taught. Is it time we updated the way we educate our children? The immediate market opportunity is in the non-public schools and abroad in developing countries, and whoever gets the biggest market share in those segments will be ready to capitalize on the opportunity in the public school systems.

Plans To Strengthen The Education System Worldwide

The country's future, a large part determined by its future adults, can be shaped by those who, with education degrees in hand, enter the field of teaching. Teachers help young children develop mentally and socially, instilling in them the skills that can help them to become capable adults. When education leaders from throughout the world gather in New York in March, they plan on trying to come up with ways to strengthen the profession of teaching.

Individuals who are born with a great talent for teaching might be among those who set out to obtain education degrees. But talent isn't everything, US Department of Education's Secretary suggested in a news release from the agency. She noted that the entire education system - from recruiting teachers to maintaining and supporting them during their careers - is important as far as establishing teachers who, collectively, have a positive effect on their students.

The training that students receive as part of education degree programs in the United States might depend largely upon the type of teacher they want to become. In the book, The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom, authors James W. Stigler and James Hiebert contend that the focus in improving education should be on teaching, rather than teachers, and establishing a system that is able to learn from its own experience. Continued learning for teachers, according to Stigler and Heibert, is also important in terms of teaching.

These authors look towards 8th grade math, and point to Japan when it comes to having the most skillful and purposeful teaching system - one where teachers, through past lessons, memorization and lectures help students build "scaffolds," or establish ways for resolving problems that can at times be challenging. Teachers in high achieving countries follow different methods of instruction, Stigler and Heibert found. Teaching at its Best author Linda Burzotta Nilson recommends in part that teachers understand their students and how they learn.

Nilson's book focuses on college and university instruction and also addresses the millennial generation and distance learning, or online courses and online degree programs. Education degree programs also are available online, and students who participate in these programs might, once they enter teaching careers, find themselves relying more frequently on technology. That's in part because distance education is becoming more prevalent at the K-12 levels as well.

Students in education degree programs might learn about the federal government's "Race to the Top" competition, whereby states can obtain grant money for education reform efforts. In Florida, which was selected as a winner, the State Board of Education and Florida Department of Education this year held a "What's Working in Effective Teaching and Leadership" series.

In one session, the Vice President of Policy for the New Teacher Project, spoke about teachers being the most powerful factor in the academic success or failure of their students. He spoke of the "widget" effect, where teachers are treated in evaluation systems in different states as if one was as good as the other. There are some teachers who push students forward and others who drag them backward, he noted. By the time students obtain education degrees and enter the field, they might be evaluated differently as well.

Importance of the K-12 Education System

K-12 education is an innovative education system. This area of education has a dominance over the conventional educational systems as it puts more weight on thinking and reaching own self-explanatory conclusions.

The way of teaching here is completely different and phenomenal. Teachers generally follow the tactic of asking students to work on a lot of assignments since it develops an intellectual, yet interesting learning habit. In reality, this method helps the students in revising what has been taught previously. In K-12 education system, all the students are given individual attention and hence they understand their subjects in a more practical way. The role of a teacher here is just to guide them in the right way and provide them with learning opportunities. What really happens is that, the individual discovers his own learning capacity and success depends on the thinking ability of the student.

The classroom activities might be similar to what is being practiced in a public school where students go and get their notes and submit records but the key difference is that her in K-12 classes, the students are encouraged to bring about their personal thoughts and visions. Students enroll themselves in different forums and educational clubs where they get to discuss many points for the same topic and get different views. The teachers here contribute so much as to turning every discussion into a positive note cooperating with the students.

K-12 education system has revolutionized the education system in India. Over the years, the level of education system and syllabus has greatly improved in time. The K-12 segment accounts for the lion's share of India's educational market. Students are provided with the ultimate learning opportunities. The school invests thousands of dollars in bringing the best infrastructures. It is also equally important that the student utilizes this system in best possible ways. He must always evaluate the available information to jump to a rational ending. This is the type of educational platform any student can experience in the K-12 program. Therefore, it is no surprise that this methodology is being introduced by most educational institutions in India.

The traditional learning styles have their own merits, but this new and innovative education strategy is superior in that. It helps the students work individualistically and find solutions on their own. This strategy makes students self-determining, reliable and indulgent. It also improves the relation between the teacher and students and brings a warm classroom atmosphere. Such a harmonious atmosphere can create masterminds who, in the long run, can become assets not only to the school but to the society as a whole.