Application to "REINVENTING EDUCATION IN THE DIGITAL ERA"

For call, see here.



Motivation / Essay

Dear workshop facilitarors,

First and foremost, the state of anything "20 years from now" will be shaped by the surprises of our current democracies, of which even in the last months, we've seen quite a few. Education is not exempt, and even key. On a general level, we are dealing with strong possibilities of both global "Utopia" and "Dystopia", and everything in between.

What I think is certain - and is also a personal interest - is that self-organised islands outside of mainline societies will become more prominent.

This first trend I mention is only one that will influence, and be influenced by, education and new technologies. But as a "container of practice", will be able to fully capitalize on ones I - for brevity - only list below:

        * education beyond "end of work": currently, the majority of subsistence comes from labouring under a specific skill. That is not a reality anymore.

        * new representational systems: really and finally capitalize on the potentials of hypermedia, beyond ex-cathedra "overhead projectors". Externalizing the mental models, distance learning, etc.

        * dramatically increased scientific and common understanding of subjective cognitive apparatus will change everything. On one hand, there is developmental psychology for pre-adult education. And then there is application of new types of hermeneutics to individual perception and learning models.

        * post-/trans-disciplinary knowledge will shift focus to critical thinking. Interpersonal group dynamic studies (beyond "charisma" or "being nice") will be developed, as ubiquitous computing live-metrics potentially destroy poisonous dynamics, like cliques and drama.

        * alternative learning and verification processes. There's alternative ways to learning now, but they're mostly self-organised. New ways to narrate, consolidate, and grade these will appear. Contemporary examples like "Badges" and "Reputation networks" will become much more prominent.

        * consolidation of practices that worked for "internet-generation" self-taught individuals, into self-organised groups. These contemporary outliers will become more visible and vocal in society within next few years. They will organize new learning support organisations, around what worked for them.

        * neoliberal attack on independence of university will intensify. Budget cuts will endanger independence of traditional university habilitation. In combination with "hereditary" patterns in habilitation, the trend will lead to double trouble for universities.

        * separation of traditional teaching infrastructure from present institutions: everything from multi-functional independent spaces (art-science spaces, autonomous squats), to on the other side "academies" hosting for-profit snake-oil courses.

And finally I'd like to expose:

        * "Changing minds" and Festinger's "Cognitive dissonance theory" will become the dominant topic - again both in positive, and negative way. Hopefully, moving away from instrumental knowledge, teaching will find better rational ways to help people overcome internal opposing beliefs, in the very politicized future decades to come.

Thank you for your consideration - I hope I will be able to enjoy exchanging more views in person, in Berlin.

Sincerely,

David Potočnik