STANNING This Change to Education

 

EDUCATION 4.0: A SUBJECT OF CHANGE

INDUSTRY 4.0 on EDUCATION

    The emergence of new technologies brought by Industry 4.0 such as the 5G network, artifiicial intelligence and smart machines, blockchain data, internet of things, virtual and augmented reality, and many more has greatly affected not only on how people live and work, but also on how people learn. Industry 4.0 has become a game-changer for education.

EDUCATION 4.0 in the Philippines

    Education 4.0 is no stranger to change. The great change on how we approach learning has commenced due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, which shook the whole world. This forced people to adapt to change and to see education in another point of view. This is how Education 4.0 is born.

    As cited in Pangandaman et. al. (2019), education 4.0 is a facility that allows the use of advanced technologies. These technologies include the internet of things (IoT), robotics, digitalization, automation and teleconferencing. The breakthrough of technologies brought by the Industry 4.0 has posed great challenges in both the current education system and financial status of the education stakeholders here in the Philippines.

(What is Distance Learning and Why Is It so Important, 2020)

    To address the issues brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippine education system has changed. From having the face-to-face classes, schools prefer to have the classes virtually. Thus, the Online Distance Learning was introduced. Through distance learning, students can access top-quality courses from top educational institutions like Harvard, students and teachers can connect from anywhere, and teachers can track the progress of each student online. ODL would have been the ideal educational system during the pandemic times. However, considering the financial status of the stakeholders of education, not all can afford to have the necessary gadgets like smart phones, laptops and Internet. ODL is not applicable to all educational institutions here in the Philippines especially in public schools. 

    Due to this problem and the No Student Left Behind program, the Department of Education (DepEd) has issued a modular learning for those who cannot afford the online distance learning. 

    As you can see, Education 4.0 is a real struggle to developing countries like ours. There are many factors to consider and this includes the availability and affordability of these necessary technologies, and the  economic status of the stakeholders. Only the lucky and priveleged ones are able to enjoy the power of Education 4.0. But this does not necessarily mean that we are behind in this game-changing education, at least not yet.

Emerging Technologies on Boosting the Academic Landscape in the Philippines

Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) General Assembly 2016, Manila, November 10-11, 2016

    In accordance to the 1987 Constitution, Philippine education is regarded as as system. Thus, education cannot favor the development of the public schools over the private schools, vice versa, it cannot think of accessibility without considering quality. Furthermore, addition to the change is the K-12 curriculum reform.

    Let me reiterate the Four Burning Issues in our educational landscape: access, quality assurance, complementarity, and governance/ academic freedom (Tabora, 2016). The number issue I have observed is the complementarity between public and private schools when it comes to quality education. Private schools have the advantage as they impement virtual learning, a road towards the Education 4.0 that we wanted.

    While we may have lots of problems to address before we can go further to the Education 4.0, in alignment with the industrial revolution, here are some of the emerging technologies that could be helpful in the Philippine Education. We are now on the K-12 Curriculum transformation, which emphasizes on outcomes-based results and equip students with skills. Augmented and virtual reality could wholesomely change the learning experiences of the students, and would deem to be more effective in boosting a child's potential. 

Augmented and Virtual Reality: The Future of Learning Experiences (Wesley, 2018)

    As Wesley (2018) stated, virtual reality learning can be accessed through the use of special-designed googles that would project interactive world to the user. This transforms education as a whole, which aligns the 1987 Constitution stating education as a system. Augmented reality on the other hand, enhances one's  current perception of reality by augmenting the real-world with super-imposed computer generated images. (Just like how Pokemon Go worked).

    These emerging technologies can imppact greatly on the educational system that we have and how we, teachers and students approach learning. But together with these seemingly, wonderful and helpful educational tools, comes with a big price market that would let is think twice. 

    Just as I said, before we can think of going further to Education 4.0, there are still lots of factors to consider and lots of issues to address within or outside the education system.

HEADS UP!

All my references can be found on the Internet. Just click the links below!

1. Wesley, S. (2018). Augmented and virtual reality: The fulture of learning experiences. Virtual Speech. Taken from https://virtualspeech.com/blog/augmented-virtual-reality-future-of-learning-experience

2. Viewsonic. (2020). What is distance learning and why is it so important? Taken from https://www.viewsonic.com/library/education/what-is-distance-learning-and-why-is-it-so-important/

3. Tabora, J. (2016). The Changing Educational Landscape: Challenges. Taken from https://taborasj.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/the-changing-educational-landscape-challenges/

4. James, F. (2019). Everything you need to know about education 4.0. QS. Taken from https://www.qs.com/everything-you-need-to-know-education-40/

5. Rawal, K. (2018). Augmented and Virtual reality in education. The next big bandwagons. eLearning Industry. Taken from https://elearningindustry.com/augmented-and-virtual-reality-in-education-bandwagons

6. Pangandaman, et.al. (2019). Philippine Higher Education Vis-a-Vis Education 4.0: A Scoping Review. Internal journal of Advanced Research and Publications. Taken from http://www.ijarp.org/published-research-papers/mar2019/Philippine-Higher-Education-Vis-vis-Education-40-A-Scoping-Review.pdf