At experimentQ we are interested in all forms of human learning, but particularly informal learning and non-formal learning. These two types of learning are happening everyday and everywhere, outside a classroom and lead to additional skills, competencies, and knowledge for all of us. However, the learning that is not within a formal institution often is undermined.
9 lessons from 9 podcast interviews
Last August, we launched the pilot for experimentQ podcast. This 6-month segment was designed to testing the format, fine-tune our research questions, give a taste of content schedule to potential partners, as well as learn the technical side of video and audio production. As I write this, I can say we had no idea of the number of details and work that go into organizing a 12-month podcast world tour, which by the way starts on March 1st, 2018.
From August 2017 to February 2018 we interviewed 9 innovators within the education space, and one more interview is on the way to complete the initial pilot goal of 10 guests. Below is what we learned, shortly, about the state and the changes happening in education.
Touchpoints - a tool for self-organized learning
There is a well-known concept in marketing communications called "Brand Touchpoints". You can read more about it here. Now, let's get to the main reason I set down to write this piece - our education system. It is my belief, that instead of putting children inside classrooms and trying to "educate" them into fitting some jobs, which honestly, we have no clue how they will look 2 decades from now, we can show what the life "touchpoints" are about and then empower children to design learning experiences around those points.
Let’s talk employability
Beyond the individual dimensions of employment, this phenomenon became a key concern and KPI for most countries around the world, along with productivity growth. Providing jobs, or better said, avoiding the capital loss and social unrest that comes with the lack of jobs, is a huge governmental challenge. Traditionally, it was the concern of 2 major institutions — the Ministry of Education and that of Economic Development. But, being such a complex social issue, employment became the ugly frog in nearly every public institution’s corner. It definitely was not missing in the recent elections of USA, France, UK, and Netherlands.
Interdisciplinarity of specialization
The week of September 19th, 2016. Paris. I had the chance to attend my first lecture on genetic engineering, as part of SciencesPo' Disruptive Technologies and Public Policy course.
In a nutshell, the course is focused on building bridges between the scientific world and those who are supposed to create future regulatory frameworks, either to save us from a sci-fi doomsday or to empower scientists in advancing human race forward (the line between the two efforts is apparently blurring)