Workshop Theme 8: Harnessing Digital Technology for Quality Education
TARGET DELEGATES:
Practitioners or policy makers working in education innovation across HE and TVET
Digital entrepreneurs and start-up founders from the region
RATIONALE:
The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
SDG Target 4.4, states that “By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.” ‘Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.’ It underpins our capability to deliver on all the Sustainable Development Goals.
Digital literacy is increasingly becoming a vital means by which to achieve this target. It provides for an essential life competence and an avenue to inclusive social integration, personal development and skills for tomorrow’s world. Combining technological expertise and information literacy, digital literacies include collaboration, communication and sharing, creation of content and problem solving, forming a set of social, emotional and cognitive abilities that the World Economic Forum have defined as `Digital Intelligence’.
Digital technology is also rapidly transforming societies and industries across the globe. Education is no different. The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing macro trends that are reshaping the way we live, work and learn.
Research shows the emergence of a new global education innovation landscape. Two sets of players are operating in this ecosystem: those education technology and innovation companies that are helping existing / traditional institutions deliver their education offerings better; and those companies that are experimenting and exploiting new business models to develop new offerings, in new ways, to new customers/learners.
Also emerging is a new model for conceptualising the stages of learning – the Next Generation Learning Lifecycle. This new framework maps 26 clusters of innovation into eight steps. These steps are: create, manage, discover, connect, experience, learn, credential and advance.
The aim of the panel and the workshop is to explore these trends and apply them to the Australia-ASEAN context. There is a growing level of activity and investment in educational technology across much of ASEAN, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, but also increasing in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. It is a timely opportunity for education and training practitioners to come together with EdTech entrepreneurs, educational innovators, and policy makers to share insights and experiences on the future of learning; and build new collaborations and partnerships across national borders, but also across the education and technology sectors.
OUTCOMES:
The major outcomes of the workshop will be:
A deeper understanding of key global drivers of change and innovation in education and training and how they are manifesting across Australia and ASEAN
A broader appreciation of the emerging technologies and business models in tertiary education;
An understanding of digital literacies and how the challenges can be addressed.
The igniting of new connections across higher education, TVET, government and education technology to forge lasting collaborations and partnerships.