Observations and Predictions from the World’s Top Futurists and Academic Thought Leaders: By Roger James Hamilton, Founder and CEO of Genius Group

The Future of Education

With the global training and education market set to triple in size by 2030 and widespread industry disruption through the emergence of edtech, the education sector is due for major transformation. As we move forward in the decade, education will become more personalised and lifelong learning will grow to be the norm. The tide will shift from the existing industrial one-size-fits-all education and training model to become personalised mentorship and digital learning. We will see a huge shift in mindset across the globe.

What education will look like in 2030 is the $10 trillion dollar question. I predict that there will be five make-or-break trends that we should keep an eye on in order to not only sufficiently prepare for the current generation for upcoming changes, but to usher in an entirely new iteration of education.

First is priming ourselves for the developing “Educator 5.0” generation. This generation is one concerned less with simply looking at a computer screen and being able to access data, and more with furthering the entire breadth of knowledge available, connecting with one another, while knowing the data is already there as a bedrock. Second is the pursuit and discovery of new learning networks that will disrupt and reorganize learning institutions in the same way that social networks have done. By sharing what works now, everyone in the network learns rapidly, and furthers the overall breadth of knowledge available. Third, the metaverse is going to take over from other learning methods such as the internet and transfer learning. Fourth, the idea of the ‘superhuman’. In fact, I am certain that within 10 years, we will see some of the leading companies in the world using AI as their CEO, who will make much smarter decisions than humans by processing all the data and deciding the best course of action. Finally, there will be the total education revolution, where all these come together. In the same way that we look back 500 years and talk about the renaissance, we’ll be talking about a new renaissance set to take place over the next 10 years. For example, in these next 10 years, the United Nations has identified a set of global goals to be reached by the year 2030 in which we’ll see a massive shift toward renewable energies, space travel and other new frontiers.

I am not alone in these predictions for a widespread sector transformation centering around new frontiers and a new generation of educators and learners. Similarly, Salman Khan, educator and the founder of Khan Academy, asserts that in the next 10 years, we’re going to see a lot more variety and diversity within the education sector. Universities, for example, are finding that they need to be more dynamic when thinking of new ways to engage students and provide a rich and successful experience – not just within the confines of their campus but even after they leave and are on the job market.

The outdated, 300-person lecture hall model needs to be retired if universities are truly interested in capturing the attention of, and accelerating the learning experience for, young people that now have the option to choose alternative learning methods. Rather than that massive, impersonal lecture hall, instead imagine traveling the world with a cohort of 20 folks and mentors whilst doing apprenticeships and jobs and learning hard skills digitally. These new methods of learning are not only possible, but they’re also quickly outpacing traditional education options.

“Lectures will be a thing of the past. Soon, the classroom will no longer be about lectures but instead much more about human-to-human engagement”, Khan believes. “Whether learning digitally or not, when humans get together to learn, it’s much more effective to talk to each other, tutor each other, do games and simulations together and so on”.

The Covid-19 pandemic has only highlighted this need to not simply lecture, but actively engage. “You must focus on active learning and make it as humanly interactive as possible.”

It is up to us as changemakers and participants in the education and leadership sectors to ensure that, with each technological and pedagogical advance we make toward a new revolution, we are seeing the whole, global picture and encouraging a new generation of leaders to tackle the world’s nuanced social, economic, and environmental issues.

You can learn more about Genius Group here: https://www.geniusgroup.net/

On July 8th and 9th, 2021, Genius Group held its Global Education Summit, bringing together some of the most enlightened minds in edtech and the future of education. The event revealed the above key insights into the coming global education revolution, the discussion of which were spearheaded by industry giants Roger James Hamilton, Seth Godin, Salman Khan, and Stephen M.R. Covey.

Roger James Hamilton is Founder and CEO of Genius Group, a multi-million-dollar group of companies including GeniusU, Genius Institute and Genius School. GeniusU is an Edtech platform providing over 1.8 million students with personalised learning paths and is currently seeing over 1000 new students join each day.

Salman Khan, educator and the founder of Khan Academy, a non-profit with the mission of providing free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Salman Khan is author of The One World School House: Education Reimagined.