The Future of Education

In the rapidly changing society with the unprecedented potentials of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, mobile computing and block chain technologies, it is an urgent task for all stakeholders in education to reconsider conceptions and systems of education worldwide. The traditional way of going through the formal education with rigid course sequences in fixed timeframes may no longer be adequate and may pose limiting factors in actualizing one’s potential of maximum learning. Today not only abundant educational resources online such as open educational resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide ample opportunities for learners to study subjects of their interests, but also digital badges and micro credentials provide learners with increasing opportunities to visualize and be recognized for what they have learned.  Learning pathways are multi-faceted as learning can occur on various occasions at many different places blurring the boundaries among formal, non-formal and informal learning. Potentials for linking informal and non-formal learning to formal learning have become salient. However, the means to plan and manage one’s own lifewide and lifelong learning pathways are rarely discussed. This presentation will present a view of the future of lifelong learning in which one can keep track of all the learning and choose to share the processes and the results of those learning as s/he wishes.

Keywords: learning pathways, lifelong learning, lifewide learning, micro credentials, digital badges.