The evolution of modern Pedagogy
and what's it's going to be like in the future?
Welcome to Edtech B.E.T. - the edtech blog at the intersection of business, education and technology. Since I have put out the announcement post - I have been asked several questions. The key questions being: Why this blog? Why now? and Who is this blog for?
Before I dig into today's topic let me briefly answer these questions as it hopefully will inform the reader about the utility (or the futility) of following Edtech B.E.T. I have been in the field of education and edtech for over 10 years now and have seen the evolution. I have seen and led the first movement of education into edtech and yes, I agree that the process of change in education is very slow - some say it's one funeral at a time particularly in higher education. While there are several trends viz. consumerization, mobility, changes in the future of work and automation that are fueling this change - it is important to remember that everything including education changes gradually, then suddenly.
"Gradually then suddenly" | The process of change
The suddenness of the change seems inevitable right now - esp. given the number of edtech VC term sheets floating around - but it's still the tip of the iceberg. More on this in a later post.
In this blog I will highlight how education has fused into edtech and my experience across the three key facets including business (scale, economics, valuation etc.), the process of education (pedagogy, impact, outcomes etc.) and technology (platforms, measurement, scale, impact etc.). I am convinced that edtech is a fusion of the three. Hopefully, you will agree after just three posts. So, please hang on to the blog for the three posts and meanwhile keep the comments, feedback, brickbats coming.
Post #1 - Pedagogy in Edtech
“Teaching is very much like pruning: you need to know when and where and how to make the cuts, and, of course, why.”
― Neel Burton, Hypersanity: Thinking Beyond Thinking
But, first what is pedagogy?
"pedagogy/ˈpɛdəɡɒdʒi,ˈpɛdəɡɒɡi/ is the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept." - Definition from Oxford Languages. In simpler and more layman terms pedagogy is how a subject is taught to a learner and while we will reference the last several hundred years or so in the text - the focus will be on modern pedagogy, particularly the one that deals with teaching online.
To be clear Remote Learning <> Online Education; but is a subset of online learning. This is particularly important as almost everyone is “learning” online these days but we need to realize that live streaming behind a screen - while it may be the preferred mode - is not the same as online learning.
This blog post is also going to have a major focus on Adult pedagogy or Andragogy. The terms “andragogy” and “pedagogy” are of Greek origin, with both including the Greek verb “ago”, that means “guide”, and the words “Andras” (man) and “Paidi” (child) - again both Greek. The combination means:
Pedagogy = paidi (child) + ago (guide)
Andragogy = andras (man) + ago (guide)
So, pedagogy is a child-focused teaching approach and andragogy is an adult-focused teaching approach.
Why does andragogy need to be a specific study? One reason could be that engaging and motivating adult learners is certainly a challenging art. While pedagogy experts will mention that the challenge is no less in the case of children - adults have a huge premium on time, ability to focus, and being able to complete what they started. Ask the many partly read books on my kindle shelves.
Catch Phrase 1: Adults are stretched for time and focus
In The Modern Practice of Adult Education (1970), Malcolm Knowles laid out four andragogical assumptions that adults:
1) move from dependency to self-directedness;
2) draw upon their reservoir of experience for learning;
3) are ready to learn when they assume new roles; and
4) want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately
Let's talk about clutter - yes it's a sudden diversion, just like clutter itself - obviously there is a lot of clutter in our lives. We are digital slaves to the device and more recently COVID has taught us that work-life balance doesn't exist. Despite saving travel time, time to dress up for work and various such items our schedules have become far more complex but then I digress. In today's modern times we can't really rely on a theory from 1970 and it's not easy to assume that adults will be able to self-direct and are ready for absorbing learning. While there are exceptions but learning has to be designed for the masses.
Catch Phrase 2: Learning needs differ by individual and there are several learner profiles
As non-degree credentials boom institutions face a dual challenge. The first is that of maintaining quality - which is particularly difficult in a shorter format, esp. as the seeker's key goal is to display mastery - and that of matching the lower price point. If you combine this challenge with capacity; the problem becomes a lot more complex. The institutes have a finite teaching capacity as faculty resources are limited and are busy with research which is supposed to take precedence over teaching.
Catch Phrase 3: Most learning needs are not egalitarian and ultimately outcomes have to play catch up.
(this doesn't mean that learning has to be only in hard skills - Masterclass is a great example of edutainment. You can read more about my assessment on edutainment here)
There have been several experiments over the years, to democratize learning by enhancing capacity, and these have included MOOCs, Flipped classroom, and SPOCs. I am not most comfortable applying labels to pedagogy as labels often tend to average out the effects and as we all know averages are typically deceiving. If my feet are in the oven and my head in the fridge my temperature may be on average normal, but I am sure I wouldn't quite enjoy it being dead. IMO the various models have been experiments and have created massive room for innovation in a sector where change typically happens one funeral at a time. That having said, it's not correct to apply the same model to each subject of study and context of the study. In this read, I showcase some modern pedagogical models and talk about certain frameworks to evaluate the application of these models.
At first, it's important to talk about how education started. We all know education was lecture style for the longest time and some innovation started happening with the invention of writing which later lead to the invention of the textbook industry. Fun fact here: Plato had an argument against writing.
"If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder." Plato in Phaedrus.
Education was a subject of privilege in the earliest form and was reserved for the classes (children of royalty, top-officials) as society evolved education started covering masses and became lecture style, absorb it if you can way of teaching. This was the model T of Education. The next wave of learning brought personalization and focus on the learners. Education didn't again change for many years until online forced the teachers to evolve. As context on how languid the process of change is it is pertinent to mention a study published in March 2018 in the journal Science. The study was the largest-ever observational study of undergraduate STEM education monitored nearly 550 faculty as they taught more than 700 courses at 25 institutions across the United States and Canada. It concluded that lectures still dominate STEM ed. Surprise!!! Surprise!!!
Catch Phrase 4: Learning is largely still face to face
There is however hope of change. COVID has further accelerated the acceleration of pedagogical experiments and the application of known pedagogical models. Institutions are being forced to explore, adopt online models while the value quotient of remote learning is being questioned. I am sure once they offer answers on the value of a college degree itself they should be able to answer to memes such as these.
*Popular internet forward. During COVID 2020
To be clear, Harvard (or the other top 50 schools, in each region) are under no threat. With the power of their networks and the life-changing signals these schools provide demand will always be higher than capacity. The schools beyond the top 50 will be stretched to extend their imagination. Executive education divisions will also be forced look at online as an important avenue of sustenance now and growth later.
Also, it is important to understand that remote learning is not online learning. A teacher going behind a screen isn't necessarily a pedagogical innovation. Hold those brickbats - I don't intend to mean that it's an easy transition but rather that it's limited in scope.
I will now list some examples of pedagogical innovations but first, it's important to read this Techcrunch article.
For the TL;DR fans who don’t want to read the article- the key item in today's adult learning methodology include:
1) A meaningful goal (2) Intensity ; (3) Team-based active learning (leading to bonding and a typical “hero’s journey” i.e. adventure-crisis-victory); and (4) Exposure to employers.
I have successfully applied this framework in multiple adult learning contexts and am at a good place to say why these are important. So here goes:
1) keep the learner on track and motivated to sail through to the end - cut the clutter. Compare this to other adult goals such as lose weight, gain body mass
2) keep the learners involved and let them gain real knowledge, perspectives that they can carry back to the workplace (or to presentations to look smart). This may definitely lead to some dropouts but the objective of the course should be clear (shallow learning or deep learning)
3) adults are hungry for interaction and working together in teams. They tend to learn more from like-minded or from a diverse set of people. Looking at the early success of Lunchclub AI - interaction is clearly creating a spark for some individuals
4) employers (for those seeking employment) or venture capitalists (for those seeking entrepreneurship) or big artists (for those seeking to become artists themselves); you get the drift; are the penultimate qualifier of the newly acquired skills of the seeker. This is an important goal of all adult learning courses - as a school cannot create enough direct job opportunities for learners but can equip them with lifelong skills of being able to seek/create their employment
The key teaching components include:
Content, teacher, application, interaction.
and, the learner has tangible amounts of time, interest and motivation.
If we combined the two sides; then andragogy is a balance of instruction and consumption. Traditionally, the balance has been achieved by bringing a high-quality teacher to instruct learners in a face to face environment. But, with edtech the interesting replacements are:
While a lot of the above is obvious. The interesting one is asynchronous 2.0 - it’s an evolving field. I will write about this in a subsequent post; if you want to upvote it then please leave me a comment.
Further dissection of the replacement components for impact, cost, and complexity is given below.
For an edtech to scale - scalibility and teaching impact are the two key parameters. Profitability and Branding are below the periphery measures.
Why is impact important? In some sense: joining an upskilling course to either upskill or pivot is like going to the gym. Instead of 1st of January one makes the resolution on 1st of April (post-appraisal). The question is if one is looking for a self-directed learning experience or a personal trainer driven experience? All gym ingredients such as environment, social, peer pressure/help, measurements & tracking etc. count in adult learning as well - and are a part of the pedagogical experience.
Until next time. Next post is on CAC (customer acquisition cost). Meanwhile, please do share widely and subscribe if you haven’t done that.
Very well written Varun. Enjoyed reading !