The CATALYST Project - Abstract

The CATALYST Project, Champions for Transformations of Learning and Teaching, was launched on 1st January 2011. Team members comprise Malaysian National and International Schools in Penang, Ministry of Education and Higher Education staff, USM Educational Researchers, Industry and other relevant experts to be added as the need arises. This project’s main objective is to redefine 21CL (21st Century Learning and Teaching) and to develop new collaborative, inclusive, meaningful, efficient and sustainable educational practices and learning management strategies. The focused outcome is to create a tool so that Autonomy, Purpose and Mastery (APM) is enabled and accepted by Learners, Educators and Administrators. The Padi Tablet PC is this tool that enables Autonomy for all stakeholders, and this enables the process that provides learners with Purpose because learning becomes relevant, meaningful and real, thus leading to Mastery of content, sparking creativity to increase levels of learning and achievement.

A core strategy is to use Padi, to bring Computational and Collective Intelligence and Wise Decision Making that draws from data on the World Wide Web, into the classroom. This A3, Access Anywhere Anytime, enabler will stimulate a new evolution in learning and teaching that harmonises ways of think and knowing with usage of technology and creation of Knowledge with Sejahtera values, ethics and intangible heritages. Another strategy, through the Learning Applications built by USM, is to focus on the development of the intangible, “human” skills of students – developing communication, leadership, listening and soft skills all building upon the Padi Platform

Framework of The Catalyst Project

THE FUTURE OF MALAYSIAN EDUCATION

30 years ago, education professionals and stakeholders saw a disruptive phenomenon taking shape around them. This phenomenon was the Internet. These people who were at the heart of education systems around the world, looked at it and either could not nor would not take that step to look at this giant with a critical, scientific mind to see how it would forever transform the world and how it would revolutionize education, educational delivery and research systems.

Today, the exact same thing is happening, and educators still refuse to acknowledge that the Internet, formerly known as web 1.0, is again transforming into web 2.0 and beyond. Again, it is transforming learners’ demands and how the very concept of what constitutes knowledge and more importantly, what the new definition of education and curriculum should be.

The standard demands on a student from a century ago were to be TAUGHT and to have knowledge, and this evolved in the classroom from the low order Declarative and Procedural Knowledge to eventually reaching the somewhat higher order Schematic and Strategic Knowledge. In today’s world however, this so called highest order knowledge is no longer sufficient to create Innovation through calculated risk taking, arising from Disruptive thinking.

So, what should classroom learning and instruction encompass? An overview would be:
1) What is the definition of the new Curriculum of the future?
2) What is the new classroom of the future?
3) Who are the new Learner and new Educator of the future – what are their attributes?
4) What will sustain Malaysian classrooms to evolve naturally to meet the demands of new market places, new careers and new global communities of the future?

What are the key issues surrounding these questions, that have to be answered so that Malaysia is ready to face 2015, where it is expected that a sudden surge in innovations and the convergence of NBIC - Nano, Bio, Info and Cogno Technologies - will create rapid transformations and place new pressures on education systems both at the schooling and higher education levels?

Key Issues

In considering the following, it is crucial to consider the importance and relevance of each of them and think about the solutions. Problems cannot and must not be solved with the same, tired ways of thinking. Disruptive thinking is needed to create innovations and take calculated risks, possibly resulting in mistakes, but it will be mistakes made early, quickly and cheaply. The underlying considerations are what the Global Education scene is like currently and then, what it ought to be, to meet global and future relevance; and finally, how Malaysian education needs to transform to meet these requirements

Issue 1. How can we develop new learner centered, critical thinking & enquiry based, skills and research driven curriculum with foresight and futures methodologies and soft skills and communications expertise?

Issue 2. What are the implications for emerging technologies and the convergence of new wisdom? Data is growing exponentially and has reached singularity, where no person(s) is able to know everything about any issue. What are the implications for this in the classroom and for education systems? Will there be such a person as an “expert in a field”?

Issue 3. How does the emergence of brand new areas of study such as Nano, Info, Bio and Cogno technologies affect the need for new subjects and areas of study; and new skills and talents; in schooling and higher education systems?

Issue 4. What are ways that knowledge for anyone, anytime and anywhere - will impact the importance of memorizing data as opposed to having the relevant skills to access, analyze and choose this knowledge?

Issue 5. How can we construct a mechanism which forces us to use our past, analyze what we have in the present & develop and shape what is required for us to stay globally relevant for our future?

Issue 6. We have been operating at current conscious levels of thinking that have produced the curriculum we have now. We now have to operate at different levels of thinking and have new higher level expectations in order to bring about changes that will produce new curriculum. What are these higher levels?

Issue 7. A clear vision for everyone is needed that will provide the mobilising force necessary to move forward. How do we create this vision that will receive the buy-in of all stakeholders, and make the process palatable to all Malaysians?

Issue 8. How can we choose indicators that will be direct indicators of the progress we make and the buy-in that we receive; choosing indicators that are definable, reproducible, unambiguous, quantifiable and sustainable?

Issue 9. How can we design a brand new schooling system that will come to realise the need for 1Malaysia, and possibly through a 1Session in 1School system?

Issue 10. How can we mobilize the existing private tuition and talent (dance, drama, martial arts etc) building industry to support our schooling system and to make national schools, one stop centers of excellence?

Issue 11. How could a new timeline of phases for schooling to tertiary education be developed, in terms of age? Is it still relevant to have schooling systems that cover 11 years and end with no real world training? How can this be transformed?

Issue 12. How do we give meaning and purpose to our children’s lives through curricular reforms?

Issue 13. How can we create excellent and ethical “workers” and scholars among every Malaysian school student through community service that will also address the need to bring all Malaysians together?

Issue 14. What are the ways we must use data from brain research to redesign our curriculum?

Issue 15. How can we create evaluation systems with globally recognised credibility & relevance and who do we benchmark ourselves against when designing this “globally recognized” education system?

Issue 16. What are the physical transformations we must make to transform our classrooms into learner centered learning spaces?

Issue 17. What are transformations our teachers & lecturers must make to be ready for new learning spaces, pedagogies and andragogies; and transform into learning facilitators?

Issue 18. What are methods we must use to incorporate technological advancements in communications; multimedia and “on-time”, “everywhere” mobile access into our curriculums; to achieve our objectives to create a curriculum for the future?

Issue 19. Consider the demand for and importance of offering online modules personalized towards gathering skills in on time expertise, careers and personal transformations. How can we restructure our education system to meet the needs of independent learners with independent needs, in a way that caters to individual learning styles, in order to motivate learners to assume greater responsibility in managing and directing their own learning?

Issue 20. How can the need be addressed to subtly instill into future curriculums; global awareness, ethical and moral values, and empathy for the bottom billion in order to address the widening Malaysian and global rich-poor gap?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
“To realize that we are shaped by education, that learning leads to thought and self reflection, understanding and knowledge and wisdom, and to see that skills in critical thinking lead to
problem solving that helps us discover the truth for ourselves; thus strengthening our minds and giving us sound judgment and character to see clearly and straight; those essential tools that sustain societies and the world. Our student is a Scientist who is able to interpret a poem, a Poet who sees rhyme in the Scientific Method and a Philosopher with understanding and belief in Cross-Cultural Understanding, Faith and Sustainable Living”

a. Development of students with beliefs in and commitments to:
I. critical self-reflection and thinking skills
II. life-long learning
III. programs that will nurture and produce global leaders who are strong, articulate, compassionate and dedicated to creating a sustainable future for the world.
IV. cultivating enquiry, learning and research skills starting from kindergarten (kg)

b. Student’s innate talents and interests will be nurtured so as to have the opportunity to be developed in a learner centered environment that caters to individual learning abilities and differences. This independent, learner initiated individualized learning plan will grant ownership to students to take control of their futures and develop innate talents and abilities towards preparing for their preferred future. They will be motivated to assume greater responsibility in managing and directing their own learning.

c. Interactive learning spaces enabled by internet-mediated collaborative platforms will motivate learners to take ownership of their own learning, develop chosen skills and talents, and be independent thinkers

d. Foresight and futures learning methods will be incorporated into curriculum staring with kindergarten. This will empower learners with the skills of disruptive thinking and risk taking, necessary tools for a transformation process.

e. Learners will learn in an environment and curriculum that has embedded universal values, ethics and moral systems. Effective curriculum will not separate these systems as a subject but will instead integrate it into the everyday experience of the learner in various learning spaces.

f. In order to coexist and gain a multiracial, multireligious, multicultural and ethical perspective of global communities, and to take ownership, responsibility and accountability for global challenges, we will develop students with global awareness, ethical and moral values, and empathy for the bottom billion in order to address the widening global rich-poor gap.

g. Students will be developed to be articulate, independent, committed to EfSD and life-long learning and thus will be relevant to future industries and careers and prepared to meet the severe challenges for global and environmental transformations.

h. Our students will lead and not play follow the leader. in order to gain confidence and to have the tenacity to lead, and provide spiritual, moral and ethical directions in their lives – on a globally relevant future platform.

i. Teachers/lecturers must believe in the concept of an emancipatory curriculum and be willing to hand over power and personal control to learners in their learning spaces and must be trained to nurture talent and develop skills that will be relevant to global futures and relevance.

j. Learners must be trained to develop skills in analyzing and choosing from overwhelming content and information overload.

New Curriculum

Once these objectives are met, the curriculum will have to fulfill expectations that it will:
a. Develop a learner centered curriculum model that will be a sustainable for Malaysia and Malaysians to be exposed to the necessary levels of education and life-long learning to stay relevant globally & for the future.

b. Develop content, pedagogy, andragogy and evaluations that will be relevant to learning styles & spaces where knowledge is available and accessible in all places and at all times.

c. Develop learner centered, critical and reflective thinking, enquiry based, skills and research driven learning spaces with foresight and futures methodologies and soft skills and communications expertise – all packaged into curriculum that nurtures students from kindergarten to tertiary education and stimulates practice in life-long learning.

Question I. How do you evaluate if a Learning Space is Learner Centered?
i. How is the space Learner centered?
ii. How do learners take control of their learning?
iii. What is it that Learners do that reflects independent learning?
iv. How is it ensured that learners are emancipated in independent Learning Spaces, through the structure of the curriculum?
v. How is it reflected that learner’s are self-directed and capable of critical reflection of learning goals, the learning environment, the content of learning, and the broader questions of ethical, social significance, meaning and purpose of the curriculum?

Question II. How are the methodologies and techniques of Critical and Reflective Thinking taught?
Question III. How are LF’s evaluated so they understand the delivery and the rationale, scopes, concepts and objectives of Critical and Reflective Thinking?

d. Develop the necessary, freely accessible technology that will sustain Learner Centered learning spaces. Enquiry and Research skills developed in formal learning spaces will necessitate the availability of online modules and coursework that will provide learners with starting points to gather knowledge directed towards personalized areas of interests.

e. Develop the necessary evaluations that will test skills and solutions and not knowledge. Rigorous and Standardised testing that meet global and industry requirements must be developed that will enable different types of learners to approach this standardized testing but using preferred, individual ways of problem solving, research and determining solutions.

Rationales and justifications for Issues

a. The world is moving away from teacher/lecturer centered classrooms to student centered learning spaces. The term classroom will in effect be changed to learning space and students will have a choice in the way of learning (multiple intelligences) they most prefer and will immerse themselves into their preferred style of learning to develop skills in enquiry and research. This is the age of personalised learning for every learner in a learner centered space.

b. EEG machines will be used to calculate empirically, the effectiveness of teaching/learning/testing models and the environments of learning space. This will cause many traditional learning models to be abandoned and new personalized methodologies will replace them. online feedback software and testing will determine the best way to present learning modules and these will be evaluated and used by independent learners making choices and decisions to retool for on-time time expertise, careers and needs

c. Knowledge is growing exponentially, and has reached singularity – where the knowledge you have today will no longer be the most current tomorrow. This makes memorizing knowledge and exams meaningless as they will only test current levels of learning, which might be obsolete even after just one day. Assessments and evaluations must be geared towards checking skills levels and abilities of learners to adapt to problems and ask the right questions in the real world.

d. With the advent of personalized learning and simulations, new “real world testing” institutions will be set-up to test actual learning and expertise achieved in various fields. These institutes will act as facilitators to match talent and resource. Graduation degrees will not count for much; instead performances in real-world testing will determine hiring patterns and will be the basis for psychometric testing to match talents to careers.

e. All knowledge is everywhere and every time – with mobile technology becoming cheaper and more accessible every day. Just-in-time delivery will no longer apply to the manufacturing industry alone. Just-in-time knowledge and learning will be the standard for retooling individuals for just-in-time expertise. Employers will hire primarily based on talents and relevant skills, not expertise based on areas of knowledge. Schooling systems will have to prepare students for these new career requirements and adapt curriculums accordingly.

f. Formal schooling (primary/secondary) no longer serves the function of gathering knowledge; it should be focused on developing enquiry and research skills. it no longer needs to cover a span of time as in traditional schooling systems. Students will finish formal schooling at 15 with necessary skills in enquiry based learning, skills and research driven learning spaces with foresight and futures methodologies, soft skills and communications expertise. critical self-reflection of present levels of expertise will form the motivation for further involvement in life-long learning

g. Education is becoming accessible from any point of the world to all other points with students never needing to leave their homes. This has and will lead to accelerated developments of virtual worlds, which will be the new learning spaces of the future.

h. Social networks will evolve to become collaborative networks where learners will evaluate and choose their preferred facilitators of learning in their preferred learning spaces, in the real or virtual words. Social networks will also form the foundations of learning groups and collaborations that no longer encompass professional lecturers and teachers only. Home schooling and online courses, even in formal schooling, will grow exponentially on this foundation. Parents and learners will gain confidence through these networks to “stay at home and be home schooled” so this movement will grow stronger over time. this phenomena is clearly seen in developed countries where home schooling support structures are very well developed and easily accessible

i. Online education will personalize knowledge and courses for the individual rather than the collective. World renowned universities will be forced to become autonomous financially and will market themselves to global students at home, who will find it cheap and efficient to receive a degree from a top university, while sitting at home. This will begin a cycle of rise and falls of universities that are desperately trying to maintain a balance between standards and profitability.

j. Based on the premise that learning occurs fastest from making and overcoming mistakes, virtual worlds will provide learners avenues to make every mistake they can and create new scenarios through experimentation in every way possible. Future chemists, biologists, physicists, educationists, psychologist, engineers and doctors in school will have access to all equipment and all environments through virtual worlds. Schools will no longer be limited by budgets and expertise in using lab equipment. Instant online feedback and confirmation or correction of thoughts and knowledge will shape new knowledge, learning and skills.

k. Collective consciousness databases will evolve out of current collective intelligences such as internet search engines and collaborative databases. cc databases will have access to all knowledge like regular search engines but will also be intuitive and provide feedback to users as to whether correct questions are being asked and provide different points of perspectives for consideration. This in effect will provide instant feedback to mistakes and will enable “evaluating” to be built into research and enquiry skills development.

l. The world will only function optimally and peacefully with no threats of war, terrorism, poverty and hunger. The gap between countries with access to education and countries with no access is widening, and this will have serious consequences on global peace and advancements. in order to coexist and gain a multicultural and ethical perspective on global communities, and to take ownership, responsibility and accountability for global problems, learners will have to learn in an environment that has built in values, ethics and moral systems. Family environments must strive to provide cross cultural and cross religion understanding and tolerance.

m. Everyone will be knowledge generators rather than knowledge consumers. Scientific skills will create points of reference and a collective intelligence to provide new truths, where traditionally religion, culture and family environments have provided old truths. With everyone thinking to be experts with all knowledge at their fingertips, official institutions of learning will find it impossible to deliver in-time knowledge and must so reinvent curriculums, pedagogies and andragogies to provide skills to access and understand this knowledge.

Concluding Remarks
When considering issues dealing with the future of Malaysian Education, the above deals with perhaps the opening gambit of the process to initiate the transformation process. When implemented in full and in a comprehensive manner that deals with the breadth and depth of all these issues, it could perhaps be summed up that the final product has to be able to take Malaysian students to levels of knowledge that will sustain Malaysia in the future. What are these levels of Knowledge?

Intuition and Leaps of Logic are phenomena that are Highest Order Knowledge skills, developing when a level of expertise is reached in a field of study where brain networks are able to process data instantly and without apparent conscious effort to provide an answer to a related question in that same field of expertise. This informs and enables decision making processes that appear to be instantaneous, effortless and without a quantifiable sequence of thought.

It is proposed that there exists two phases to achieving this level of skill, by both indirect, unconscious effort and conscious effort. Phase one is to become expert enough so that the learner becomes aware of all the possibilities, research and knowledge in that field and the other, to learn to listen to that inner voice that is called intuition or sometimes, gut feeling. As the learner becomes more aware of intuitive answers that arise from unconscious Leaps of Logic, and experiences the correctness or wrongness of it in the application process, the learner starts learning to listen to intuition and starts relying on the answers that becomes progressively more reliable, although the learner does not purposefully processes the question pathways. What do all these have to do with events and instruction in a classroom?

1) If the teaching of Declarative and Procedural Knowledge is removed completely from the classroom to be replaced with the development of Application and Enquiry Skills in Schematic and Strategic Knowledge, in a learner centered environment, what would be the impact on the evolution of a Learner in the classroom?
a. Declarative Knowledge – knowing that
b. Procedural Knowledge – knowing how
c. Schematic Knowledge – knowing why
d. Strategic Knowledge – knowing application

2) What are the factors in a Field of Play in the classroom that interact in the evolution of a student to evolve the student to the highest levels of knowledge, hypothesized here to be where Leaps of Logic based on conscious and trusted intuition inform and enable a high level learning process?

Fields of Play is the environment in a classroom, and the factors that are at work in a classroom to evolve a student from the initial point where all that is perceived is data that hold no meaning but yet can be manipulated, to the end point where the student is able to evolve the data and through choice, application and intuition, finally achieves an intuitive knowledge level where well informed, thoughtful and mostly correct decisions can be made through the development and cultivation of Leaps of Logic.

Experience through interactions with, and feedback from the world of cause and effect will further feedback to inform and evolve wisdom so that thinking skills evolve further. This is further reflected upon and levels of thought are achieved where fewer mistakes and better choices are made. This feeds thinking and intuitive skills and the student levels up to the next rung of the evolution ladder. The final level is reached when the ability develops to make instant, well processed decisions based on Leaps of Logic. This ability fuels Disruptive Thinking to create Innovation.

There are two phases to achieving this level of skill, by both indirect, unconscious effort and conscious effort. One is to become expert enough so that we are aware of all the possibilities, research and knowledge in that field and the other, is to learn to listen to that inner voice that is called intuition or sometimes, gut feeling. As we become more aware of the intuitive answer, and we experience the correctness or wrongness of it in the real world, then we start learning to listen to our intuition and to start relying on the answers that we know must be correct, although we have not purposefully processed the answer pathways.

The issue of Creativity in Problem Solving

Creativity is an overused word globally. Experts and laymen alike use it to explain everything that is wrong with everything from education systems to fashion and movies, and the host of solutions that are being proposed to ensure the survival of the planet. The knowledge that is lacking though is how creativity is born and can be nurtured to the point that it is able to be applied.

What is this creativity? Why are so many of us convinced that this is the one trait that will solve all our problems and be a stepping stone to success? Let’s start with some simple experiments that try to deal with the little details of this big picture called “Creativity”.

1. The Einstellung Effect (when thinking is mechanised due to previous experience): Lurchins Water Jar experiment, 1942

2. Incubation effect (when interruption of the task improves eventual success rate): Silveira’s Cheap-necklace problem experiment, 1971

3. Functional Fixedness (when problem solving is fixed by a perceived fixed use of objects, leading to failure): Dunker’s The Candle Experiment, 1945

4. Issues of Correct representation (when presentation of a problem can influence the ease by which it is solved): Wickelgren’s Mutilated Checkerboard problem, 1974

5. Spontaneous Transfer (when people solve new problems using learning from a prior experience, even when not conscious of the connection): Maiers’s Two String Problem, 1931

6. Intrinsic motivations (when people perform better and more consistently when they are motivated intrinsically) Deci’s Soma Cube Experiment, 1969

Knowing all these, where do we go next? How do we use this knowledge we have from all the research that shows what blocks, sparks and sustains creativity and intrinsic motivations?

Could our intensely vivid world restrict creativity?

I was reading a damn good book this morning, when I was engaged in my morning ablutions, and I suddenly realised I was running late. I was lost in a world of magic and adventure for 30 minutes and it felt like 5.

I then realised that this never happened when I was reading my favourite comics, Tintin or Asterix and Obelix. I never did get lost in the comic world because the imagery was all laid out for me and nothing much was left to my imagination.

What if in our world, where imagery and videos and YouTube greet us at every turn, we are losing the ability to imagine and dream? My children do not need to construct 3D worlds in their heads because everything is laid out for them. They don't need to lose themselves in their laptops, but must instead stay focused on the pictures and videos that are going by. What do they lose in the process? What do they gain?

Could it be that Creativity is becoming such a huge issue, simply because we are building a world that negates the need for our children to be creative - everything is precisely laid out for them? There is no need for them to turn inward and make order out of the chaos that is the usual resting state of our brains. They are constantly turning outwards and looking at directions and instructions that are laid out for them.

Is there a train of logic here? Can you reflect and build in your head, the scenario I have just mapped out and picture the results - a child of today waiting to receive pictures and imagery, rather than building them in his head? Is there a logical link between this vivid world and the destruction of a creative mind?

An educational revolution

Governments are unable to initiate educational reforms because the education machinery is too vast and complex.

Educators, be they in school or higher education institutes (HEIs), simply do not want to and are incapable of change because it would involve learning a whole new set of skills, values and understandings of the new 21st century learner – hugely due to the fact that the new learner wants autonomy and does not take instruction and orders easily.

The public is reluctant to move, and are frozen to immobility because the internet is bombarding them with so many expert opinions and each touting itself as the best new 21st century education system. There is also the myth that old ways and values that were good for our forefathers should be brought back to instill old values and ethical moralities.

Industry demands new skills for new market places and emerging technologies, but want to have the chicken before the egg and still maintain that their profits cannot be touched and are reluctant to participate and catalyse educational transformations that are not their “core business”.
Experts - teachers, academics, administrators, ministry officers – already know that we have to change but simply do not want to be the first to initiate risky maneuvers that will put our heads on the chopping block, and possibly resulting in the government of the day having to face the vote-controlling public with bad news.

Clearly though, education systems have to change to meet the needs of newly evolved brains of the human race and the newly evolved demands of the 21st century. What is next?

I would propose that whatever we plan on doing, we are already out of time and we have no time to plan for changes that occur in slow steps. We need a revolution that is akin to what is happening in the Middle East, where people have taken the law into their own hands because they realise that talk leads nowhere. They are mired in environments where violence greets different ways of thinking, and where fear is used as an instrument of control.

Let us look at this proposed model of a series of steps that need to occur before we can achieve our wanted outcomes of producing students with innovative, risk taking and wise decision making behaviours. It assumes that what must catalyse the whole process is that first step of a transformed learning environment, which is pretty similar to the natural world we live in. We respond to the changes and stressors in our environment and we either evolve positively or negatively in order to survive in the transformed environment. A positive reaction enables us to survive successfully, and a negative reaction will diminish our chances of being successful.

l e a r n i n g s p a c e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n
Anytime Collective & Computational Intelligent Access
s t a k e h o l d e r s i m p a c t e d
Learners, Educators & Administrators
t r a n s f o r m e d p e r s p e c t i v e s
Intrinsic Motivations, Relevance & Meaning
b e l i e f & a c c e p t a n c e
Autonomy, Purpose & Mastery
t h o u g h t p r o c e s s e s
Creativity, Thinking and Intuition
s t a k e h o l d e r o u t c o m e s
Innovation, Risk Taking & Wise Decision Making

Assuming that this model is mostly correct, the all-important event that has to take place is the introduction of a catalyst into our learning spaces, from kindergartens to HEIs. What shape would this catalyst take?

From my perspective, the answer has to be an affordable technological tool that is intelligent, and is powered with “anytime Collective & Computational Intelligent Access” in our Learning Spaces. Figure out yourself what shape that tech tool should take and what kind of Collective and Computational Intelligence applications exist that are able to meet this need. A real dilemma, but certainly, doable solutions exist.

One of the crucial initial outcomes for a transformed learning space is the acceptance of educators for student autonomy. Educators must start accepting that in this age of the internet, learners more than ever need a life guide who will be able to help them understand the invisible rules governing the code of good human conduct. We should accept, with open arms, that we cannot compete with the internet in its ability to present data in varied and interesting ways, at the click of a button. What the internet will not be able to offer though for a very long time to come, is the ability to help learners understand values, ethics, emotional interactions, wise risk taking behaviours and the many complicated rules of relationships and teamwork.

The internet will never be able to teach young people that the hardest stage of solving problems and creating solutions in the real world is the very initial stage that deals with getting people in your team to stay motivated, focused and willing to contribute their full energies and talents to achieving sought after outcomes. It is about dealing with red tape and following vexing procedures that kill enthusiasm and spirit. These are things that only a human guide can help show and identify as the crucial intangible obstacles to everyday human accomplishments.

Educators will hopefully come to realise that they are actually giving up their roles as the providers of content to become someone who is so much more valuable to the lives of learners. In Malaysia specifically, educators have to contend with the struggle to provide learners with insights and understandings into the big picture of racial and religious acceptance, not just tolerance. We are constantly bombarded with every excuse to judge a people based on race, religion and wealth, and educators here play a crucial role to show learners that excuses are for the weak minded and bigots. There always are solutions in the real world – provided we are willing to engage with others and have the ability to make people want to engage with us.

Educators are still needed who are expert in their specialised areas, and who can provide big picture views after a long period of specialised experiences in their subject areas, living through mistakes, applications and real world implications for that specialised subject area. The internet offers a small chunk of knowledge or data, and it requires experienced guides to show relevance, meaning and possible pitfalls of that independent chunk of knowledge. The one thing I can state with confidence is that we will need educators to become very focused on communicating ideas and stimulating discussions and dialogue.

I am not proposing anything that is completely radical, and neither am I proposing something that is abstract and difficult to grasp. We are always making choices knowing the facts and sometimes knowing nothing, and those choices lead to decisions that will change our lives for the better or for the worse. This is one such circumstance. We cannot afford to adopt a wait and see attitude because right now, any country that takes a calculated risk and jumps feet first into a brand new education curriculum, will potentially have the chance to lead the world and go down in history as the new pioneers of the 21st century.

Eureka Moments

We have all had those moments of clarity where ideas, thoughts and solutions to our life’s biggest problems seem to pop into our heads in a continuous stream that cannot be ignored. How nice it would be if we could actually control these events and have them happen at will! Most people would pretty much agree that this “Eureka Moment” (EM) are random and completely beyond human control. How about if I present a case for it being very much in our control, but requires a set of circumstances to be present for that EM to occur?
The reason I am talking about this is because EMs are skillfully crafted moments that can be purposefully trained. We need to have learners who are able to access the full range of their brain power to stimulate critical, logical and intuitive thinking. This, I believe, is a requisite for new people with new ways of thinking that in turn enable the development of new ideas that could quite possibly transform current approaches to living on this planet.
My proposition is that we are not planning in the correct way to reach those EMs. More accurately, we are focusing on the wrong things when we even do plan. I remember this scene in the movie, Men in Black. The hero and a bunch of agents are asked to complete a test on a piece of paper. They are forced to sit in an almost completely enclosed chair that blocks arm movements, which makes it impossible to write. There is a fixed, immovable table in the center, out of reach of anyone sitting on the chair. The chair can be ripped off its base. Whilst the agents try to wriggle around to write on the document, the hero rips the chair off its base, moves it to the table, leans forward and easily completes the test.
The focus of the agents was wrong because they were in the box and yes, I know it is the world’s greatest cliché! This is the famous box that we all seem to be perpetually stuck in. Almost 100% of the time, we stay in the box because our focus and planning are wrong. Let’s get to how we might shift the focus and planning.
My first prerequisite comes from this saying, “Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.”
This means that when you repeatedly do something, you will gradually learn more and more about it. The many ways of doing things and the expected results – maybe, could be, probably, logically, surely. Now, when you repeat your actions and unexpected things happen… aha… now you will learn. If you monotonously do the same thing, you will become an expert at performing that sequence, but you learn nothing new. It implies that you need to make mistakes in order to enable true learning, something that most education systems and workplaces seem to have forgotten. In fact, current learners and employees are punished for mistakes in a way that makes them never ever want to take the risk again.
Prerequisite number 2 is the forethought for Planned Discovery
Learning occurs during novel experiences, or at least that is the way it should be. When you are confronted with an experience that is a surprise, and one that you did not prepare for, then your curiosity is aroused. If you had expected a set outcome from your actions, and you instead get an outcome that is different, you would want to know what changed. Somehow or the other, your perceptions and your world views have to be altered because you realise that somewhere along the line in your thought processes, an error exists. It could be your factual knowledge, assumptions, variables not accounted for and the host of details that have a causal effect on your perception of the world, but the conclusion is that something needs changing.
You might also have some wrong learning systems, and insist that the outside world is wrong and you always right. You might dismiss the occurrence as a fluke or an accident, and only search for answers that reinforce your own knowledge and ways of thinking – a common habit among learners and human beings.
The implication here is that learners have to start learning by experiencing when and where to apply what types of rules for learning. Most importantly, students can accelerate their learning by participating in Planned Discovery - actively seeking out encounters where they are likely to learn and in the process of doing this; learn to get rid of the habit of looking for knowledge that reinforces preconceived notions about ways of thinking.
Prerequisite number 3 is that “Inexperienced Decision Making is the weakest link, so build experience” to achieve EM
Charles Darwin said "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" and this is quite probably the most dangerous aspect of ignorance.
Look back at work you have done with a team of people, and those that were actually completed and met expected outcomes. How long did it take from planning, up to achieving deliverable outcomes? Consider now repeating the project with all parameters remaining the same, the exception now being experience levels and awareness of previous mistakes. What do you think the timeline will be now?
Research shows that the new timeline would be on the order of quarter to half the previous time.
If the only difference during that the second time was that you had mastered the intricacies of the project, this would suggest that the obstacle to your deliverables was what you didn’t know. It does not mean that you spent all the extra time trying to learn stuff. You probably spent it trying to find a way forward, or being involved in discussions with various experts, in order to get more information. You also probably took wrong turnings, that you would not have taken had you only known.
So it’s not really learning that’s the weakest link – its inexperienced decision making and ignorance. More accurately, it’s inexperience about specific aspects of the problem at hand. Inexperience is the greatest obstacle.
Inexperience applies along multiple lines of reasoning. You can be inexperienced with the particular technologies, inexperienced with the ways in which you could address the problem or opportunity, inexperienced with a better way of articulating the problem – a better model – that would make the solution obvious, inexperienced with people in the team – their aspirations or fears, their motivation, their relationships with one another and out into to the wider organisation – there are a host of other factors that could affect delivery of expected outcomes.
Prerequisite number 4 is the skill of Creative Thinking - aka analytical thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, logical thinking and thinking of all sorts.
Obviously, all humans think, unless they have been programmed and conditioned to not think; and to question everything. This must sound very familiar to many of you, no? Thinking and creativity are closely related, thinking being a prerequisite to creative thinking, creativity for short. The dilemma is, education is never easily “administered” where creativity is allowed. Could you imagine a school where lesson plans are ignored, and where learners are allowed to explore tangents that they go off on, or where even one where learners are allowed more authority than teachers!? What a nightmare scene! Yet, without this nightmare scene, Creative Thinking skills will never develop.
I have this poetic bit of a paragraph that was constructed to try painting a picture of the kind of students that we need to have so that we have EM’s exploding throughout the day in our schools.
“To realize that we are shaped by education, that learning leads to thought and self-reflection, understanding and knowledge and wisdom, and to see that skills in critical thinking lead to creative solutions; thus strengthening our minds and giving us sound judgment and character to see clearly. Our student is a Scientist who is able to interpret a poem, a Poet who sees rhyme in the Scientific Method and a Philosopher who understands there are no truths, only perspectives.”

Eureka Moments are built on the starting blocks described above, yet these are the very attributes that are seldom present in most education systems. I think that administrators and many stakeholders will even now, argue against changes being made because people have been conditioned to stay in comfort zones and to not rock the boat when the sea is still reasonably calm.

I must also say that stakeholders, who want change, have to create a storm if they want that change. Don’t sit at home and send letters and emails complaining about the state of affairs – go out and do something about it! Develop plans for actions that foster innovative changes with measureable outcomes. These just might motivate “Higher Powers” to start engaging with stakeholders for the transformation of our education system.

Plan for a Eureka Moment, and when inspiration strikes, JUST DO IT!

Schools without Borders, Students without Limits

Taking off from where we left off the last time – The Carrot and The Stick – I would like to now talk about the opposite end of the coin. Remember that the core issues discussed last time were Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose – and how current education systems are ignoring what science knows and has proven.

Next big proposal - Would any rational government consider letting schools run completely on their own without a time table or a fixed schedule? No bells ringing even! What!? Am I crazy!? That would demolish life as we know it. Yet, this is precisely what is needed. In fact a former Director General of the Ministry of Education, Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Wan Mohd Zahid, implemented this concept in Sekolah Menengah Jalan Bayam in Kelantan. This was pilot tested in the mid nineteen nineties and the school quickly rose to become one of the top schools in Malaysia. Unfortunately, once the Headmaster who was the champion of the project left, the school reverted to its old ways.

The earth is made up of countries. Countries are built upon society, which in turn is built upon communities and which in the end, starts with a single individual. Our students and young people are individuals and the last thing they need is an education system that lumps everyone into a single herd of animals, taught in one way and at the same pace, and too bad if you get left behind. We are forced into a linear education system at a time when non- linear thinking is valued and wanted. Again, what we know society demands is not what we supply to our students. What science knows is what we ignore, and even instead apply opposite principles.

So, what is education?

School systems are obsessed with rigid timetables, for starters. We actually support a school system where everything is divided into 40 minute sessions and students must also start and stop accordingly. Never mind the thoughts and the paths a student might be on, stop all brain processes and throw the switch that moves him to a new subject. Follow the herd! Let the blind lead the blind and never anyone mind!

We have to eliminate this existing perception that a hierarchy exists among subjects. Elevating some disciplines over others only reinforces assumptions that made sense in the industrial age and offends the principle of multidisciplinary diversity. The arts, sciences, maths, humanities, physical education, languages, dance and drama all have equal and central contributions to make to a student's education and development
Eleven years on and things have only got worse. A former professor of arts education at the University of Warwick in the UK, Sir Ken Robinson, argues this case in his new book, The Element. Our approaches to education are "stifling some of the most important capacities that young people now need to make their way in the increasingly demanding world of the 21st century - the powers of creative thinking", he says.
"All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think," he says. "Most students never get to explore the full range of their abilities and interests ... Education is the system that's supposed to develop our natural abilities and enable us to make our way in the world. Instead, it is stifling the individual talents and abilities of too many students and killing their motivation to learn."
Robinson, who now earns his living as a speaker on creativity, does not blame the teachers. "It's the system - it's too linear," he says. Schools are obsessed with rigid timetables, for starters. "If you live in a world where every lesson is 40 minutes, you immediately interrupt the flow of creativity," he says. "We need to eliminate the existing hierarchy of subjects. Elevating some disciplines over others only reinforces outmoded assumptions of industrialism and offends the principle of diversity. The arts, sciences, humanities, physical education, languages and maths all have equal and central contributions to make to a student's education."
Let’s make a case for this

Multidisciplinary approach
Today’s Learning Spaces are centered on the development and exchange of knowledge and information, and Learners who are successful are those who are fluent in several disciplines and comfortable moving among them. Creativity, adaptability, critical reasoning, and collaboration are highly valued skills. When it comes to fostering those skills in the classroom, interdisciplinary study is an extremely effective approach, helping students develop multifaceted expertise and grasp the important role that collaboration and teamwork can play in the real world.
Interdisciplinary studies bring together diverse disciplines in a comprehensive manner, enabling students to develop a meaningful understanding of the complex associations and influences within a topic. As a result of this approach, which is often driven by project and research skills, schools become more interesting and productive for learners.
"The Logic of Interdisciplinary Studies," a 1997 research report by Rosenstock, found broad consensus as to what the report called "positive educational outcomes" for students in a multidisciplinary studies program:
• Understanding and application of general concepts.
• Development of multiple perspectives as well as a global values system.
• Increased motivation, confidence and tenacity to work at problem solving processes
• Ethical Decision making through critical and creative thinking, and creating new knowledge.
• Ability to identify, assess, and solve novel problems.
To ensure ongoing progress and monitor quality, a constructive feedback system is critical for any multidisciplinary program based on real world learning. It's essential, Rosenstock emphasizes, that a learner’s work is evaluated by fellow students, teachers and community, as well as industry professionals. That way, he says, "you build into the school a system, a cycle of improvement."
After all, our daily life and work are not stratified into "the math part, the science part, the history part, and the English part," Rosenstock points out. "Kids don't experience the world that way. We all live in environments that are a product of multidisciplinary processes coming together to present a whole.
Creativity in the classroom
Despite all the money, initiatives and trendsetting, the concept of creativity is still not filtering down into the classroom, says Teresa Cremin, professor of education at the Open University UK, and an expert on creativity in primary schools.
She believes many teachers still think being creative means they have to be flamboyant and extrovert. While many schools are creative, many others pay lip service to the creativity agenda, she argues.
This might mean a day off the curriculum to do "the arts" after pupils have sat for tests. It's a myth to call this creative learning, she says. Creativity must be embedded into everyday teaching and learning. "Many schools haven't got a handle on the language of creativity and are reticent about teaching more creatively," she says. "They are worried they won't achieve standards in other things."
She agrees with much of Ken Robinson's argument. "If you have a school system which rewards conformity and avoids risk-taking, then youngsters will be unable to cope with the 21st century world unfolding before them."
Anna Craft, a professor of education at the University of Exeter and a government adviser on creativity, says: "There is an enormous willingness to embrace creativity in the classroom, but an increasing lethargy in the system too." Robinson is right, she says; it's not that we need to "tweak the recipe - we need a NEW recipe".
Bringing this about might take a mass protest of pupils walking out of school because it's just too irrelevant, she says. But in the end change has got to happen and, she says, Robinson's book can "do nothing but good in getting the debate loud and clear".

Real World Learning
Research based learning, is a dynamic approach to teaching in which learners explore meaningful problems and challenges, simultaneously developing multi disciplinary skills while needing to solve problems in a collaborative and inclusive manner
Research based learning is engaged learning. It inspires learners to obtain a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the problem they re researching. Multiple Intelligence research also indicates that learners are more likely to retain knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning. In addition, learners develop independence, confidence and self-motivation and direction as they move through team based research work.
In research based evaluations, learners are evaluated on the basis of their projects, rather than on a meaningless grade defined by exams, essays, and written reports. This gives their work meaning and purpose. Learners quickly see how academic work can connect to real-life, often global, challenges - and quickly find direction and paths suited to their talents and skills
Research based learning is also an effective way to integrate technology into the curriculum. A typical project can easily accommodate technology and the Internet, in the form of Virtual Worlds and Experimentation, Collaborative Internet Platforms (COHERE), Interactive Whiteboards (fats becoming obsolete themselves), global-positioning-system (GPS) devices, digital and video cameras, PDAs and associated software.


Teamwork and Living Skills Development
It's not enough to simply fill learners' brains with facts. A sustainable education demands that character development is emphasised as well. Social and emotional skills are a result of character development. This is essential in helping learners to manage their emotions, resolve conflict nonviolently and make responsible decisions.
Research shows that high levels of social and emotional skills lead to lowered levels of aggression among children and high academic achievements. Learners who demonstrate respect for people in their schooling environments and accept globally held beliefs and religions as a matter of global diversity are more likely to continue to demonstrate such behavior.
Educators must lay the groundwork for successful development of social skills and talents by establishing an environment of trust and respect in the classroom. Empathy is key. Before learners can be expected to unite to achieve academic goals, they must be taught what teamwork means and how it is applied in the real world. This experience provides them with strategies and tools for cooperative learning and working in their personal futures.
Dynamic curriculum
In fact, the entire notion of "subjects" needs to be questioned, Sir Ken Robinson says. "The idea of separate subjects that have nothing in common offends the principle of dynamism. School systems should base their curriculum not on the idea of separate subjects, but on the much more fertile idea of disciplines ... which makes possible a fluid and dynamic curriculum that is interdisciplinary."
In December, the UK Rose review, the biggest inquiry into primary schooling in a generation, also recommended moving away from the idea of subjects. Sir Jim Rose said a "bloated" curriculum was leaving children with shallow knowledge and understanding. The review proposed half a dozen cross-curricular themes instead: understanding the global language, communication and languages; mathematical understanding; science and technological understanding; human, social and environmental understanding; understanding physical education and wellbeing; and understanding the arts and design.
Robinson believes the curriculum should be much more personalised. "Learning happens in the minds and souls, not in the databases of multiple-choice tests." Why are we so fixated by age groups, he asks? Let a 10-year-old learn with their younger and older peers. Let’s organise classrooms according to ability.
We put too high a premium on knowing the "single right answer", Robinson claims. But he says he is not in principle opposed to standardised tests, such as The SATs. Used in the right way, they can provide essential data to support and improve education. The problem comes when these tests become more than simply a tool of education and turn into the focus of it, he argues.
All of this prevents the next generation finding its "element". School is "the place where the things you love to do and the things you are good at come together". This "element" is essential to our wellbeing, our ultimate success and the effectiveness of our education system.
Robinson suggests the education system needs to be not just reformed, but transformed - and urgently. In times of economic crisis, we need to think more creatively than ever, he says. "Just about everywhere, the problems are getting worse."
Should we stay as we are, making minute changes as we move along, our education system will quickly become irrelevant. Internet 1.0 took us by surprise, and we are languishing in Internet 2.0 and are now allowing Internet 3.0 to take us by “surprise”, albeit a fully informed surprise where we all know the potentials and possibilities that will materialise now and in the very near future.
Do we have the courage and the political will, the tenacity and enough foresight and concern for the relevance of Malaysia in the now and the future, to develop a brand new education system that will ensure our sustainability?
Champions who believe in this cause - step forward and be seen, be heard and be counted; for nothing short of a rebellious, unflinching, apolitical 1 School in 1 Session, 21st century system is needed to carry Malaysia forward!

The Carrot and The Stick in Education

Dr. Theva Nithy
Are we actually achieving what we think we want to achieve by having an education system structured the way it is now, based on archaic ways of thinking and with its carrot, sweeter carrot and stick, sharper stick approach?
The research and the science says NO, but governments, social scientists and educationists have, for the last century, made the opposite choice – IGNORE THE RESEARCH AND SCIENCE AND DO WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW ANYWAY! The current education system is stifling and eroding the one talent and skill that young people of the 21st century need most of all – the power of creative thinking.
Different types of exposure and different types of experiences change the actual structure of brain development. You could say with a very high degree of certainty that children who grew up in the digital age have brains that are literally different from the rest of the human race. This will also cause different ways of thinking and will have different demands for mental stimulation and sustenance. Most importantly, these brains will learn differently.

Our children and students are a different, perhaps new and improved, version of the evolving human brain. They represent the first real generation who grew up nurtured by technology - surrounded by mobile phones, email, Facebook, intelligent systems and digitised information - and their brains and minds have been programmed accordingly; and differently. To expect them to be down and cool with an archaic education system that represents the remnants of the Industrial age is not only crazy, but downright foolish!
There is this puzzle called The Candle Problem. It was created in 1945 by a psychologist named Karl Duncker and here’s how it works. Suppose I bring you into a room. I give you a candle, some thumbtacks in a box and some matches, and I say to you, "Your job is to attach the candle to the wall above the top of that table, light the candle and ensure the wax does not drip onto the table. You cannot move the table." How would you proceed?
Now, many people begin trying to thumbtack the candle to the wall, which does not work of course. Some people have the perfectly logical idea where they light the match, melt the side of the candle and try to stick it to the wall. Also does not work. Eventually, most people figure out the solution. The key is to overcome what's called Functional Fixedness. You look at that box and you see it only as a receptacle for the tacks. It can also have this other function, as a platform and drip tray for the candle - The Candle Problem.
A scientist named Sam Glucksberg, who is now at Princeton University in the U.S, conducted a similar experiment. This one shows the power of incentives. He gathered his participants and said, "I'm going to time you. How quickly can you solve this candle problem?"
To one group he said, “I'm going to time you to establish norms, averages for how long it typically takes someone to solve this sort of problem.”
To the second group he offered rewards. "If you're in the top 25 percent of the fastest times you get a hundred dollars. If you're the fastest of everyone we're testing here today you get two hundred dollars."
Question: How much faster did this group solve the problem?
Answer: It took them, on average, three and a half minutes longer.
Three and a half minutes longer!

Now this appears to make no sense, right? If you want people to perform better, you reward them with bonuses, commissions – sweet carrots. But that's not happening here. You think you have an incentive designed to sharpen thinking and accelerate creativity. It does just the opposite. It dulls thinking and blocks creativity.
What's interesting about this experiment is that it's not a single result in a series of experiments. This has been replicated over and over again, for nearly 40 years. The rule that is supposed to be - if you do this, then you get that – only works in some circumstances. This is one of the most robust findings in social science. It is also one of the most ignored.
Scientists have looked at the science of human motivation, particularly the dynamics of extrinsic motivators and intrinsic motivators. If you look at the science, there is a mismatch between what science knows and what education does. What's alarming here is that our education operating system is built entirely around these extrinsic motivators, around carrots and sticks, exam results, promotions and scholarships. That's actually fine for many kinds of 20th century tasks. But for 21st century tasks, that industrial age approach does not work and often does harm as it psychologically increases dependence on outside motivators and negates free will, creativity and thinking skills.
So, Glucksberg did another experiment similar to the first, where he presented the problem in a slightly different way. This time the tacks were lying on the table, outside the box. Attach the candle to the wall so the wax doesn't drip onto the table – same rules apply. 1st group: we're timing for normal population performance. 2nd group: we're giving you sweet carrots. What happened this time? This time, the carrot group kicked the other groups behind.
Rewards work really well for those sorts of tasks - where there is a simple set of rules and a clear destination to go to. Rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus, concentrate the mind. For tasks like this, a narrow focus, where you just see the goal right there and zoom straight ahead to it - they work really well. But for the real candle problem, you don't want to be thinking like this. The solution is not obvious. The solution lies in the fringes of your mind. You need to be looking there, outside the box. That reward actually narrows our focus and restricts our creativity, and keeps out thinking and strategies inside the box. Those creativity and intuition skills that help solve society’s Wicked Problems.
Do the problems that you face have a clear set of rules, and a single solution? No. The rules are mystifying. The solution, if it exists at all, is surprising and not obvious. Everybody in this room is dealing with their own version of the candle problem. For candle problems of any kind, in any field, those “if-then” rewards, the things around which we've built our education system, do not work. To make matters even more complicated, in the real world we need to listen and collaborate with other people – increasing levels of complexity by the 10th degree
Dan Ariely, and American economists, did a study of some MIT students. They gave these MIT students a bunch of games that involved creativity, and motor skills, and concentration. They then offered them, depending on performance, three levels of rewards - small, medium and large reward. If you do really well you get the large reward.
What happened? As long as the task involved only mechanical skills, bonuses worked as they would be expected to: the higher the pay, the better the performance. But once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill, a larger reward led to poorer performance.
There is a mismatch between what science knows and what governments and education systems do. And what is worrying, as we stand here in the rubble of the economic collapse, is that educationists are making their decisions, their policies about talent and people, based on assumptions that are outdated, unexamined, and rooted more in folklore than in science. If we really want to get out of this mess, and if we really want high performance on those definitional tasks of the 21st century, the solution is not to do more of the wrong things - to entice people with a sweeter carrot, or threaten them with a sharper stick. We need a whole new approach.
Scientists who've been studying motivation have given us this new approach, built much more around intrinsic motivation. Around the desire to do things because they matter, because we like it, because they're interesting and because they are part of something important. That proposed new operating system for our education system orbits three elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Autonomy - the urge to direct our own lives.
Purpose – directing our mastery into a drive to achieve in the service of something larger than ourselves because we believe in a cause that is greater than our own.
Mastery - the desire to get better and better at something that matters, derived from our own autonomous urges.
Education Systems are not trees. They are computers. Somebody invented them. It doesn't mean they are going to work forever. Traditional Education systems are great if you want compliance and people who do not know how to think. If you want engagement, and autonomy, purpose and mastery- self-direction works better.
Google has 20 Percent Time, where engineers can spend 20 percent of their time working on anything they want. They have autonomy over their time, their task, their team, their technique. Radical amounts of autonomy. At Google, about half of the new products in a typical year are birthed during that 20 Percent Time. Things like Gmail, Orkut, Google News.
Another system is the Results Only Work Environment - The ROWE. It was created by two American consultants, in place at about a dozen companies around North America. In a ROWE people don't have schedules. They show up when they want. They don't have to be in the office at a certain time, or any time. They just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, where they do it, is totally up to them. Meetings in these kinds of environments are optional.
What happens? Almost across the board, productivity goes up, worker engagement goes up, worker satisfaction goes up, and turnover goes down. Autonomy, purpose and mastery- these are the building blocks of a new way of doing things and a new way of learning. Now some of you might look at this and say, "Hmm, that sounds nice. But it's Utopian."
There is proof.
The mid 1990s, Microsoft started an encyclopedia called Encarta. They had deployed all the right incentives. They paid professionals to write and edit thousands of articles. Well compensated managers oversaw the whole thing to make sure it came in on budget and on time. A few years later another encyclopedia got started. Different model and do it for fun. No one gets paid a cent, or a Euro or a Ringgit. They did it because they enjoyed doing it.
Now if you had, just 10 years ago, gone to a human being, anywhere, and said, "Hey, I've got these two different models for creating an encyclopedia. If they went head to head, who would win?" 10 years ago you could not have found a single sober person anywhere on planet Earth, who would have predicted the Wikipedia model.
There is another very important and hugely interesting experiment that was conducted in India a few years ago, called, “Hole in the wall”. Simply put, Dr. Sugata Mitra of NIIT India, placed computers and touch pads into walls all over India, stood back, and watched, recorded what happened. After replicating this experiment all over India, Dr. Mitra proposed a learning idea called Minimally Invasive Education.
“Minimally Invasive Education™ (MIE) is a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. It is defined as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.”
The core idea behind MIE is that groups of children are able to learn on their own without any direct intervention from teachers. Dr. Mitra found that children using a Hole-in-the-wall Learning Station required little or no inputs from teachers and learnt on their own by the process of exploration, discovery and peer coaching. The idea of MIE has been fine-tuned over a period of time based on observations and educational experiments conducted at NIIT.
MIE uses the intrinsic motivations in children and provides an enabling, autonomous environment where they can learn on their own, thereby providing purpose leading to mastery. While experimenting with the Learning Station, children pick up critical problem solving skills. Most importantly, the learning occurs in a collaborative setting where children can share their knowledge and in the process, inherent group dynamics, and a process of self-selection, culminates in a highly organised educational environment.

Conventional pedagogy focuses on many teachers’ abilities to disseminate information in a classroom setting, where no autonomy and hopefully purpose leading to mastery might be achieved. MIE complements a formal schooling environment by providing a much needed balance for a child to learn on his own and self-selecting to move on to higher levels of wisdom and achievements..
This is the titanic battle between these two approaches. There is intrinsic (bottom-up) versus extrinsic (top-down) motivators. There is autonomy, purpose and mastery versus carrot and sticks.
Who wins? Intrinsic motivation, autonomy, purpose and mastery– every single time!
There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. And here is what science knows.
One: Those 20th century rewards, those motivators we think are a natural part of education; do work, but only in a surprisingly narrow band of circumstances. Two: Those if-then rewards often destroy creativity. Three: The secret to high performance isn't rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive - the drive to do things for their own sake and the drive to do things because they matter.
Here's the best part. We already know this. The science confirms what we know in our minds. So, if we repair this mismatch between what science knows and what education does instead, if we bring our motivation into the 21st century, if we can get past this lazy, dangerous, ideology of carrots and sticks, we can radically transform and strengthen our education systems. We can solve a lot of those candle problems, and maybe, maybe, maybe we can change the world.

Knowledge and Knowing Managers: What Transformation?

“It is no longer affordable or intelligent for us to be satisfied with way things are,” our PM recently stated when warning that Malaysia must transform or risk becoming a failed state.
In a global climate where a failed state is an easy reality, Malaysia does need to start transforming and reinventing herself. I am not advocating the rhetorical posturing associated with “thinking about Transformation”, but the actual implementation and operationalising of transformative strategies – perhaps the most important being the objective solely focused on providing the best possible environments and learning managers for our learners. This being the age of the Knowledge Economy, developing, nurturing and retaining talent should be the prime objective of any country, Everything else that is needed will automatically follow. But…
“Mankind was evolving, and hopes were high. Then came education systems and
Managers of Knowledge”….Anonymous

We are stuck in a system where we educators envisage ourselves as Knowledge Managers, rather than as Knowing Managers.
What is the difference?
Knowledge Managers are people who think that knowledge is an independent wheel in a vehicle and does not interact with the rest of the vehicle. It can be removed, damaged modified and cease to function, and still have no causal effect on the rest of the vehicle. Knowledge Managers are also traditional teacher-centered practitioners who think that knowledge is to be disseminated in chunky bites that are to be swallowed and regurgitated by learners. Regurgitation of course, occurs at hallowed examination halls, where it will be determined how good learners are at regurgitating data.
Knowing Managers, on the other hand, are people who understand that that one insignificant wheel plays a determining role, in the overall performance of the vehicle. These managers know that the sum total of learning occurs in a multi-linked wheel where the weakest link determines the overall performance.
The overall immersions, interactions and experiences in a learning environment will determine the final outcome – the person that student will become. I have found that students, who make the effort to spend time with their lecturers outside their classrooms, engaging in chatter about things outside their areas of expertise, end up becoming much more thoughtful thinkers and are able to have a world view of things. They are quite distinct from the straight A’s scholars who studiously plug away at their assignments and books, but never really understanding where everything falls in the greater scheme of things.
Why is this so?
Many educators seem to make the mistake of falling into the role of Knowledge Managers the instant they step into formal learning spaces – this is true at schools and at universities. It is the schools and the universities job to graduate a student once they feel he has acquired a fixed quantum of knowledge that qualifies him for an exam grade or a degree. Who can blame the educators then, for wanting to become knowledge managers who teach to exams, since this is the requirement the institutions and ministries require? This would also, as expected, inform the student that it is okay to feel confident going out into the world with his fixed quantum of knowledge.
Knowing managers, on the other hand, know that learning through knowing is an infinite system of beliefs, knowledge, skills, ethics, social interactions and a million other nuances, some subtle and others in-your-face, that come together in a journey that never ends. Research and investigations, debates and discussions, presentations and defending them, all mesh into a single coherent set of skills that stimulates and builds KNOWING; and these series of orchestral maneuvers finally result in a learned person.
The environment that provides all these are almost non-existent in nearly all educational systems.
In my own students, I have found they quickly disengage from me when they cannot find relevance and synchrony between my teachings and what they need and want. This is especially true in first year students. They come to the university with grand ambitions, after having been told they are the cream of the crop, and that a fantastic education awaits them that will prepare them for a successful life. I too have been informed by the system that these students are the cream of the crop, excellent communicators with immense knowledge content, logical and precise after having undergone so many examinations – and now, I am thinking, ready for Knowing.
When we meet, the student and I find there is almost a complete mismatch in expectations.
I am there all ready to be their Knowing Manager, but students want me to be their Knowledge Manager. That is what the education system has prepared them for and brainwashed them into. They want a set amount of knowledge that will prepare them for graduation in a few years.
With the stage set by this mismatched expectations, students slowly succumb to a downward spiral where they realise that the knowledge and certainty they had, is not quite the knowing and certainty they face. They slowly start realising that the expectations that they had, to quickly quantify their achievements on examination papers and high grades, has no value. The actual expectation is for them to open their minds to new ways of thinking and knowing. They start realising that the PowerPoint lecture they expect has no value, and it is the discussions and arguments we have everywhere and every when, that provide a real understanding of knowing, and perhaps even is the actual route to understanding the world in a meaningful context.
This is the start of the mess we are in now. The system demands that I become a knowledge manager who grades students on quantified knowledge and then assign them marks and points that will determine a range of grades. At the same time, the system also demands that I become a knowing manager who will immerse students into a knowing environment.
I am reminded of my class for public speaking training for students, where the students simply could not initially grasp that a great speech is a combination of many, many components coming together. When I spoke about eye contact, everyone focused on eye contact, forgetting gestures and voice tone. When I spoke about humour, all everyone wanted to do was to become a clown, forgetting that the message was also vital. When I spoke about wrapping up a speech by going over what had been presented, everyone focused on that. They are now getting the idea that no one thing can work by itself, and it is all about knowing their speech and their audience, not knowledge of the speech and the audience – knowledge being an ineffective tangible factor; and knowing being about an intangible, powerful force.
Don’t get me wrong. We have had this problem since the beginning of education systems. We just never have had high expectations until now. The demands of the modern world - technology and for high levels of expertise - have always been served by a slip-shod education system. It is only now that problems are emerging from the cracks because current expectations are not being met. These problems were never identified before simply because expectations were low even up to 20 years ago. Even that is fine. Expectations and outcomes have evolved as we humans evolve.
The problem lies with the fact that educators and education systems are not evolving, or not evolving fast enough to meet new demands.
The other problem is also that entrance into universities and even schooling systems is a global economic game now, and all the major players believe in looking at Knowledge Grades first before looking at the Knowing Skills. Research and analytical abilities; dedication, willpower and commitment; understanding of social skills in team work, communications and leadership; we put aside the attributes that count and qualify candidates on knowledge grades that we KNOW are not true indicators of abilities and success!
Why? Why cannot we evolve from a system of Knowledge Managers with exams, to a system of Knowing Managers with non-exams?
One, we have encouraged the growth of a grading system based on student competition, where students (and educators) are forced to seek an edge over their peers. This restricts them from engaging fully with each other in a trusted manner since information that is perceived to give an edge, will be held back. In many Asian countries, this has also resulted in one of the biggest disasters - tuition centers.
Two, educators are graded on their students performances in exams, bringing us back to one.
Three, schools and administrators are graded on students’ performances in exams, bringing us back to one.
Four, higher education institutions of education insist on a prerequisite of recognized exams, bringing us back to one.
I have come to believe that the assessment based system we have created is the core catalyst for the dysfunction of our education system. Before I go on, I do realise it is absolutely useless and probably crazy for me to say that we should get rid of exams, but I will say it anyway. Exams have become a drug for us, and we are all addicts. We are addicted to knowledge of the tangibles, and have lost focus, lost faith even, on knowing the intangibles.
What is the way out?
Simplistic as it may be, and notwithstanding political implications, which Malaysia has in abundant quantities, if Malaysia truly believes that “It is no longer affordable or intelligent for us to be satisfied with way things are,” then why does Malaysia not position itself to become the champion of Knowing Managers in a Knowing System? The start point is to create meaningful and relevant alternatives to exams, and there are many – from research projects to scholarly debates to entrepreneurship – the list is endless. All are difficult to do, but then, that is the reason why it is not being done in the first place. We no longer have the option of choosing a simpler route.
There are other issues to be addressed too; automatic promotion versus ability based promotion, traditional subjects versus meaningful subjects; and I will talk about these in future articles, but these are minor issues compared to the first hurdle to overcome.
It is time to decide once and for all whether we want students who MUST go to school for grades and knowledge or students who will immerse themselves into ways of knowing and become relevant to the future that is already at our doorstep. Or are we willing to risk a failed state?

Autonomy, Purpose & Mastery

Autonomy, Purpose & Mastery
Theva Nithy
There is this very important and hugely interesting experiment that was conducted in India a few years ago, called, “Hole in the wall”. Simply put, Dr. Sugata Mitra of NIIT India, placed computers and touch pads into walls all over India, stood back, and watched, recorded what happened. After replicating this experiment all over India, Dr. Mitra proposed a learning idea called Minimally Invasive Education.
“Minimally Invasive Education™ (MIE) is a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. It is defined as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.”
The core idea behind MIE is that groups of children are able to learn on their own without any direct intervention from teachers. Dr. Mitra found that children using a Hole-in-the-wall Learning Station required little or no inputs from teachers and learnt on their own by the process of exploration, discovery and peer coaching. The idea of MIE has been fine-tuned over a period of time based on observations and educational experiments conducted at NIIT.
MIE uses the intrinsic motivations in children and provides an enabling, autonomous environment where they can learn on their own, thereby providing purpose leading to mastery. While experimenting with the Learning Station, children pick up critical problem solving skills. Most importantly, the learning occurs in a collaborative setting where children can share their knowledge and in the process, inherent group dynamics, and a process of self-selection, culminates in a highly organised educational environment.

Conventional pedagogy focuses on many teachers’ abilities to disseminate information in a classroom setting, where no autonomy and hopefully purpose leading to mastery might be achieved. MIE complements a formal schooling environment by providing a much needed balance for a child to learn on his own and self-selecting to move on to higher levels of wisdom and achievements..
Focused areas of the research were Academic Performance, Correlation with Educational Facilities, Comparison with Formal Computer Education, Performance of Dropouts and Peer-to-Peer Learning Patterns. (http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/ )
In the Hole-in-the-wall study, Sociometric surveys were implemented to determine the composition of users and to identify the leaders. The focus was on social networking, self-regulation and collaboration, patterns of knowledge flow from key leaders (who were identified and provided with targeted input) to other children at the Learning Station.
Some of the findings of this experiment are:
• There quickly came about groups of Self-organizing children who organize themselves into Leaders (experts), Connectors and Novice groups.
• Key leaders, on receiving targeted intervention, play a key role in bringing about a “multiplier effect in learning” within the community.
We come now to the reason I am discussing this topic, the focus being Self Selection and Decision Making. This is my statement.
“We, parents and educators, are not allowing our students to become self-selecting, autonomous decision makers and thus, are not allowing them to find autonomy, purpose and mastery in a real world setting”
This statement does not call for a defense. We must surely acknowledge that the implications for my statement are causing many prominent thinkers, stakeholders and societies to be very uncomplimentary, and downright angry, over the way education is being CONDUCTED now. A conductor waves his baton and the students are expected to live, learn and breathe according to the movements of that baton.
So what is our proposal for the dynamics of a transformed education system?
The singular problem that must be addressed is a decentralised power center that makes all decisions, and one wonders if perhaps many of these decisions are based on impacts on voting trends. Current centers of power radiate out beginning at the government levels, then at the state directors’ levels, at principals’ levels and finally, the teachers’ themselves. The big picture is that in order for students to become autonomous learners, power has to be shifted to them. Autonomy HAS to be the starting point, otherwise no ownership of learning will take place and the final objectives of purpose and mastery will not happen.
Our education system and everyone else’s too, are based on standards that learners have to meet.
“No deviations young boys and girls. Listen up; we the almighty educators do not want to see or hear you. This is what you must learn, this is what you must know, and don’t try to be funny about it. We don’t give a damn if you don’t understand, just memorise it. We don’t really care if you get the meaning of it, just realise that you will be tested for this on our beautiful standardised exams. Ha, Ha, Ha…you think our exams are useless? Too bad, get A’s or you will not be placed in a good school and you can forget about scholarships!”
Wake up old people!
This is the 21st century, and technology has changed our outlooks, and I dare say it has physically changed our brains, and our thought processes. Young people want to know the “why’s” first before they make decisions. They are not interested in learning things because it is in a book - they want to know why they should be asked to do anything before they take full ownership of it. They want there to be relevance and meaning to the things they do and the knowledge they are asked to master, only then will they be willing to see the purpose of education and to then master it.
Young people want to see the impact of stuff they are asked to master. This is a generation growing up angry at their elders for destroying the world and then handing it over to them on a platter and saying, “Here you go. Do what you can to repair the world or not. Either way, it’s yours!” This is a generation growing up with the knowledge and foresight of global warming and the inevitable global flooding that will cause huge upheavals during their lifetimes.
How can they enter their classrooms with all this knowledge, and then be told to shut up and listen!?
Education has to change so that the learners and educators of the world speak a common language. It has to start with learners seeing that educators are willing to hand over the power to enable autonomous learning. Educators must ask the all-important questions, “What do you want to do? What is important to you?”
Try to see folks, that learners are not standardised. How could we possibly still be harping on a glorious undertaking of standardised education for all till Form 5 and too bad if you can’t handle it? It has already gone way past the point where we should be creating different types of education for different types of learners and yes, of course it will be difficult. Anything that is worth achieving is always difficult. Otherwise we would be doing it and would have achieved it.
The point is to create environments where students can find purpose for themselves in a rich, supportive and talent-enabling environment. So what if there are amongst these students, human beings who will never make heads or tails of science and math? They might instead become national treasures who create the greatest paintings and sculptures the world has ever known. They will learn to think along the way simply because they have become autonomous learners who found their purpose in life and have decided to master their purpose. THEY decided; not someone else making that decision for them.
In the end, I suppose we all have good intentions but pressure from above, below, sideways and every which way cause many of us to become misguided. Misguided guides and unthinking thinkers have been the cause of many avoidable disasters, and for me personally, the greatest disaster is not enabling learners who are autonomous, who have purpose and who become masters of their purpose.
Isn’t it a joke that market places and industry demand employable graduates who are wise decision makers and who are able to critically address problems and solve them, but yet we do everything we can to prevent this from happening in schools and universities? Think about it – from Kindergarten to high school, we tell students to shut up and stop thinking and to study for exams, and we only slightly lighten the pressure in universities and yet, we want independent, mature and employable, thinking graduates?
The “Hole in the wall” and “Candle Experiment” have shown us very clearly what learners need and want. These experiments have also told us what we need to transform to and how to enable the transformation, and we still choose to ignore the science. If governments cannot handle the truth, though I am convinced that they do accept it, then it is up to stakeholders to help them “handle” it.
We have to have an ideal system that will create global citizens that are internationally acknowledged to be useful for the 21st century. The nature of 21st century education demands that we create ideal systems, settings and outcomes for our learner; for what are autonomy, purpose and mastery if not ideal qualities for every learner to grow into? We want our learners to be a Learning Community of Self Selecting, Decision Making individuals who are capable of living successfully and sustainably on this planet. We want learners who know who they are and who have confidence in who they are, simply because they have autonomously self-selected their chosen pathways, and who have, because of this, mastered their purpose on this planet

21st Century Knowing

21st Century Knowing Part 1
Theva Nithy

Can we afford to be stuck in current Education Systems, regardless whether they are the much hyped International School Systems, or the multitudes of National School systems used worldwide? What must happen to ensure not just the success and sustainability of our students, but also countries, and ultimately, the planet and all its life?

The global advocacy movement for new curriculums and standards is growing daily, with some of the strongest advocates coming from The UK and US. In Malaysia, it remains in the rhetorical stages, and this is jeopardizing the future and potentials of the diverse talents of our learners. They are becoming irrelevant even as they climb the educational ladder to greater heights of knowledge – knowledge that is already irrelevant as they “learn” it. Outdated and meaningless approaches to Learning and Knowing, and the exposure of our learners to non-existent classroom representations of real world learning models; are taking us backwards instead of forwards.

A major part of the problem is that education systems are preparing students for higher education only, when they should actually be preparing students for higher education, life and the workplace – which together constitute the real world. There remains the old problem of there being no clear link between educational content in schools, with workplace skills and requirements. Even more disturbing, education is no longer developing citizens with strong values and principles, who are ethical and morally upright. Is this a trend for the human race or is this simply an indication that education systems have taken a wrong turn somewhere?

The big question is – is it the core content of knowledge that is the vital component of intelligence or is it the ways of knowing of content that is crucial? It might look as if there is a play of words here, but the basis of the questions I pose is this.

The traditional way of doing things in schools globally is to provide the industrial age based, so called core subjects that provide a fixed quantum of knowledge. These are languages, the sciences, math, accounting, commerce subjects, religion even, country based-agendas of versions of history, geography, general knowledge that the powers that be decide SHOULD be general knowledge, with some music and the arts thrown in.

I would propose that no student in any country anywhere needs to be told about general knowledge, religion, morals, personal histories and on top of that, memorise facts of science, ways of doing math which should be based upon understanding but is more usually based on memory, and after all this, be brainwashed into believing one sided perspectives of history and geography – crucial topics that affect learners’ acceptance of diversity and inclusivity in all its forms and glories. The most important of these is to be able to see through clear eyes and minds that treat everyone as equal human beings.

One of the big objectives for me as far as a learner’s life is concerned, is that it should be full of Eureka moments, when all the learning and knowing he has been exposed to come together and he goes into high gear, ready to take on the world. Educators must come to realise that it is important that they understand how learning occurs for every one of their students, so that every student will experience that Eureka moment. Neuroscience and Educational psychology has taught us that, at the very least.

Our world is transforming at a breakneck speed that should be forcing us to ask the question, “Is our Education system working for our children?” Revolutionary ways of conducting life requires radical changes in education, and these will happen whether education changes or not. The only people who will suffer should changes not occur are our children.
In this crazy, crazy world where information and knowledge is changing every second, we must educate students to know how to know, to know how to learn, and to know how to turn the data that is now completely and freely accessible and ubiquitous, into wisdom, and how to track and research their own learning with a critical eye.
I would also propose that everyone asks the following questions:
1. If moral and religious subjects that have been taught the past 50 years are being taught for the sake of our morality and piousness, why is it that these are the very qualities that are missing in the world we live in today?
2. If history and geography has been taught to enable us to see different perspectives and to understand the world we live in, and even more so the countries we live in, why is it we do not see and certainly do not accept the diversity of the world, and even more so, the diversity of our country?
3. If the Sciences, Math and Arts are supposed to have been taught to stimulate creativity, innovation and thoughtful, reflective thinkers, why is it that the graduating learners are becoming dull, unthinking robots who wait for instructions, unable to think and behave independently?

AND FINALLY, ASSUMING THE ABOVE ARE TRUE…

4. If the rule of the day - in research, government, organisations and other units of administration – is to throw out concepts, things and rules that have been proven not to work, why are we still using the same education system?

Assuming that I am in the general vicinity of hitting the nail on the head, then what might be the alternative to a new education system? I will try to present a logical progression of ideas to a conclusion and construct a final list of the 21st century subjects that might function to form bridges to knowing. Needless to say, a huge basis of the problem is that we are already in the 21st century, and it is almost too late for us.

The core attributes that every learner must come to be ingrained with, would be the following.
• independent enquirers who are able to make wise, fully informed and real time decisions, thus enabling personal belief and willingness to participate not just in lifelong learning, but also the creation of new knowledge through lifelong generation of ways of knowing
• creative thinkers with a view of global dimensions and sustainable development
• reflective learners who apply creativity, critical thinking, ethics and morals to constantly self-evaluate and self-correct
• teachers of fellow students and their own teachers, as teaching represents the highest order of understanding meaning behind facts, and represents a selfless and service oriented belief
• team workers who believe in community participation and service
• self-managers who create healthy lifestyles for themselves, and have real acceptance and understanding of diversity in religion, race, culture and beliefs, with none advocating supremacy over another
• effective, action-oriented participators in national and international events and issues, and a willingness to be counted in developing and implementing the difficult but right policies and actions
• expert communicators in THE global language, that will enable them to present, discuss, debate and defend ideas and thoughts, and be influenced and influence other knowers of the world (whatever that language might be – it is no country’s, government’s or man’s decision. Global communities will decide by consensus)

The important dimensions that would contribute to the above would then be woven into and across the whole curriculum and would then become the guide-light to the creation of items that make up a learning environment. The educating and learning environment would stimulate and demonstrate the development of the following:
• a clear division between the political and educational systems, with the biggest, perfectly defined wall, barrier and border built between the two
• new ways of thinking and knowing based on new knowledge and technologies that are constantly evolving, ensuring the structure and content stays dynamic and able to change and inform of changes in a understandable manner
• programmes of professional development that help educators and administrators cope with and master new ways of knowing, and the ability to facilitate learner’s autonomy, purpose and mastery
• revolutionary approaches to content knowledge mastery that exist to provide learners stepping stones to thinking and knowing, and the mastery of which is not the expected final outcome
• brand new content that mirror the workings and demands of the real world, and not compartmentalised subject based curricula that are the norm now
• acceptable and measurable ways to collect evidence of pupils’ relevant knowledge, skills and understanding as seen in their talk, actions and outcomes
• models of manageable ways of collecting evidence that give meaning to learners and educators, at the same time meaningful and relevant to industry, citizenship and sustainability
• inclusive, individually unbiased, individually stimulating knowing environments (classrooms) that cater to the creation of a thinker and a knower

Having said all this, let’s get to the core of the issue – what would this new education system be composed off? What would be the actual material encountered by students as they sit down at their desks in school?

I am proposing that we realign our thinking so that the start point of our educational strategy is the outcomes we require in real life, the workplace and in academics. In that case, current subjects would be replaced by competencies, an example of which follows.

1. Research and Problem Solving using Logical and Creativity based Thinking and Knowing
2. Wise Decision making using real-time, accurate, meaningfully connected and relevant Knowing, enabling Leaps of Logic and Intuition.
3. Developing, Proposing, Presenting, Recording, Evaluating and Concluding Projects
4. Living with, developing, applying and shaping technology hardware and software
5. Coordinating and Teamwork in Project Scheduling and Implementation within the framework of Adaptability, Ethics, Morals and Inclusivity
6. Financial, Business, Economic and Accounting fundamentals in Planning
7. Developing optimum Minds, Health, Life and Fitness through Diet and Exercise
8. Shaping and developing futures for a sustainable financial and living model for the planet

Reflect upon the above, and we will carry on discussing this issue in the next article. In the meanwhile, we Malaysians should start realising that when everything is coming AT us, we are driving in the wrong lane, and it is time to turn around and change the direction we are heading into.

As part of the reflection process, study the evolution of Knowing diagram below, and try to make sense of it. Does it bring meaning to what you have experienced in your own lives? Shouldn’t this be what our children are experiencing in school now?







Figure 1: The Evolution of Knowing – from meaningless data to wise, informed, real time decision making. The triangle represents the learning environment of a proposed ideal field of interaction in a new Learning Space that forms a learner’s digital portfolio. A3 Knowledge is Anytime & Anywhere Access to Knowledge

Theva is a senior lecturer at The School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. The School is working to contribute towards the transformation of the landscapes of the Malaysian schooling and higher education systems, to enable a world class 21st century system. He can be contacted at ntheva@gmail.com.
21st Century Knowing Part 2
Theva Nithy

Let’s get right into the heart of the matter, after considering the new ways of knowing and thus the related new competencies that I proposed in the last article. These competencies would form the basis of content material to be presented, instead of subjects being presented and learners wondering how these subjects relate to and bring meaning to their own lives. Here is an example.
A teacher walks into the classroom and starts on a “subject” I proposed last week - Research and Problem Solving using Logical and Creativity based Thinking and Knowing. Teacher introduces a problem faced by the world now, pollution and global warming. In the course of introducing the problem, teacher will talk about the involvement of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math – in addressing and solving the problem. It might even be that the problem statement has been so expertly arranged that the chapters covered in the various disciplines, represents fundamental knowledge and are all Chapters 1 in the various books.
If this was being done at the Kindergarten stage, then the academics involved would be at an introductory level and the skills being trained would be the first steps in the process. The point is that interdisciplinary connections would be established immediately and relevance to and use in skills would also be clearly shown, together with impact on the real world.
Another example.
My 12 year old son came up me saying he had somehow removed the video device driver, and was not getting a clear display. I could have solved the problem for him in 2 minutes, but I asked him what he was going to do. He said he would look up YouTube and find out what to do. He did, and solved the problem 10 minutes later.
It is a common enough occurrence in many homes, but I wonder if you see the implications for this.
Here we have a 12 year old kid who, though tech savvy, has no real technical knowledge in software and hardware, and certainly not in solving a problem in a laptop. He is a 21st century learner though, and knew that there was bound to be a solution online. He looked at the VIDEO, learnt to understand it, and applied his new knowledge. My son's story is a powerful example of how online videos have transformed learning, as well as the role of formal education in the 21st century. We don’t need schools and teachers to be “information or content suppliers” anymore.
Think about this.
Schools and education systems were developed in the industrial age to transmit information, down a one-way street, to students. This was done at a time when knowledgeable “factory workers” were needed who really only needed to have specific skills, and were mostly required to not think too much.Now that all knowledge is ubiquitous, and in a medium that is far richer than what classrooms can offer, what is the purpose of schools and formal education?
I have already stated my belief that our learners today do not know how to research, analyse, filter and make wise decisions about issues and problems they have to deal with. The do not know how to process data and information, the very basic building blocks for the knowledge pool of the human race, and which is all displayed openly on the www.
Has the internet replaced the need for teachers? No, but our purpose and function have changed.
Teaching is no longer about Content Knowing; it is about facilitating Knowing and the building of associated skills.

We often grouse about exams that have no purpose and meaning, and that alternate means of assessment are needed. Why not consider the possibility that we don’t need assessments at all, since we are not educating students in order to judge them, but to facilitate learning. We have instead turned education systems into competitions for placements in universities and certainly in life itself too. Is that we still mean to do? I would go so far as to say that current examination systems are a form of education and economics apartheid, especially since research has shown a clear link between increased wealth, status, facilities and family reputations; and educational and career success – to put it bluntly – the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Is that what education systems are geared to do?
A digital portfolio system, replacing exams and assessments, would offer learners themselves, and their learning guides, a means to facilitate the process of learning. The digital portfolio could be evaluated anytime not for the purpose of assigning grades, but to ensure the completion of learning objectives and off ensuring that readiness for a promotion to a next academic level is primed for success. The real outcome of a portfolio would be learners are able to reflect on the process and outcomes of their works, and to pinpoint wrong turns and right ones too. They would be trained to success in the 21st century where analysis of mistakes and knowing of correct actions are the basic necessities to continuous learning.
Yes, it would be hard - rewriting the curriculum and retraining the professionals
Yes, it would be expensive – supplying new material and technology to enable the process
Yes, it would be long term – no votes to be gained because impact will not be seen for a long time
Yes, there would be sensitive issues – but everything is already “way too racial” anyway nowadays and we want to change that.
Is it worth doing? A “failed state” is at stake, and that is something real and not a metaphor. The emigration of our talents is progressing well much to Malaysia’s dismay, and getting worse and it is happening as your read this article.
Is it still worth doing? Who would be involved in the steps leading to a transformed education system and what would their responsibilities be? A structure for the delegation of responsibilities might look something like this.
Federal Government: Federal legislation will have to be enacted that will require alignment of existing education laws to support the establishment of a world-class curriculum, new ways of assessments, systems of accountability and teacher accreditation requirements; all with no political affiliations and with top management having a public-access file with proven, mandatory zero political affiliation.
State Governments: States will support and guarantee a continuous and transparent public education system for all students from preschool through postsecondary graduation, with transparent and public accountability systems by school heads in all matters pertaining to academic, leadership and co-curricular decision making. Real world learning will be incorporated into school curriculum, connecting education programs to the state’s economic activities.
Public and Private Communities and Industries: PPCIs will provide education leaders and students with access to short-term job opportunities in which they can experience knowing, knowledge and skill requirements of the 21st century economy. PPCIs will periodically assess changes and progress made by schools within their local region. PPCIs will be engaged by the Federal and State Governments as advisors and consultants to reforms and a check and balance system will be established where federal and state governments are accountable to and can be publicly taken to task by PPCIs.
Under ideal circumstances, this could be new policy that might be implemented easily, but the reality of the many unnecessary political interferences and considerations in Malaysian education will complicate matters. Straight thinking and steadfast political will will be needed to force implementation and operationalising.
If the health system is tasked to save lives, then the education system’s task is to save minds. Speaking just for Malaysia, this is one rescue mission that needs doing right this instant, because minds are being lost daily!

Theva is a senior lecturer at The School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. The School is working to contribute towards the transformation of the landscapes of the Malaysian Schooling and Higher Education Systems, to enable a world class 21st century system. He can be contacted at ntheva@gmail.com.