Expectations and 2021

"Instead of the results of 2020, I want to share my thoughts on 2021+. More precisely, about the industry that will finally rule the future.

What do we need to survive in today's world? Water, food, air, other people… Little has really changed in tens of thousands of years, really. We can also add a Covid vaccine - to be calm for the health of yourself and your loved ones. But it is not enough to survive - I want to live. And what will be critical to a quality, fulfilling life?

According to the science of systems thinking, each system has levers - points of influence, making even a small effort to which, we can get a significant result at the exit. For example, in marketing one of the levers is timeliness. Mediocre advertising, launched at the right time, can bring significant revenue to the company. In security systems, levers are alarms and communication: if they are available, protection is easy to provide, and if they are switched off or not, much more effort will be required.

Both man in terms of social realization and society itself are also systems. What is the lever of influence in them? What can quickly change the quality of these systems? I think you've already guessed what I mean. Both systems have a common lever - education.

Despite the importance of education, it cannot be said that by 2020 the industry was developing rapidly. With the epidemic, however, everything has changed dramatically - education is a key factor for quick adaptation to abrupt changes in circumstances. The world began to realize the importance of learning, and the industry was overwhelmed by loot - there were educational startups for billions and tens of billions of dollars, Unacademy, Byjus, Yuanfundao, etc ..

It seems to me that these are just the first swallows, the transformation processes are just beginning. Patterned educational schemes will die out when institutions (schools, universities) push a standard product into everyone's head, regardless of individual characteristics. Instead, an important role will be played by the individualization of education, adjustment to the individual. Competition between suppliers of educational products will increase, which will increase their quality. The profession of an educational coach will become relevant, who does not teach subjects directly, but forms an educational program, choosing from the sea of ​​specialists and educational products available on the market.

Nowadays, the concept of lifelong learning is increasingly being talked about - lifelong learning. This may seem familiar to some, but the very fact that this term is relatively new suggests that continuing education is not yet a social norm. The industrial paradigm, when university education "fed" a person all his life, is still the most common. But we are entering an era where lifelong learning will become the norm, it will simply be called "learning", which a priori should be constant. Instead, it will be marginal and unusual not to learn. In a world that is evolving so fast, a lack of education will mean a career coma.

In light of this, didactics should become the queen of sciences - a discipline that studies and organizes the laws of learning, helps to learn faster and more efficiently. After all, the risk that the knowledge learned today will become obsolete tomorrow will increase. Therefore, people who know how to learn faster than others will get a competitive advantage. Accordingly, teachers with more refined teaching skills, coupled with business skills, will earn much more than their average colleagues. In Nasim Taleb's terms, pedagogy and teaching will gradually become an "extreme state", where 5% of players will receive 95% of income - just like in show business or writing, for example. Quality teachers will become rock stars.

It seems that the processes that have now begun in education are just the basement of a one-story skyscraper that has begun to be built. We are entering a new era, and to breathe in the prospects for change that await us is exciting. It makes sense to jump into this train while it is just starting to accelerate to the fullest."

Huge credit to this article, that I find inspiring!