EDUCATION

Shakespeare and trigonometry may continue to be taught in the classroom, but education is evolving to keep up with our rapidly changing world through personalised learning (PL) and its variant, adaptive learning (AL).

Learning is evolving to keep up with our rapidly changing world.

COVID-19 certainly forced a lot of changes in the delivery of education. Overnight, schools, colleges and universities scrambled to go from pens and paper in the classroom to home-based online learning. The outcome was mixed, muddled and resilience-building. One of the main takeaways was the importance of mental health support for both students and teachers.

HEALTHY MINDS

According to a recently published study by Professor Farzan Sasangohar from Texas A&M University, student mental health has been a growing concern, with the COVID-19 situation further fuelling the issue. The study indicated that for 71 per cent of students, their stress and anxiety had increased due to the pandemic.

Reasons for this increase are many and varied but include, amongst others, infection fears, frustration, boredom, inadequate supplies, inadequate information, financial loss, and stigma. Sasangohar says mental health issues are the leading impediment to academic success as they can affect students’ motivation, concentration, and social interactions. Anxiety can also be a factor in poor school attendance.

The pandemic is, of course, not solely responsible for anxiety amongst students. Prior to COVID-19, the 2019 Annual Report of the Centre for Collegiate Mental Health found that anxiety was the most common problem among students (62.7 per cent of 82,685 respondents), with clinicians also reporting that anxiety continues to be the most common diagnosis doled out to them.

But it’s not just students that are dealing with mental health challenges. Research published by independent US scholar Liz Morrish shows there has been an escalation of poor mental health among teaching staff, too, due to factors such as excessive workloads, challenging students and insecure contracts.

In schools, colleges and universities around the world, various programmes are being introduced in an attempt to improve the mental health and resilience of students.

In the UK, the green paper, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’ called for every school to appoint a mental health lead, and for a greater role for schools in cross-sectoral mental health teams.

Earlier this year, a Finnish study showed that a nine-week mindfulnessbased intervention (MBI) improved resilience and mental health among children and adolescents; in the US, research by Tulane University showed that participating in yoga activities at school can improve the wellbeing and emotional health of students; and research published in the journal Health & Justice in 2020 suggested that training teachers in mental health first-aid (MHFA) may have numerous benefits. Such benefits are said to include supporting teachers’ needs through access to better resources and skills, debunking misconceptions and myths that prove counterproductive to helping students, as well as putting teachers in a position to identify early symptoms of mental health issues which, if managed promptly, could substantially reduce negative outcomes and healthcare costs. Additionally, it was noted that teachers’ beliefs in their ability to help students depended on their own psychological wellbeing, confidence, and satisfaction with the school climate.

PERSONALISED LEARNING

COVID-19 wasn’t all bad news for education. One of the upsides of technology-driven learning was the further development of more personalised learning (PL), with new software programs allowing students to learn at their own pace and also fine-tune their learning. PL is based on the premise that every student has their own individual strengths and weaknesses, and their own particular way of learning, and it encourages a ‘student-centred’ focus, moving attention away from the teacher as the imparter of all knowledge and instead allowing the educator’s role to be more that of a mentor and facilitator.

While personalised learning (PL) isn’t new, research published in the November 2020 Educational Research Review says it’s being newly promoted as a major aim and reform effort across the contemporary education system. PL systems such as those offered by Knewton, ALEKS, i-Ready and DreamBox not only offer educators the ability to track students’ learning plans and progress, certain programmes allow for more flexibility in topic coverage, enabling students to learn select parts of a topic tailored to their interests or to meet the demands of their intended career path.

But there are still many challenges associated with PL, including a lack of evidence to demonstrate what works. The few trials that have been done highlight implementation challenges and a wide variation in achievement.

Another variation of PL is adaptive learning (AL) – these systems using various learning algorithms, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and item response theories, to personalise the learning experience. AL is gaining popularity in Asian countries at a rapid speed, with one mathematics product – Squirrel AI Learning – reaching almost 2 million unique users in the past three years. Research published in August 2020 by Shuai Wang from the University of Illinois compared Squirrel AI Learning with the expertise of teachers; one comparing its classroom use to teachers in charge of whole classes (20–30 students per class); the second comparing its classroom use to teachers in charge of small groups (three students per class). In both contexts, students using Squirrel AI Learning demonstrated learning gains over students receiving teacher instruction.

While AL and PL might be a while off from being commonplace in the classroom, what is being more commonly adopted is blended learning, which combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online, with traditional face-to-face learning.

INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

As we become more connected globally, intercultural learning is becoming increasingly important. Intercultural learning refers to the process of developing knowledge, attitudes and skills that are needed when interacting with different cultures. Nightingale is an example of a Swedish intercultural learning project which pairs university students studying teaching, with primary pupils from a migrant and/or minority background. The programme encourages the development of the student-teacher’s cross-cultural understanding and intercultural learning through mentoring socially and ethnically diverse children.

At Joaquim Ruya Elementary School in Spain (known as the ‘miracle school’), a significant majority of its students are of varying nationalities, many of them from a minority background. Despite its diversity and its location in a disadvantaged suburban district, the school has consistently achieved academic outcomes above the average in the Catalan standardised tests, outperforming most schools in the region. The school began a transformation process in 2011, which saw its teaching strategy switch to small group work 40–60 per cent of the time, each group comprising a mix of abilities and nationalities. Each group is facilitated by an adult (such as a classroom assistant or a volunteer parent), with families and local NGOs very much involved in the everyday life of the school.

FULL STEAM AHEAD

It’s clear that progress in education will not only come down to how students are learning, but how the subject matter is evolving. As the workplace changes, so too does the curriculum, with its focus shifting to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics). While the scientific concepts of STEM have been encouraged in more recent years, the ethical issues associated with the global impact of science and technology require students to also develop their abilities as creative citizens, innovative designers and collaborative communicators, which is where the arts can help. STEAM investigates the same scientific concepts as STEM while developing knowledge and skills, but does this through inquiry and problem-based learning methods used in the creative process. It’s not a new concept. Leonardo da Vinci, Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Samuel Morse all showed us the importance of combining science and art to make discoveries. Peter Charles Taylor, professor of STEAM Education and director of the Transformative Education Research Centre (TERC) at Murdoch University’s School of Education, says integrating the arts with science, technology, engineering and mathematics is not just another curriculum fad, but key to preparing young people with the higher-order abilities needed to deal positively and productively with the global crises impacting the economy, the natural environment and our diverse cultural heritage. When explaining why a STEAM curriculum is crucial in the 21st Century, Taylor noted: “Given the rapid emergence of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, DNA mapping, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, biotechnology and the ‘internet of things’, business and industry leaders require graduates with liquid skills that enable them to adapt to a fluid working landscape throughout their lives; to prepare for jobs that currently do not exist, but that will be essential to the nation’s economic wellbeing.”

“BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY LEADERS REQUIRE GRADUATES WITH LIQUID SKILLS.” PROF. PETER CHARLES TAYLOR

COVID-19 has exacerbated the stressors facing students and staff already at risk of burnout.