Open up on the Education System Fishbowl
Education of the future was the theme of a special panel hosted at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) on Tuesday. Panelists members included representatives from industry, academia, students and parents. The event was held in preparation of Expo 2020 Dubai, where the university will be hosting a pavilion themed around the future of education, using the world fair as a test bed for the education of the future through its student-led ‘Pathfinders Program’. The university’s pavilion will tackle issues including overcoming unemployment and skills and curriculums of the future, engaging the country’s youth and parents as key contributors to this new model.
Speaking at the event as guest panellist, Prof Christoph Meinel, Dean of Hasso Platter Institute, Germany, said digital transformation means there is no way the education system cannot transform with it. “Digital transformation needs to address the education system, not only the gap which exists, but the speed of change. With IT the change is so fast,” he said. Its system in German is an open platform, bringing students together to collaborate and offering its content free (openhpi.de). “This means the role of the teacher is changing. When there are 10,000 people participating in a course you can be sure among those, someone knows more than the professor. This invites others to contribute.”
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