‘Remember that human-centred learning remains at the core of an effective education system’

Dennis Sale

IN previous columns I have outlined how the brain and mind work (eg cognitive neuroscience), their impact on human thinking and behaviour, as well as how this is impacting the development of artificial intelligence.

In summary, cognitive neuroscience provides the theoretical foundation for these technologies as they are modelled on brain structures that give rise to the specific cognitive processes relating to intelligence and how learning occurs. I also explored two main areas in which AI will revolutionise the educational landscape – that of a fully personalised curriculum for all learners and having one’s own 24/7 learning coach.

In this column, I focus specifically on how these seismic changes will impact pedagogic practices (eg teaching and learning methods), whether in formal educational institutions or at the individual learner level. It is well documented (eg Ford, 2016) that AI technologies will increasingly take over many specialist jobs as they are not only much cheaper, but also more effective in many work contexts. For example, assembly line automation is now commonplace, driverless vehicles are very much on the horizon and even many so-called professional “white-collar” jobs are experiencing a similar takeover (eg legal work, medical diagnosis, content creation, graphic and video design). Apart from fields that are hard to automate (eg carers, plumbers, electricians), as this would not be cost-effective, more and more people will need to develop new skills to have market value in this new industrial reality.

nNew competencies and the rise of the “agentic learner”

Certainly, AI tools will take many jobs, but the AI tools themselves are getting easier to use. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that developing competence in applying these AI tools to the creation and marketing of new products and services will be a viable career option. For example, as you achieve more and better AI application competence, you can do many specialist areas of work in an integrated holistic practical way – now that’s a real “kicker” in an increasingly competitive job market.

Furthermore, while AIs can offer unlimited knowledge access in a wide range of multi-media formats, individuals must still do the hard cognitive work to build deep understanding and expertise in practice. This applies both to learning how to use the AI tools, and the thinking skills to create, design, implement, and operate products and services that have market appeal.

What this means is that “mastering the learning process” becomes a high-leverage educational goal, as this would constitute the essential underpinning competencies for adaptive lifelong learning. People who have mastered the learning process will be “agentic learners”, as they are able to take ownership and responsibility for their learning, are proactive in seeking new knowledge, can set challenging goals, maintain strong motivation, deal with the inevitable challenges faced, and utilise a wide range of strategies to achieve success. This is what self-directed people do as they navigate effectively through the process of planning, monitoring and evaluating their performance until desired goals are attained.

Whether we like it or not, it is a competitive world in most areas of human enterprise, and employment and income generation is often at the forefront. Concepts such as supply, demand and market value are real processes that play out globally in all areas of human activity. For those who need income, market value will drive opportunity in the economic sector. People who have mastered the learning process and are agentic in mindset will be at the forefront in the coming AI era.

Curriculum has always been a contested area, and there are reasons for this – not least valuations about what constitutes the educated mind and the desired society. A balanced perspective is that of Neary (2014), who summarised the perennial issue: “The structure and methods of education must help to sustain the traditional values of society, but they must also respond adequately to current cultural, social, industrial and technological issues, and to future change.”

However, as Collins (2007) points out: “We educators can’t go on adding things to the school curriculum as knowledge grows exponentially. We can’t make our textbooks much fatter than they already are and cover more and more topics in the same amount of time… Our strategies for coping with the exponential growth of knowledge are hitting a wall.

“The school curriculum is filled with stuff that most people will never use and hence will forget as soon as they leave school or move on to the next grade.”

I will not pretend that there are easy solutions to the challenges facing today’s educational landscape. However, there are better, more evidence-based directions and strategies than much of the present scenarios. Here are four main interrelated competency areas, summarised from the extensive research literature and my experience of working in most educational sectors and many countries:

1) Lifelong Learning: The ability to continuously learn and adapt to change is crucial in a rapidly evolving world. Hence, mastering the learning process and being an agentic learner, as outlined above, is central to this ability. In contrast, low-learning capability will be a crippling handicap for those needing viable income.

2) Digital Literacy: Proficiency in AI and related digital technologies is essential learning in this area but will become increasingly more manageable as one master’s the learning process.

3) Communication & Collaboration: These have always been essential human competencies. In our globalised networked they are typically more complex in both form and context. While our ancient predecessors had to employ such skills in finding food and protecting their caves, modern humans are faced with the hyper complexities of environment degradation, high-technology wars that can eliminate the species, and the potential of AI takeover. Different challenges, different contexts, but the same competencies – though with much more nuance and ambiguity for today’s folk.

4) Metacognitive Capability: This is the executive-level thinking capability in which individuals can employ the full range of critical-thinking skills and become more creative, as well as manage their emotions and behaviour under challenging circumstances. It is perhaps the most important of the 21st century competencies (eg Sale, 2020), as it enables people to effectively plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking and self-regulation. Metacognitive capability ultimately impacts all the other key competency areas, and when done at a high proficiency level is highly synergistic.

In summary, while AI offers immense potential to transform how we learn and the formats of the wider educational landscape, it’s important to remember that human-centred learning remains at the core of effective education. By understanding the principles of human learning and developing the necessary competencies and mindset, we can harness the power of AI technologies to create a future where education is personalised, engaging and accessible to all.

• Dennis Sale worked in the Singapore education system for 25 years as adviser, researcher and examiner. He coached over 15,000 teaching professionals and provided 100-plus consultancies in the Asian region. He is the author of the books Creative Teachers: Self-directed Learners (Springer 2020) and Creative Teaching: An Evidence-Based Approach (Springer, 2015). To contact him, visit dennissale.com.

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