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The Future of Education: 8 Predictions for the Next Decade

The world of education is changing rapidly, and it can be difficult to keep up with all the latest trends and developments. In this article, we will explore eight key predictions for the future of education. We will examine the rise of online learning, personalized learning, and other trends that are likely to shape the education landscape in the years to come.

With rapid advancements in technology and shifts in societal needs, many are asking, “How do you think the education system will change in the future?” as we anticipate a move towards more personalized, flexible, and technology-driven learning environments.

By staying informed about these future trends in education, educators and policymakers can better anticipate changes and adapt their strategies to ensure that they meet the evolving needs of students and prepare them for success in an increasingly dynamic world.

AI and the Future of Education – Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Prediction 1: Online Learning Will Continue to Grow

Online learning has been around for years, but it really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many schools and universities were forced to transition to online learning, and this trend is likely to continue in the future. In fact, a recent report by Research and Markets predicts that the global online education market will grow by over 10% annually between 2021 and 2026.

There are many benefits to online learning, including increased accessibility and flexibility. Students can learn at their own pace, and from anywhere in the world. Online learning is also often more affordable than traditional in-person learning, making education more accessible to a wider range of students.

As we look ahead, the future of learning will likely see a continued expansion of online education, driven by its accessibility, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, which will reshape how and where students engage with their studies.

Prediction 2: Personalized Learning Will be the Norm

Using AI Chatbots to Enhance Planning and Instruction

Personalized learning is a method that involves tailoring learning experiences to suit the needs and preferences of individual students. This approach is becoming increasingly popular, and it’s predicted that it will become the norm in the future of education.

In traditional classroom settings, teachers often deliver lessons to a large group of students, with little opportunity for individual attention or customization. However, with the rise of technology and data analytics, personalized learning has become much more feasible.

The benefits of personalized learning are significant. Students can learn at their own pace, and in a way that is most comfortable and effective for them. This leads to greater engagement and retention, as well as higher levels of academic achievement.

According to a report by the Gates Foundation, schools that have implemented personalized learning have seen significant improvements in student outcomes. For example, students in a personalized learning program in Chicago’s public schools showed a 50% increase in math proficiency, compared to their peers in traditional classrooms.

As personalized learning becomes more prevalent, the future of schooling will increasingly focus on tailoring educational experiences to meet individual needs, leading to more effective and engaging learning environments that drive academic success and better prepare students for the future.

Prediction 3: Artificial Intelligence Will Revolutionize Education

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already changing the face of education, and this trend is set to continue. AI can be used to automate administrative tasks, such as grading, which frees up teachers’ time to focus on more meaningful work. It can also be used to create personalized learning experiences, by analyzing data on student performance and providing targeted feedback and recommendations.

AI is also being used to develop intelligent tutoring systems, which provide students with personalized support and guidance. These systems can help identify knowledge gaps, provide additional resources, and even adjust the pace and difficulty of learning to suit individual students’ needs.

Another area where AI is set to revolutionize education is in the development of adaptive assessments. These assessments use machine learning algorithms to adapt to each student’s level of understanding, providing a more accurate and comprehensive evaluation of their knowledge.

As AI continues to evolve, the question of “how will education change in the future?” will increasingly focus on the integration of these technologies to enhance teaching and learning, ultimately shaping the education in future to be more efficient, personalized, and effective.

Are you looking for some of the top AI courses and learning platforms? Read our article Best AI Courses and Learning Platforms for more details.

Prediction 4: Virtual and Augmented Reality Will Transform Education

Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technology has already been used in many industries, including entertainment, sports, and healthcare. However, it is now making its way into the world of education. VR/AR technology allows students to interact with digital objects and environments in a way that was previously impossible. It can create a completely immersive learning experience that engages multiple senses, making it easier for students to remember what they’ve learned.

According to a report by Technavio, the global market for VR in education is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 58% from 2019 to 2023. This growth is due to the increasing demand for immersive learning experiences and the declining cost of VR/AR hardware. As more schools and universities adopt VR/AR technology, it is likely to become an integral part of the education system.

One of the most exciting applications of VR/AR technology in education is the ability to take students on virtual field trips. This allows students to visit places that would be difficult or impossible to access in real life, such as the surface of Mars or the depths of the ocean. It can also help to bridge cultural and geographical gaps, allowing students to experience different cultures and ways of life.

Another benefit of VR/AR technology is the ability to provide hands-on learning experiences without the need for expensive equipment or resources. For example, medical students can practice surgical procedures in a virtual environment, without the need for cadavers or expensive equipment. This can also be applied to other fields such as engineering, where students can build and test virtual prototypes.

However, the adoption of VR/AR technology in education is not without its challenges. One of the biggest barriers to adoption is the cost of hardware and software. While the cost of VR/AR technology has been declining, it still remains out of reach for many schools and universities. Another challenge is the lack of content available for VR/AR learning experiences. As more educational content is developed, it is likely that the adoption of VR/AR technology in education will accelerate.

Looking for the best virtual reality headsets for education? Read our article 5 Best Virtual Reality Headsets and Their Transformative Use in Classrooms for more details.

Prediction 5: Learning Will Be Lifelong

In the past, education was typically something that was completed in the first two decades of life, with a few exceptions for continuing education programs. However, in the future, learning will be a lifelong pursuit.

This is partly due to the rapid pace of technological change, which means that workers will need to constantly update their skills to remain relevant in the job market. Additionally, as people live longer and retire later, they will have more time and opportunity to continue learning throughout their lives.

According to a report by the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans believe that lifelong learning will become more important in the future. This means that schools and educational institutions will need to adapt their programs to cater to learners of all ages and backgrounds.

Moreover, as the future of work evolves, the emphasis on lifelong learning will become crucial, prompting educational institutions to develop flexible and accessible learning opportunities that support skill development and career growth throughout an individual’s entire life.

In order to achieve lifelong learning, you can make it an ultimate goal and gradually break it down into smaller goals with several milestones. As you accomplish each milestone, you can reward yourself with customized Me dals thus better motivating yourself to keep learning.

Prediction 6: The Role of Teachers Will Change

As technology becomes more prevalent in the classroom, the role of teachers will inevitably change. While teachers will always be essential to the learning process, their roles will shift from being the primary source of information to being facilitators of learning.

With online resources and personalized learning becoming more common, students will be able to access information and learn at their own pace. Teachers will be there to guide students, answer questions, and provide feedback.

Additionally, as classrooms become more diverse, teachers will need to become more culturally responsive. They will need to understand the unique needs and backgrounds of their students and create inclusive learning environments.

A survey by the Education Week Research Center found that 80% of teachers believe that technology is changing the role of teachers in the classroom. However, 49% also reported feeling unprepared to integrate technology into their teaching.

Hence, the future of teaching and learning will increasingly emphasize mentorship and support, with educators focusing on nurturing critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence to complement the technology-driven aspects of education.

Prediction 7: Competency-Based Education Will Gain Traction

Competency-based education is an approach to learning that focuses on mastering specific skills and knowledge rather than completing a certain amount of time in a class. This approach allows students to move at their own pace and focus on areas where they need more support.

In a competency-based education system, students are assessed on their ability to demonstrate mastery of a particular skill or concept. Once they have demonstrated mastery, they can move on to the next skill or concept.

This approach to education is gaining traction, particularly in higher education. According to the Competency-Based Education Network, there are currently more than 600 colleges and universities in the United States offering competency-based programs.

The benefits of competency-based education are numerous. It allows students to learn at their own pace, focus on areas where they need more support, and demonstrate mastery of specific skills and knowledge. However, there are also challenges to implementing a competency-based education system, including the need for new assessment methods and teacher training.

As we explore the potential of a competency-based education system, it’s clear that adapting to these challenges will be crucial in shaping a future education system that is both flexible and effective in meeting diverse student needs.

Prediction 8: Education Will Become More Global

Thanks to advancements in technology and transportation, the world is becoming increasingly connected. This means that in the education in the future will become more global in nature.

Already, there are many opportunities for students to study abroad, participate in international exchange programs, and engage in online learning with students from around the world. However, in the future, these opportunities will become even more widespread and accessible. Global education will be important for preparing students to work in a globalized economy, as well as for promoting cross-cultural understanding and cooperation.

In conclusion, the future of education is exciting and full of potential. With the advancements in technology and changing needs of the workforce, it is important that the education system adapts to prepare students for the future. The predictions discussed in this article are just a glimpse of what’s to come, and it is up to educators and policymakers to ensure that our education system evolves to meet the needs of future generations.

Embracing the future of technology in education will be key to creating innovative learning environments that not only keep pace with technological advancements but also equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary for success in a rapidly evolving world. Read our article the future of educational technology for more insights on how technology will reshape education.

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Transforming education systems: Why, what, and how

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Rebecca winthrop and rebecca winthrop director - center for universal education , senior fellow - global economy and development the hon. minister david sengeh the hon. minister david sengeh minister of education and chief innovation officer - government of sierra leone, chief innovation officer - directorate of science, technology and innovation in sierra leone.

June 23, 2022

Today, the topic of education system transformation is front of mind for many leaders. Ministers of education around the world are seeking to build back better as they emerge from COVID-19-school closures to a new normal of living with a pandemic. The U.N. secretary general is convening the Transforming Education Summit (TES) at this year’s general assembly meeting (United Nations, n.d.). Students around the world continue to demand transformation on climate and not finding voice to do this through their schools are regularly leaving class to test out their civic action skills.

It is with this moment in mind that we have developed this shared vision of education system transformation. Collectively we offer insights on transformation from the perspective of a global think tank and a national government: the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings brings years of global research on education change and transformation, and the Ministry of Education of Sierra Leone brings on-the-ground lessons from designing and implementing system-wide educational rebuilding.

This brief is for any education leader or stakeholder who is interested in charting a transformation journey in their country or education jurisdiction such as a state or district. It is also for civil society organizations, funders, researchers, and anyone interested in the topic of national development through education. In it, we answer the following three questions and argue for a participatory approach to transformation:

Why is education system transformation urgent now? We argue that the world is at an inflection point. Climate change, the changing nature of work, increasing conflict and authoritarianism together with the urgency of COVID recovery has made the transformation agenda more critical than ever.
What is education system transformation? We argue that education system transformation must entail a fresh review of the goals of your system – are they meeting the moment that we are in, are they tackling inequality and building resilience for a changing world, are they fully context aware, are they owned broadly across society – and then fundamentally positioning all components of your education system to coherently contribute to this shared purpose.
How can education system transformation advance in your country or jurisdiction? We argue that three steps are crucial: Purpose (developing a broadly shared vision and purpose), Pedagogy (redesigning the pedagogical core), and Position (positioning and aligning all components of the system to support the pedagogical core and purpose). Deep engagement of educators, families, communities, students, ministry staff, and partners is essential across each of these “3 P” steps.

Artificial Intelligence

science of reading

Learning Loss, AI and the Future of Education: Our 24 Most-Read Essays of 2023

From rethinking the american high school to the fiscal cliff, tutoring and special ed, what our most incisive opinion contributors had to say.

Some of America’s biggest names in education tackled some of the thorniest issues facing the country’s schools on the op-ed pages of The 74 this year, expressing their concerns about continuing COVID-driven deficits among students and the future of education overall. There were some grim predictions, but also reasons for hope. Here are some of the most read, most incisive and most controversial essays we published in 2023.

David Steiner

America’s education system is a mess, and students are paying the price.

COVID-19, the legacy of race-based redlining, the lack of support for health care, child care and parental leave, and other social and economic policies have taken a terrible toll on student learning. But the fundamental cause of poor outcomes, writes contributor David Steiner of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy , is that policy leaders have eroded the instructional core and designed our education system for failure. As we have sown, so shall we reap. The challenges and rewards of learning are being washed away, and students are desperately the worse for the mess we have made. Read More

Margaret Raymond

The terrible truth — current solutions to covid learning loss are doomed to fail.

Despite well-intended and rapid responses to COVID learning loss, solutions such as tutoring or summer school are doomed to fail, says contributor Margaret (Macke) Raymond of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University. How do we know? CREDO researchers looked at learning patterns for students at three levels of achievement in 16 states and found that even with five extra years of education, only about 75% will be at grade level by high school graduation. No school can offer that much. It is time to decide whether to make necessary changes or continue to support a system that will almost certainly fail. Read More

Mark Schneider

The future is stem — but without enough students, the u.s. will be left behind.

This is a photo of the U.S. Capitol building.

America no longer produces the most science and engineering research publications, patents or natural-science Ph.D.s, and these trends are unlikely to change anytime soon. The problem isn’t a lack of universities to train future scientists or an economy incapable of encouraging innovation. Rather, says contributor Mark Schneider of the Institute of Education Sciences, it originates much earlier in the supply chain, in elementary school. Congress has a chance to help turn this around, by passing the New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act. Read More

John Bailey

The Promise of Personalized Learning Never Delivered. Today’s AI Is Different

Educators often encounter lofty promises of technology revolutionizing learning, only to find reality fails to meet expectations. But based on his experiences with the new generation of artificial intelligence tools, contributor John Bailey believes society may be in the early stages of a transformative moment. This may very well usher in an era of individualized learning, empowering all students to realize their full potential and fostering a more equitable and effective educational experience. Read his four reasons why this generation of AI tools is likely to succeed where other technologies have failed. Read More

Chad Aldeman

Interactive — With More Teachers & Fewer Students, Districts Are Set up for Financial Trouble

To understand the teacher labor market, you have to hold two competing narratives in your head. On one hand, teacher turnover hit new highs, morale is low and schools are facing shortages. At the same time, public schools employ more teachers than before COVID, while serving 1.9 million fewer students. Student-teacher ratios are near all-time lows. Contributor Chad Aldeman and Eamonn Fitzmaurice, The 74’s art and technology director, plotted these changes on an exclusive, interactive map — and explain how they’re putting districts in financial peril. View the Map

Fascinating, right? But these are only the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a roundup of some of the hottest topics our op-ed contributors tackled, and what they had to say:

Future of High School

Credit Hours Are a Relic of the Past. How States Must Disrupt High School — Now

Russlynn Ali & Timothy Knowles

A tryptic of three XQ students, Ella Correia, Najid Smith and Lydia Nichols

Back to School — 6 Tips from Students on How to Make High School Relevant

Beth Fertig

I Changed My Shoes, and It Revolutionized How I Was Able to Rethink High School

William Blake

Fiscal Cliff & School Funding

The 50 Very Different States of American Public Education

It’s Time to Start Preparing Now for School Closures that Are Coming

Timothy Daly

Educators, Beware: As Budget Cuts Loom, Now Is NOT the Time to Quit Your Job

Katherine Silberstein & Marguerite Roza

Schools Could Lose 136,000 Teaching Jobs When Federal COVID Funds Run Out

Artificial Intelligence Will Not Transform K-12 Education Without Changes to ‘the Grammar of School’

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Schools Must Embrace the Looming Disruption of ChatGPT

Sarah Dillard

Personalized Education Is Not a Panacea. Neither Is Artificial Intelligence

Natalia Kucirkova

Done Right, Tutoring Can Greatly Boost Student Learning. How Do We Get There?

Kevin Huffman

As Virginia Rolls Out Ambitious Statewide High-Dosage Tutoring Effort This Week, 3 Keys to Success

Maureen Kelleher

Why This Tutoring ‘Moment’ Could Die If We Don’t Tighten Up the Models

Mike Goldstein

Learning Loss

New NAEP Scores Reveal the Failure of Pandemic Academic Recovery Efforts

Vladimir Kogan

Quarantines, Not School Closures, Led to Devastating Losses in Math and Reading

6 Teachers Tell Their Secrets for Getting Middle Schoolers up to Speed in Math

Alexandra Frost

Special Ed and Gifted & Talented

Bracing for a Tidal Wave of Unnecessary Special Education Referrals

Lauren Morando Rhim, Candace Cortiella, Lindsay Kubatzky & Laurie VanderPloeg

Why Are Schools Comfortable Accepting Failure for Students with Disabilities?

David Flink & Lauren Morando Rhim

NYC’s New Gifted & Talented Admissions Brings Chaos — and Disregards Research

Alina Adams

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Bev Weintraub is an Executive Editor at The 74

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On The 74 Today

Exploring the future of education with experts around the world

Nov 17, 2022

[[read-time]] min read

Students and teachers around the world have returned to the classroom, and the familiar signs of school are back: hallways are full, as are social calendars. But a lot has changed, too. Overcoming the challenges of the last few years meant that leaders and educators had to do things differently — and quickly. As the world continues to evolve, driven in part by pressing global issues and the accelerated rate of technological innovation, what should the role of education be, and how might it look?

To begin to answer this question, Google for Education collaborated with research partner Canvas8 and advisor and consultant American Institutes for Research to conduct a global study in 24 countries. Our report uses 94 educational expert interviews, two years of peer-reviewed academic literature and a media narrative analysis across the education sector.

The result is a three-part report on the future of education that brings together a diversity of perspectives from policy experts, academic researchers, district-level representatives, school principals, teachers and education technology leaders. Today we launched Part 1: Preparing for a new future , which discusses the role education plays in equipping students with the skills and mindsets they’ll need to navigate massive change.

We discuss three key trends:

There’s a rising demand for global problem solvers. As the world faces a new set of global challenges, such as equitable access to education, digital literacy, sustainability and economic volatility, education systems will become a central part of the solution, helping future generations embrace global mindsets and skill sets.
The skill sets required for work will change. As technology advances, education will focus on equipping students with the high-demand skills they’ll need to thrive in a new world of work.
We must shift to a lifelong learning mindset. As lifespans increase and societal change accelerates, the idea of lifelong learning is gaining traction, with more tools available for developing skills and advancement.

To hear directly from some of the experts who informed this report, check out Teaching for tomorrow , a new series on the Google for Education YouTube channel. We kick off with the series trailer and insights from Tony Wagner, Ed.D., Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and Jan Owen, Co-chair of Learning Creates Australia. They discuss topics like the future of work, education technology and moving education beyond the classroom.

Teaching for Tomorrow series trailer and insights from Tony Wagner, Ed.D., Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and Jan Owen, Co-chair of Learning Creates Australia.

With the Future of Education, we aim to provide educators and education leaders with insight into the trends shaping the future, and to spark ideas and discussion on how we can work together to help all learners — and those who help them — succeed.

Visit edu.google.com/future-of-education to read Part 1 and preview Parts 2 and 3: Evolving how we teach and learn and Reimagining learning ecosystems.

10 years of Classroom: What we’ve learned, and what’s to come

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Trends Shaping Education

Trends Shaping Education 2022

Global trends and the future of education.

Did you ever wonder what the impact of climate change will be on our educational institutions in the next decade? What does it mean for schools that our societies are becoming more individualistic and diverse?

Trends Shaping Education is a triennial report examining major economic, political, social and technological trends affecting education. While the trends are robust, the questions raised in this book are suggestive, and aim to inform strategic thinking and stimulate reflection on the challenges facing education.

This 2022 edition covers a rich array of topics related to economic growth, living and working, knowledge and power, identity and belonging and our physical world and human bodies and interactions. It includes a specific focus on the impact of COVID‑19 on global trends, and new futures thinking sections inviting readers to reflect on how the future might differ from our current expectations.

This book is designed to give policy makers, researchers, educational leaders, administrators and teachers a robust, non-specialist source of international comparative trends shaping education, whether in schools, universities or in programmes for older adults. It will also be of interest to students and the wider public, including parents.

English Also available in: French

https://doi.org/10.1787/6ae8771a-en
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What impact will climate change have on our educational institutions in the next decade? Are our research and innovation systems prepared for an era of global, open and internet intensive science? What does it mean for schools that our societies are becoming more individualistic and diverse?

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Author(s) OECD

18 Jan 2022

Understanding Poverty

Realizing the Future of Learning: From Learning Poverty to Learning for Everyone, Everywhere

Too many education systems are not delivering even basic skills for all children, let alone preparing them for the demanding world they will live in as adults.
Urgent action is needed to realize a new vision for education: one in which learning happens for everyone, everywhere.
The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the weaknesses of education systems around the world and underlined the urgency to act. Simulations by the World Bank show that the learning poverty rate might increase by 10 points, from 53% to 63% in low- and middle-income countries.
This report describes the World Bank’s vision for the future of learning and a strategic approach that lays out the lines of actions needed for education systems to move forward in accelerating learning improvement.
COVID-19 pandemic response has opened a window of opportunity for educational systems to move to a path of accelerated progress. It is now possible to bring forward to today elements that many would have thought are part of the future of learning.
A vision of this future should guide today’s investments and policy reforms so that countries can lay the foundations for effective, equitable, and resilient education systems.

In the future, learning should happen with joy, purpose, and rigor for everyone, everywhere

To guide our policy advisory and operational support to countries, the report discusses policy actions that are needed to accelerate learning and that characterize the way many successful systems operate.
These are presented within five interrelated pillars of a well-functioning education system that underpin the World Bank’s strategic education policy approach: learners, teachers, learning resources, schools, and system management.
Countries can chart their own path with a political commitment to carry out investments and reforms in five pillars that ensure that:
Learners are prepared and motivated to learn —with a stronger emphasis on whole-child development and support to learning continuity beyond the school.
Teachers are effective and valued —and ready to take on an increasingly complex role of facilitators of learning at and beyond the school with use of education technology.
Learning resources, including curricula, are diverse and high-quality —to support good pedagogical practices and personalized learning.
Schools are safe and inclusive spaces —with a whole-and-beyond-the-school approach to prevent and address violence and leave no child behind.
Education systems are well-managed —with school leaders who spur more effective pedagogy and a competent educational bureaucracy adept at using technology, data, and evidence.

Investments and reforms in each of the pillars are needed today to lay the foundations for the future of learning.
The report also discusses core principles that should guide systemwide reform efforts so that policies within each pillar offer the greatest value for money and are scalable and sustainable.

Full Report

Reimagining Human Connections: Technology and Education in Education at the World Bank

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World Bank Group and Education

for Education

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The future of education.

Google for Education collaborated with research partner Canvas8 to conduct a study across 24 countries on the future of education. The result is a three-part global report highlighting insights from around the world.

Global nonprofit American Institutes for Research (AIR) served as an advisor and consultant to this research.

Preparing for a new future

As educators work to equip students with the skills and mindsets they’ll need to navigate massive change, the experts we interviewed discussed how and why they’re rethinking the role of education.

Download Part 1

What's inside

Rising demand for global problem solvers

Change in the skill sets required for work

Shift to a lifelong learning mindset

Evolving how we teach and learn

Find out how recent technological advances are evolving how we think about teaching and learning from a one-to-many model to a more personal approach to learning.

Download Part 2

Making learning personal

Reimagining learning design

Elevating the teacher

Reimagining learning ecosystems

Learn how educators are taking a more systemic approach to transformation, by reimagining the education ecosystem around the learner.

Download Part 3

Upgrading learning environments

Empowering educators with data

Re-evaluating student progress

Building the report

This report contains insights from interviews with education thought leaders from around the world, including experts in policy, academic researchers covering education, district-level representatives, school principals and teachers and edtech leaders.

FROM THE EXPERTS

“There is a need to develop human beings who are internally strong and resilient. The importance of knowledge transmission will decline in order to place a greater emphasis on fundamental and higher thinking skills, including children's socio-affective spheres.”

Sylvia Schmelkes, researcher at Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico

“The education system has to enable young people to be great career navigators, to learn transferable skills that enable them to change fields and not just change jobs. And, to be alert to the changing workforce needs in ways that were probably less apparent previously.”

Valerie Hannon, co-founder, Innovation Unit, United Kingdom

“The power of technology in education [is a major force shaping it], changing learning experiences, changing the role and nature of educators — your work in knowledge transmission is no longer that relevant. You have to instead become a great coach, a great mentor, a social worker, and career advisor.”

Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills, and special advisor on education policy to the secretary-general at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Global

Teaching for tomorrow

A new Google for Education YouTube series, featuring conversations with thought leaders shaping the future of education.

See the full playlist

Teaching for tomorrow trailer

What might education look like in the next 5-10 years? Check out the trailer for our new YouTube series, Teaching for tomorrow, which features expert insights on topics from teaching and learning, to digital literacy and more.

Watch video

Teaching for tomorrow with Tony Wagner

Join Tony Wagner (he/him), Ed.D., Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, to learn about the skills students will need in tomorrow’s workplace, the promise of education technology, and more.

Teaching for tomorrow with Jan Owen

Join Jan Owen (she/her), Co-chair of Learning Creates Australia, for insights on how education can empower students to help solve the global problems of today and tomorrow.

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"The future of education is here"

About the author, antónio guterres.

António Guterres is the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, who took office on 1st January 2017.

Education is the key to personal development and the future of societies.

It unlocks opportunities and narrows inequalities.

It is the bedrock of informed, tolerant societies, and a primary driver of sustainable development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the largest disruption of education ever.

In mid-July, schools were closed in more than 160 countries, affecting over 1 billion students.

At least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on education in their critical pre-school year.

And parents, especially women, have been forced to assume heavy care burdens in the home.

Despite the delivery of lessons by radio, television and online, and the best efforts of teachers and parents, many students remain out of reach.

Learners with disabilities, those in minority or disadvantaged communities, displaced and refugee students and those in remote areas are at highest risk of being left behind.

And even for those who can access distance learning, success depends on their living conditions, including the fair distribution of domestic duties.

We are at a defining moment for the world’s children and young people.

We already faced a learning crisis before the pandemic.

More than 250 million school-age children were out of school.

And only a quarter of secondary school children in developing countries were leaving school with basic skills.

Now we face a generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities.

The knock-on effects on child nutrition, child marriage and gender equality, among others, are deeply concerning.

This is the backdrop to the Policy Brief I am launching today, together with a new campaign with education partners and United Nations agencies called ‘Save our Future’.

The decisions that governments and partners take now will have lasting impact on hundreds of millions of young people, and on the development prospects of countries for decades to come.

This Policy Brief calls for action in four key areas:

First, reopening schools.

Once local transmission of COVID-19 is under control, getting students back into schools and learning institutions as safely as possible must be a top priority.

We have issued guidance to help governments in this complex endeavour.

It will be essential to balance health risks against risks to children’s education and protection, and to factor in the impact on women’s labour force participation.

Consultation with parents, carers, teachers and young people is fundamental.

Second, prioritizing education in financing decisions.

Before the crisis hit, low and middle-income countries already faced an education funding gap of $1.5 trillion dollars a year.

This gap has now grown.

Education budgets need to be protected and increased.

And it is critical that education is at the heart of international solidarity efforts, from debt management and stimulus packages to global humanitarian appeals and official development assistance.

Third, targeting the hardest to reach.

Education initiatives must seek to reach those at greatest risk of being left behind -- people in emergencies and crises; minority groups of all kinds; displaced people and those with disabilities.

They should be sensitive to the specific challenges faced by girls, boys, women and men, and should urgently seek to bridge the digital divide.

Fourth, the future of education is here.

We have a generational opportunity to reimagine education.

We can take a leap towards forward-looking systems that deliver quality education for all as a springboard for the Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve this, we need investment in digital literacy and infrastructure, an evolution towards learning how to learn, a rejuvenation of life-long learning and strengthened links between formal and non-formal education.

And we need to draw on flexible delivery methods, digital technologies and modernized curricula while ensuring sustained support for teachers and communities.

As the world faces unsustainable levels of inequality, we need education – the great equalizer – more than ever.

We must take bold steps now, to create inclusive, resilient, quality education systems fit for the future.

Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond

S7-Episode 2: Bringing Health to the World

“You see, we're not doing this work to make ourselves feel better. That sort of conventional notion of what a do-gooder is. We're doing this work because we are totally convinced that it's not necessary in today's wealthy world for so many people to be experiencing discomfort, for so many people to be experiencing hardship, for so many people to have their lives and their livelihoods imperiled.”

Dr. David Nabarro has dedicated his life to global health. After a long career that’s taken him from the horrors of war torn Iraq, to the devastating aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he is still spurred to action by the tremendous inequalities in global access to medical care.

“The thing that keeps me awake most at night is the rampant inequities in our world…We see an awful lot of needless suffering.”

:: David Nabarro interviewed by Melissa Fleming

Ballet Manguinhos resumes performing after a COVID-19 hiatus with “Woman: Power and Resistance”. Photo courtesy Ana Silva/Ballet Manguinhos

Brazilian ballet pirouettes during pandemic

Ballet Manguinhos, named for its favela in Rio de Janeiro, returns to the stage after a long absence during the COVID-19 pandemic. It counts 250 children and teenagers from the favela as its performers. The ballet group provides social support in a community where poverty, hunger and teen pregnancy are constant issues.

Nazira Inoyatova is a radio host and the creative/programme director at Avtoradio FM 102.0 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Photo courtesy Azamat Abbasov

Radio journalist gives the facts on COVID-19 in Uzbekistan

The pandemic has put many people to the test, and journalists are no exception. Coronavirus has waged war not only against people's lives and well-being but has also spawned countless hoaxes and scientific falsehoods.

Life in 2050: A Glimpse at Education in the Future

Thanks to growing internet access and emerging technologies, the way we think of education will dramatically change..

Matthew S. Williams

Life in 2050: A Glimpse at Education in the Future

Welcome back to our “Life in 2050” series, where we examine how changes that are anticipated for the coming decades will alter the way people live their lives. In previous installments, we looked at how warfare , the economy , housing , and space exploration (which took two installments to cover!) will change by mid-century.

Today, we take a look at education and how social, economic, and technological changes will revolutionize the way children, youth, and adults go to school. Whereas modern education has generally followed the same model for over three hundred years, a transition is currently taking place that will continue throughout this century.

This transition is similar to what is also taking place in terms of governance, the economy, and recreation. In much the same way, the field of education will evolve in this century to adapt to four major factors. They include:

Growing access to the internet
Improvements in technology
Distributed living and learning
A new emphasis on problem-solving and gamification

The resulting seismic shift expected to occur by 2050 and after will be tantamount to a revolution in how we think about education and learning. Rather than a centralized structure where information is transmitted, and retention is tested, the classroom of the future is likely to be distributed in nature and far more hands-on.

To the next generations, education in the future will look a lot more like playtime than schooling!

A Time-Honored Model

Since the 19th century, public education has become far more widespread. In 1820, only 12% of people worldwide could read and write. As of 2016, that figure was reversed, where only 14% of the world’s population remained illiterate. Beyond basic literacy, the overall level of education has also increased steadily over time.

Since the latter half of the 20th century, secondary and post-secondary studies (university and college) have expanded considerably across the world. Between 1970 and 2020 , the percentage of adults with no formal education went from 23% to less than 10%; those with a partial (or complete) secondary education went from 16% to 36%; and those with a post-secondary education from about 3.3% to 10%.

Of course, there remains a disparity between the developing and developed world when it comes to education outcomes. According to data released in 2018 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the percentage of people to graduate secondary school (among their 38 member nations) was 76.86% for men and 84.82% for women.

The same data indicated that among OECD nations, an average of 36.55% of the population (29.41% men and 44.10% women) received a post-secondary degree. This ranges from a Bachelor’s degree (24.07% men, 36.91% women) and a Master’s degree (10.5% men, 16.17% women) to a Ph.D. (less than 1% of men and women).

Despite this expansion in learning, the traditional model of education has remained largely unchanged since the 19th century. This model consists of people divided by age (grades), learning a standardized curriculum that is broken down by subject (maths, sciences, arts, social sciences, and athletics), and being subject to evaluation (quizzes, tests, final exam).

This model has been subject to revision and expansion over time, mainly in response to new technologies, socio-political developments, and economic changes. However, the structure has remained largely intact, with the institutions, curricula, and accreditation standards subject to centralized oversight and control.

Global Internet

According to a 2019 report compiled by the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs — titled “ World Population Prospects 2019 ” — the global population is expected to reach 9.74 billion by mid-century. With a population of around 5.29 billion, Asia will still be the most populous continent on the planet.

However, it will be Africa that experiences the most growth between now and mid-century. Currently, Africa has a population of 1.36 billion, which is projected to almost double by 2050 — reaching up to 2.5 billion (an increase of about 83%). This population growth will be mirrored by economic growth, which will then drive another sort of growth.

According to a 2018 report by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 90% of the global population will have access to broadband internet services by 2050, thanks to the growth of mobile devices and satellite internet services . That’s 8.76 billion people, a 220% increase over the 4 billion people (about half of the global population) that have access right now.

The majority of these new users will come from the “developing nations,” meaning countries in Africa, South America, and Oceania. Therefore, the internet of the future will be far more representative of the global population as more stories, events, and trends that drive online behavior come from outside of Europe and North America.

Similarly, the internet will grow immensely as trillions of devices, cameras, sensors, homes, and cities are connected to the internet — creating a massive expansion in the “ Internet of Things .” Given the astronomical amount of data that this will generate on a regular basis, machine learning and AI will be incorporated to keep track of it all, find patterns in the chaos, and even predict future trends.

AI will also advance thanks to research into the human brain and biotechnology, which will lead to neural net computing that is much closer to the real thing. Similarly, this research will lead to more advanced versions of Neuralink , neural implants that will help remedy neurological disorders and brain injuries, and also allow for brain-to-machine interfacing.

This means that later in this century, people will be able to perform all the tasks they rely on their computers for, but in a way that doesn’t require a device. For those who find the idea of neural implants unsettling or repugnant, computing will still be possible using smart glasses, smart contact lenses , and wearable computers .

From Distance Ed to MOOCs

In the past year, the coronavirus and resulting school closures have been a major driving force for the growth of online learning. However, the trend towards decentralization was underway long before that, with virtual classrooms and online education experiencing considerable growth over the past decade.

In fact, a report compiled in February of 2020 by Research and Markets indicated that by 2025, the online education market would be valued at about $320 billion USD . This represents a growth of 170% — and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.23% since 2019 when the e-learning industry was valued at $187.87 billion USD .

What’s more, much of this growth will be powered by economic progress and rising populations in the developing nations (particularly in Africa, Asia, and South America). Already, online education is considered a cost-effective means to address the rising demand for education in developing nations.

As Stefan Trines, a research editor with the World Education News & Reviews, explained in an op-ed he penned in August of 2018 :

“While still embryonic, digital forms of education will likely eventually be pursued in the same vein as traditional distance learning models and the privatization of education, both of which have helped increase access to education despite concerns over educational quality and social equality.

“Distance education already plays a crucial role in providing access to education for millions of people in the developing world. Open distance education universities in Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, and Turkey alone currently enroll more than 7 million students combined.”

While barriers remain in the form of technological infrastructure (aka. the “digital divide”), the growth of internet access in the next few decades will be accompanied by an explosion in online learning. Another consequence will be the proliferation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and other forms of e-learning, which will replace traditional distance education.

Here too, the growth in the past few years has been very impressive (and indicative of future trends). Between 2012 and 2018 , the number of MOOCs available increased by more than 683%, while the total number of students enrolled went from 10 million (in 2013) to 81 million, and the number of universities offering them increased by 400% (from 200 to 800).

Between 2020 and 2050 , the number of people without any formal education will decline from 10% to 5% of the global population. While the number of people with a primary and lower secondary education is expected to remain largely the same, the number of people with secondary education is projected to go from 21% to 29% and post-secondary education from 11% to 18.5%.

For developing nations, distributed learning systems will offer a degree of access and flexibility that traditional education cannot. This is similar to the situation in many remote areas of the world, where the necessary infrastructure doesn’t always exist (i.e., roads, school buses, schoolhouses, etc.).

New Technologies & New Realities

Along with near-universal internet access, there are a handful of technologies that will make education much more virtual, immersive, and hands-on. These include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), haptics , cloud computing, and machine learning (AI). Together, advances in these fields will be utilized to enhance education.

By definition, AR refers to interactions with physical environments that are enhanced with the help of computer-mediated images and sounds, while VR consists of interacting with computer-generated simulated environments. However, by 2050, the line between simulated and physical will be blurred to the point where they are barely distinguishable.

This will be possible thanks to advances in “haptics,” which refers to technology that stimulates the senses. Currently, this technology is limited to stimulating the sensation of touch and the perception of motion. By 2050, however, haptics, AR, and VR are expected to combine in a way that will be capable of creating totally realistic immersive environments.

These environments will stimulate the five major senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) as well as somatosensory perception — pressure, pain, temperature, etc. For students, this could mean simulations that allow the student to step into a moment in history and to see and feel what it was like to live in another time and place — with proper safety measures (let’s not forget that history is full of violence!).

This technology could extend beyond virtual environments and allow students the opportunity to visit places all around the globe and experience what it feels like to actually be there. It’s even possible that this technology will be paired with remote-access robotic hosts so students can physically interact with the local environment and people.

Cloud computing will grow in tandem with increased internet access, leading to an explosion in the amount of data that a classroom generates and has access to. The task of managing this data will be assisted by machine learning algorithms and classroom AIs that will keep track of student tasks, learning, retention, and assess their progress.

New & Personalized Curriculums

In fact, AI-driven diagnostic assessments are likely to replace traditional grading, tests, and exams as the primary means of measuring student achievement. Rather than being given letter grades or pass/fail evaluations, students will need to fulfill certain requirements in order to unlock new levels in their education.

The ease with which students can connect to classrooms will also mean that teachers will no longer need to be physically present in a classroom. By 2050, “ virtual teacher ” is likely to become an actual job description! Ongoing progress in the field of AI and social robotics is also likely to result in classrooms that are led by virtual or robotic teachers and education assistants.

Speaking of robotics, emerging technologies and the shifting nature of work in the future will be reflected in the kinds of tasks students perform. For this reason, students are sure to spend a significant portion of their lessons learning how to code and build robots , take apart and reassemble complex machines, and other tasks that will enhance their STEM skills.

Other professions that emerge between now and 2050 are also likely to have an impact on student education. Given their importance to future generations, students are sure to learn about additive manufacturing (3D printing), space travel, renewable energy, and how to create virtual environments, blockchains , and digital applications .

In addition to adapting to new demands, school curriculums are likely to become a lot more decentralized as a result of technological changes. On the one hand, schools are likely to abandon compartmentalized study — math, science, language, literature, social studies, etc. — in favor of more blended learning activities that cut across these boundaries.

Gaming, Problem Solving, & Incentives

Another major change is the way education is expected to become “gamified.” This is the philosophy behind Ad Astra , a private school created by Elon Musk and educator Joshua Dahn for Musk’s children and those of SpaceX’s employees. Since then, this school has given way to Astra Nova , which follows the same philosophy, but is open to the general public.

With their emphasis on destructured learning and focus on problem-solving, these schools provide something of a preview for what education will look like down the road. As Musk remarked in a 2013 interview with Sal Khan, founder of the online education platform Khan Academy :

“What is education? You’re basically downloading data and algorithms into your brain. And it’s actually amazingly bad in conventional education because it shouldn’t be like this huge chore… The more you can gamify the process of learning, the better. For my kids, I don’t have to encourage them to play video games. I have to pry them out of their hands.”

This approach is similar to the Montessori method of education , where students engage in self-directed learning activities in a supportive and well-equipped environment. While many practices have come to be included under the heading of “Montessori school,” the general idea is to avoid using highly structured and transmission-based methods.

Combined with cutting-edge technology, this same philosophy is projected to become far more widespread and will be possible without the need for physical classrooms, schools, textbooks, etc. In this respect, it is the Synthesis School , another spin-off of Ad Astra, that provides the closest approximation of what the future of education will be like.

The Synthesis School is an open-access educational platform that takes the problem-solving and gamified approach of Ad Astra and Astra Nova and makes it available as an enrichment activity to the entire world (for a fee). In the future, children and youths from all over the world could be following the same process: Logging in from just about anywhere, forming groups, and playing games that develop our faculties.

The growing use of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will also have an effect on schooling. In terms of the future economy, these technologies could replace traditional fiat money and banking. But in education, they could facilitate an entirely new system of reward and punishment.

Here too, Ad Astra and Astra Nova offer a preview of what this might look like. In these schools, students are encouraged to earn and trade a unit of currency called the “ Astra .” This system is designed to reward students for good behavior while also teaching them about money management and entrepreneurship.

By 2050, the majority of students around the world may no longer have to physically go to school in order to get an education. Instead, they will be able to log in from their home, a common room in their building, or a dedicated space in their community. From there, they will join students from all around the world and engage in problem-solving tasks, virtual tours, and hands-on activities.

For hundreds of millions of students, this will represent a chance to at a brighter future for themselves and others. For many children, it will be an opportunity to learn about the world beyond their front door and how to facilitate the kind of changes that will benefit us all.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

Matthew S. Williams Matthew S Williams is an author, a writer for Universe Today, and the curator of their Guide to Space section. His works include sci-fi/mystery The Cronian Incident and his articles have been featured in Phys.org, HeroX, Popular Mechanics, Business Insider, Gizmodo, and IO9, ScienceAlert, Knowridge Science Report, and Real Clear Science, with topics ranging from astronomy and Earth sciences to technological innovation and environmental issues. He is also a former educator and a 5th degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do instructor. He lives on Vancouver Island with his wife and family.

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The future of education: An essay collection

Education policy has for too long been moulded by 20th century ideals and restricted by short-term thinking. With every new government, fresh policies and initiatives are enacted in quick succession without always having an eye to the bigger picture. The ideas in this collection have sought to show how much the bigger picture matters, and provide ideas on what policymakers can do to meet the challenges of tomorrow, today.

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What does the Future of Education mean to you?

Youth Voices

Sowing Peace: One Mind at a time From Economy-worthy to Empathy-driven: Peace is the Bridge

What comes to your mind when I say “education”? Reading? Writing? Or is it Arithmetic? For the longest time, the world has suffered – yes, suffered – with the understanding of what education means. There is so much attention attached to the literacy component in education, to the extent that people think of education itself as all about making more and more people literate. While that does serve a greater purpose and centres around building economy-worthy people who have the ability to add to the world’s monetary capacity, it stops short of adding to the empathy that this world could gain a lot from having. By emphasising on the idea of economically empowering people to take on better jobs and augment the productivity of the economy, we have not invested much in education for the greater interests of peace. A social climate of peace can thrive only if there is a communal approach to it through education, but not just literacy-driven education – rather, peace education.

Everyone in today’s generation is fighting a war on borrowed hatred. Think about it. Samuel Huntington was incredibly correct that culture, ethnicity and such individual identity markers would come to sustain differences of opinion. War is deemed good for business and the coffers of a select few enablers, and that vested interest keeps an agenda of promoting hatred as the norm going. Terrorist outfits are feeding off the combined effect of marginalisation and borrowed hatred. The world is burning with hatred that is only kept alive through education that is desperately in need of sensitisation. Whole chapters in history are written by the victor’s hand. Still more are written through a male lens, ignoring myriads of women who have made significant and meaningful contributions through untiring efforts.

We strive to create peaceful people, through peaceful tools, peaceful language and peaceful ways to solve conflict. Conflict is inevitable, but, if we create a proclivity towards peace in people around us, we naturally choose peace, we naturally turn to peace, we naturally prioritise peace, and we don’t have place to escalate conflict at any level. Be it a bully in a classroom or two nations seeking ownership over territory. In that understanding, there is a very simple solution to finding peace in peace education.

Generations of students before me, along with me, and now, after me, have grown up without learning the most important values of life: of empathy, of choosing peace and compassion over hatred and violence, of choosing equality, tolerance and respect for one’s identity as they are instead of pushing constant agendas of ideals and non-conformism attracting mistreatment. What if we taught non-violent communication while teaching rules of grammar, syntax and semantics? What if we taught history with the right telling, and with the agenda to prevent repetition of history’s egregious failings? What if we taught geography against the landscape of actual equality – where we learned lessons from the earth’s diversity and imbibed it as positive lessons for peace? What if we taught practical ways to use numbers in a way that had practical solutions to deter from conflict and choose peace instead?

Youth engagement in Europe around the issues of education for peace, sustainable development and global citizenship

Sixty years ago, the European Union was formed, mainly with the tenet of maintaining peace on the continent. In 2017, the world has changed, and whilst peace remains of utmost importance, two other essential issues must be prioritised: sustainability and the challenges of globalisation.

As the world is becoming more interconnected, the challenges we face as a global community grow in complexity. Local actions in our respective regions have international ramifications, thus peace and security on one continent cannot be seen independently from that in other parts of the world. Social, economic and ecological sustainability – on a global scale – are crucial not only to ensure the prosperity of our own and future generations, but also to fight and prevent causes of displacement and conflict, caused by climate change and social injustice. Against common stereotypes, I think it would be ignorant to believe that the youth are unaware of the issues or indeed apathetic to their importance.

A testament to the youth’s engagement with such matters can be seen through the ‘Generation What Survey’, which has been conducted since 2013 by a partnership of two companies in France and the European Broadcasting Union. It stands as an international portrait of how young people feel: more like citizens of the world, rather than citizens of Europe. Undeniably, our educational systems have failed to adapt such a sentiment to its fundamentals and have therefore not nurtured a concept embraced by many young Europeans. I believe if fully implemented through proper education for global citizenship, it will prove invaluable in creating future policy makers, leaders and citizens who not only uphold the rule of law but act to fight global injustice and modify globalisation towards a system of benefit to all, and not just a few.

Yet we, unfortunately, either underestimate the potential of our youth or neglect to give them a platform to engage with many of the issues facing our world. Whilst being Director of the youth organisation ‘AYUDH Europe’, I have been fortunate enough to have become inspired by young people from diverse backgrounds. I have seen first-hand, the intrinsic sense of determination, ambition and dedication many young people share. Their uncanny insight into this world, is second to none to their curiosity and ability to look optimistically towards their future.

At AYUDH’s recent youth summit ‘Educate. Cultivate. Participate’, we adopted UNESCO MGIEP’s format of iTAGe (independently organised ‘Talking Across Generations on Education’ event), as the concluding element of a weeklong summit with discussions around education, citizenship and sustainability. This highlighted just how eager young people are to transform both our educational and political sector to achieve our idealistic vision. It stands as a call for more youth engagement in education policies. Indeed, many of the senior panellists expected to deliver an exposé on the ingenuity of our education systems. However, they left surprised at the level of insight, maturity and sophistication that our nine youth panellists showed and came to appreciate that we must act in coalition with the youth to alter these systems to foster: empathy, emotional intelligence and a culture of the heart in young people. As Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), a great humanitarian and the inspiration behind AYUDH, says: “There are two kinds of education: education for living and education for life.” While education for living is essential for success in the academic and economic sense, education for life equips young people with the knowledge, skills and values needed to lead an ethical, empowering and socially beneficial life.

I believe that once we have fostered an educational system that creates students with the previous qualities and true compassion, an unencumbered sense of motivation to move towards a peaceful and sustainable world will be guaranteed. Transforming our youth to have this mindset is no easy feat but remains paramount when one tries to achieve the sustainable development goals.

I do not stand solely on this matter. The global community through both SDG 4.7 and 12.8 have come a common census that we need to reform our educational systems. This means: revolutionising how we see both the formal and informal domains, reforming our curriculums and training our teachers to help form students who meet the needs of the future. Let us not be passive and expect others to implement the SDGS, let us make them happen. Let us not wait for the world to change and the world to wait on us.

So, as a citizen of Europe, I call upon our policymakers, educators and learners alike to transform our educational institutions from mere places of theoretical learning into hubs of action and platforms for dialogue, innovation and participation. I call upon young Europeans to be trustworthy, constructive and mature advocates and partners, initiating conversations and driving change. In a time when a majority of young Europeans recognise growing nationalism as a negative evolution (Generation What survey), we need to ensure that education nurtures a mindset that reinforces the values and idea of Europe as a continent of peace, sustainability and global solidarity.

Re-orienting education and empowering the young

Do you buy the argument that children and youth are inherently peaceful, and that it is only the adult world that rewires them to be violent? I used to believe in this line of thought, and imagined that education for peace should focus on transforming the biased attitudes of adults instead of working with school and college students. I can now see how simplistic that approach was, especially with the regular stream of news reports about young people engaging in acts of murder and rape.

The National Focus Group Position Paper on Education For Peace, published by India’s National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 2006 mentions that 18 per cent of the children interviewed for that paper were “found to take pleasure in various acts of violence…they enjoyed stoning little pups and kittens, breaking flower buds off plants, holding butterflies between their fingers. Older children engaged in eve-teasing and ragging to the extent that it sometimes became fatal.”

This description is a clear departure from images of children as innocent, uncorrupted and angelic. What is it that prompts young people to resort to this kind of everyday violence? The NCERT paper mentioned earlier states, “Faith in violence as a quick-fix problem-solver is an emerging epidemic.” I think that is an appropriate articulation of the challenge that faces our society. With the power to communicate easily via social media, knee-jerk responses are even more commonplace.

People are easily offended by the content of films, the food on someone else’s plate, the books that are being written, and much else. Instead of expressing themselves in a civil manner, they seek refuge in hate speech. Words are sometimes more powerful than weapons, and are known to instigate violence against individuals and communities. This is why education for peace has becoming increasingly important.

One cannot afford to emphasise only the knowledge of traditional school subjects or the soft skills currently in vogue. There is a need to reorient education in a way that it empowers young people to learn what it means to be in someone else’s shoes, to connect with peers across the divisions created by caste, gender identities, sexual preference, class, ethnicity, language, and the other markers that individuals use to define or describe themselves. At the individual level, this is possible only when we begin to look within, and work with our own prejudices.

What can be done at the systemic level, in a pragmatic way, beyond the niceties of lip service? Since the Indian education system revolves mainly around the textbook, which almost has a scripture-like status in the classroom, that might be the perfect place to begin. I had the opportunity to work on Textbooks for Sustainable Development: A Guide To Embedding published by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development in 2017. It is a guidebook for writers and publishers of school textbooks, and the focus is on four subjects: Language, Mathematics, Science, and Geography.

As mentioned in the guidebook, “Embedding is not about inserting new thematic content into an already overcrowded curriculum, which would make it impractical – both time and content wise – for the teacher and textbook author. Nor is it about removing or minimizing the importance of academic content. Instead, it is about reorienting subjects into serving a more socially and globally relevant purpose: that of contributing to a sustainable, just and peaceful world, with young people motivated, prepared and empowered to address persistent and emerging local and global challenges.”

UNESCO MGIEP, ICSSR Building, First Floor 35 Ferozshah Road, New Delhi-110001 Phone: +91 11 23072356-60

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Our Mission

What Is Education For?

Read an excerpt from a new book by Sir Ken Robinson and Kate Robinson, which calls for redesigning education for the future.

What is education for? As it happens, people differ sharply on this question. It is what is known as an “essentially contested concept.” Like “democracy” and “justice,” “education” means different things to different people. Various factors can contribute to a person’s understanding of the purpose of education, including their background and circumstances. It is also inflected by how they view related issues such as ethnicity, gender, and social class. Still, not having an agreed-upon definition of education doesn’t mean we can’t discuss it or do anything about it.

We just need to be clear on terms. There are a few terms that are often confused or used interchangeably—“learning,” “education,” “training,” and “school”—but there are important differences between them. Learning is the process of acquiring new skills and understanding. Education is an organized system of learning. Training is a type of education that is focused on learning specific skills. A school is a community of learners: a group that comes together to learn with and from each other. It is vital that we differentiate these terms: children love to learn, they do it naturally; many have a hard time with education, and some have big problems with school.

There are many assumptions of compulsory education. One is that young people need to know, understand, and be able to do certain things that they most likely would not if they were left to their own devices. What these things are and how best to ensure students learn them are complicated and often controversial issues. Another assumption is that compulsory education is a preparation for what will come afterward, like getting a good job or going on to higher education.

So, what does it mean to be educated now? Well, I believe that education should expand our consciousness, capabilities, sensitivities, and cultural understanding. It should enlarge our worldview. As we all live in two worlds—the world within you that exists only because you do, and the world around you—the core purpose of education is to enable students to understand both worlds. In today’s climate, there is also a new and urgent challenge: to provide forms of education that engage young people with the global-economic issues of environmental well-being.

This core purpose of education can be broken down into four basic purposes.

Education should enable young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them. In Western cultures, there is a firm distinction between the two worlds, between thinking and feeling, objectivity and subjectivity. This distinction is misguided. There is a deep correlation between our experience of the world around us and how we feel. As we explored in the previous chapters, all individuals have unique strengths and weaknesses, outlooks and personalities. Students do not come in standard physical shapes, nor do their abilities and personalities. They all have their own aptitudes and dispositions and different ways of understanding things. Education is therefore deeply personal. It is about cultivating the minds and hearts of living people. Engaging them as individuals is at the heart of raising achievement.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” and that “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Many of the deepest problems in current systems of education result from losing sight of this basic principle.

Schools should enable students to understand their own cultures and to respect the diversity of others. There are various definitions of culture, but in this context the most appropriate is “the values and forms of behavior that characterize different social groups.” To put it more bluntly, it is “the way we do things around here.” Education is one of the ways that communities pass on their values from one generation to the next. For some, education is a way of preserving a culture against outside influences. For others, it is a way of promoting cultural tolerance. As the world becomes more crowded and connected, it is becoming more complex culturally. Living respectfully with diversity is not just an ethical choice, it is a practical imperative.

There should be three cultural priorities for schools: to help students understand their own cultures, to understand other cultures, and to promote a sense of cultural tolerance and coexistence. The lives of all communities can be hugely enriched by celebrating their own cultures and the practices and traditions of other cultures.

Education should enable students to become economically responsible and independent. This is one of the reasons governments take such a keen interest in education: they know that an educated workforce is essential to creating economic prosperity. Leaders of the Industrial Revolution knew that education was critical to creating the types of workforce they required, too. But the world of work has changed so profoundly since then, and continues to do so at an ever-quickening pace. We know that many of the jobs of previous decades are disappearing and being rapidly replaced by contemporary counterparts. It is almost impossible to predict the direction of advancing technologies, and where they will take us.

How can schools prepare students to navigate this ever-changing economic landscape? They must connect students with their unique talents and interests, dissolve the division between academic and vocational programs, and foster practical partnerships between schools and the world of work, so that young people can experience working environments as part of their education, not simply when it is time for them to enter the labor market.

Education should enable young people to become active and compassionate citizens. We live in densely woven social systems. The benefits we derive from them depend on our working together to sustain them. The empowerment of individuals has to be balanced by practicing the values and responsibilities of collective life, and of democracy in particular. Our freedoms in democratic societies are not automatic. They come from centuries of struggle against tyranny and autocracy and those who foment sectarianism, hatred, and fear. Those struggles are far from over. As John Dewey observed, “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”

For a democratic society to function, it depends upon the majority of its people to be active within the democratic process. In many democracies, this is increasingly not the case. Schools should engage students in becoming active, and proactive, democratic participants. An academic civics course will scratch the surface, but to nurture a deeply rooted respect for democracy, it is essential to give young people real-life democratic experiences long before they come of age to vote.

Eight Core Competencies

The conventional curriculum is based on a collection of separate subjects. These are prioritized according to beliefs around the limited understanding of intelligence we discussed in the previous chapter, as well as what is deemed to be important later in life. The idea of “subjects” suggests that each subject, whether mathematics, science, art, or language, stands completely separate from all the other subjects. This is problematic. Mathematics, for example, is not defined only by propositional knowledge; it is a combination of types of knowledge, including concepts, processes, and methods as well as propositional knowledge. This is also true of science, art, and languages, and of all other subjects. It is therefore much more useful to focus on the concept of disciplines rather than subjects.

Disciplines are fluid; they constantly merge and collaborate. In focusing on disciplines rather than subjects we can also explore the concept of interdisciplinary learning. This is a much more holistic approach that mirrors real life more closely—it is rare that activities outside of school are as clearly segregated as conventional curriculums suggest. A journalist writing an article, for example, must be able to call upon skills of conversation, deductive reasoning, literacy, and social sciences. A surgeon must understand the academic concept of the patient’s condition, as well as the practical application of the appropriate procedure. At least, we would certainly hope this is the case should we find ourselves being wheeled into surgery.

The concept of disciplines brings us to a better starting point when planning the curriculum, which is to ask what students should know and be able to do as a result of their education. The four purposes above suggest eight core competencies that, if properly integrated into education, will equip students who leave school to engage in the economic, cultural, social, and personal challenges they will inevitably face in their lives. These competencies are curiosity, creativity, criticism, communication, collaboration, compassion, composure, and citizenship. Rather than be triggered by age, they should be interwoven from the beginning of a student’s educational journey and nurtured throughout.

From Imagine If: Creating a Future for Us All by Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D and Kate Robinson, published by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2022 by the Estate of Sir Kenneth Robinson and Kate Robinson.

Leveraging science in mental health techniques for students’ well-being

University students have long struggled with academic pressure, social media demands, economic challenges and career uncertainty. This technique uses language and body awareness to help students cope and reset

Erica Coates

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The number of students seeking mental health assistance was on an uptick well before the pandemic. While there is no definitive causal link, we can certainly hypothesise that societal changes, ubiquitous screen presence, social media , a divisive political climate and the lessened stigma of seeking help are all correlated with the increase in demand seen across the Western world. Then, the pandemic and the racial reckoning brought on by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 exacerbated mental health challenges.

Young people have this feeling that the structures and systems that previous generations could rely on are no longer there to protect them – for example, religious institutions and trust in government just aren’t pillars for this generation.

I believe that this mandates us in university settings to support students’ psychological well-being through comprehensive mental health resources that all students are educated on and can easily access. This should encompass clinics, individual and group counselling, crisis intervention and psychiatric care. At Virginia Tech, we also offer therapy dogs. We need to continue reducing the stigma around seeking help and encourage students to use these resources. And we need to offer tools for students to use not just now, but in their lives going forward.

How educators can help manage Covid anxieties on campus
Which specific Covid disruptions impacted motivation and engagement?
We need to empathise with the students of today to shape the minds of tomorrow

Given our research-driven university setting, it isn’t surprising that we open the door to technology in mental health practices – the enormous range of opportunities technology offers for mental health treatment has led to a spate of development. For example, brain-imaging techniques combined with algorithms that analyse neural activity can reveal brain differences among people that predict whether a given drug or therapy will relieve their symptoms.

What is the community resiliency model?

During the pandemic, as we were working our way through this collective trauma, I had an epiphany. Some 10 years ago, I’d worked with the community resiliency model ( CRM ) – we call it “krim” – to help people exposed to trauma relieve their anxiety and develop resilience. I realised I’d worked with hundreds of students who would benefit from CRM, leveraging shared language for what they were experiencing. Students tend to ping pong between high-stress hectic activation, then collapse and struggle with doing anything.

Since we all have a nervous system, the fight-flight-freeze sensation is universal. CRM recognises this and offers trauma-informed techniques to help students interrupt unhelpful narratives and recentre themselves. It does this through sharable language in a low-pathology manner with proven results. From a neuro-biological standpoint, many of us don’t take the time to assess how we’re feeling, and we’ve lost the ability to know what “calm” feels like in our body. CRM helps us to return to a zone of comfort. It’s like resetting to a personal homepage.

The science behind the CRM model simplifies the autonomic nervous system, which is what controls our brain and body’s survival response. The autonomic nervous system connects to every major organ in the body and catalyses action in response to threats in both our present moment and threats recalled instantly from our past. CRM teaches the science behind our fight, flight or freeze response through naming the sympathetic nervous system’s fight-or-flight response the “high zone” and the freeze response the “low zone”.

CRM’s genius is to normalise these responses and teach us concrete skills to discover what ease feels like in the body, which we can then use as a compass to help us know what we are working to navigate towards when we get bumped in the “high” or “low” zone. CRM draws attention to sensations of neutrality, ease or calm. Through repetitive practice in using this compass, we can access the brain’s neuroplasticity to rewire towards resiliency.

How we implement CRM

Virginia Tech has about 20 CRM trainers on campus. Some work at Cook Counseling Center, others at living learning centres, still others at the university health programme Hokie Wellness.

We use CRM in many ways:

We offer CRM training upon request to teams or departments.
Students, staff and faculty can all come in to receive individual or group stand-alone training.
All student leaders who work in residence halls are trained and report using the techniques frequently for residents who are in distress.
Campus outreach is infused with CRM-informed language.
We have a CRM e-bike that visits classes and outdoor events to creatively engage students; the trainer piloting the bike serves popsicles to demonstrate how an icy treat can defuse a dysregulated nervous system and hands out fidget spinners.

The future of CRM at Virginia Tech

I am so proud of how we have effectively and proactively become practitioners of trauma-informed treatment at Virginia Tech. I would like us to continue to grow in this area, imbuing all our activities with the end goal of embracing a culture of well-being. I’d also love to see CRM used more widely on the academic side, with faculty leveraging these techniques in teaching and mentoring. CRM can be incredibly valuable in managing students’ wellness and behaviour, increasing their ability to actively learn along the way.

Erica Coates is assistant director of campus initiatives at the Cook Counseling Center of Virginia Tech.

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Bots in White Coats: Are Llms the Future of Patient Education? A Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Analysis

19 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2024

Ughur Aghamaliyev

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)

Javad Karimbayli

IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute

Athanasios Zamparas

Florian bösch.

University Medical Center Göttingen

Michael Thomas

University of Cologne - University Hospital of Cologne

Thomas Schmidt

Christian krautz.

Friedrich-Alexander University

Christoph Kahlert

Heidelberg University - University Hospital Heidelberg

Sebastian Schölch

Martin angele, hanno niess, markus guba, jens werner, matthias ilmer, bernhard w. renz.

Objectives: Every year, around 300 million surgeries are conducted worldwide, with an estimated 4.2 million deaths occurring within 30 days after surgery. Adequate patient education is crucial, but often falls short due to the stress patients experience before surgery. Large language models (LLMs) can significantly enhance this process by delivering thorough information and addressing patient concerns that might otherwise go unnoticed. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated ChatGPT-4o's audio-based responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding six general surgical procedures. Three experienced surgeons and two senior residents formulated seven general and three procedure-specific FAQs for both preoperative and postoperative situations, covering six surgical scenarios (major: pancreatic head resection, rectal resection, total gastrectomy; minor: cholecystectomy, Lichtenstein procedure, hemithyroidectomy). In total, 120 audio responses were generated, transcribed, and assessed by 11 surgeons from six different German university hospitals. Findings: ChatGPT-4o demonstrated strong performance, achieving an average score of 4.12/5 for accuracy, 4.46/5 for relevance, and 0.22/5 for potential harm across 120 questions. Postoperative responses surpassed preoperative ones in both accuracy and relevance, while also exhibiting lower potential for harm. Additionally, responses related to minor surgeries were more accurate compared to those for major surgeries. Interpretation: This study underscores GPT-4o's potential to enhance patient education both before and after surgery by delivering accurate and relevant responses to FAQs about various surgical procedures. Notably, GPT-4o's responses, especially for minor surgeries, exhibited high accuracy with minimal risk of harm. Responses regarding the postoperative course proved to be more accurate and less harmful than those addressing preoperative ones. Although a few responses carried moderate risks, the overall performance was robust, indicating GPT-4o's value in patient education. The study suggests the development of hospital-specific applications or the integration of GPT-4o into interactive robotic systems to provide patients with reliable, immediate answers, thereby improving patient satisfaction and informed decision-making. Funding: The authors declare that no financial support was received for this study. Declaration of Interest: The authors have indicated that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article.

Keywords: ChatGPT, AI, ChatGPT-4o, GPT-4o, Large language models, LLM, Patient education, surgery

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Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ( email )

Irccs regina elena national cancer institute ( email ), university medical center göttingen ( email ), university of cologne - university hospital of cologne ( email ), friedrich-alexander university ( email ), heidelberg university - university hospital heidelberg ( email ), bernhard w. renz (contact author), click here to go to thelancet.com, paper statistics, related ejournals, preprints with the lancet.

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Published: 20 August 2024

Impact of a game-based interprofessional education program on medical students’ perceptions: a text network analysis using essays

Young Gyu Kwon 1 ,
Myeong Namgung 2 ,
Song Hee Park 3 ,
Mi Kyung Kim 3 , 4 ,
Sun Jung Myung 5 ,
Eun Kyung Eo 6 &
Chan Woong Kim 1 , 2

BMC Medical Education volume 24 , Article number: 898 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The increasing complexity of the healthcare environment and the necessity of multidisciplinary teamwork have highlighted the importance of interprofessional education (IPE). IPE aims to enhance the quality of patient care through collaborative education involving various healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. This study sought to analyze how game-based IPE activities influence students’ perceptions and reflective thinking. It also aimed to identify the shifts in perception and effectiveness caused by this educational approach.

The study is based on a game-based IPE program conducted at University A, involving medical and nursing students in structured learning and team-based activities. Data were collected using essays written by the students after they had participated in IPE activities. Text network analysis was conducted by extracting key terms, performing centrality analysis, and visualizing topic modeling to identify changes in students’ perceptions and reflective thinking.

Keywords such as “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” played a crucial role in the network, indicating that students prioritized enhancing their communication and problem-solving skills within the educational environment. The topic modeling results identified three main topics, each demonstrating the positive influence of game-based collaborative activities, interprofessional perspectives, and interdisciplinary educational experiences on students. Topic 3 (interdisciplinary educational experience) acted as a significant mediator connecting Topic 1 (game-based collaborative activity experience) and Topic 2 (interprofessional perspectives).

This study demonstrates that game-based IPE activities are an effective educational approach for enhancing students’ team building skills, particularly communication and interprofessional perspectives. Based on these findings, future IPE programs should focus on creating collaborative learning environments, strengthening communication skills, and promoting interdisciplinary education. The findings provide essential insights for educational designers and medical educators to enhance the effectiveness of IPE programs. Future research should assess the long-term impacts of game-based IPE on clinical practice, patient outcomes, and participants’ professional development.

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With rapid changes in the healthcare environment and the advancement of systems, effective collaboration among various healthcare professionals is crucial to meet patients’ high expectations [ 1 ]. This underscores the growing importance of interprofessional education (IPE), which aims to develop the ability to collaborate efficiently as multidisciplinary teams [ 2 , 3 ]. IPE involves students from two or more healthcare professions learning about, from, and with each other through collaborative education. The primary objective of IPE is to assist healthcare professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, in developing the competence to collaborate more effectively in multidisciplinary teams to enhance patient care [ 4 ]. Its history began in the early twentieth century and has evolved to include numerous healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, and dentists [ 5 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that IPE provides highly collaborative teamwork experiences that improve job satisfaction and enhance access to and safety in patient care [ 6 ]. Recent studies have also shown that IPE is pivotal not only in promoting professional autonomy, understanding of professional roles, teamwork, and collaboration, but also in providing essential knowledge and skills for improving healthcare services [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].

One innovative approach to enhancing IPE involves game-based learning, which integrates educational content with interactive gaming elements to create engaging and effective learning experiences. Game-based learning has been shown to enhance students’ motivation, participation, and retention of knowledge by providing a dynamic and immersive learning environment [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In the context of IPE, these activities can simulate real-life clinical scenarios that require collaboration, communication, and problem-solving among diverse healthcare professionals [ 17 ]. This method allows students to practice and develop these critical skills in a safe and controlled setting, thereby preparing them for actual clinical practice [ 18 ].

Previous IPE studies involving students primarily used surveys, interviews, and participant observations to assess changes in students’ knowledge acquisition, collaboration, teamwork skills, and attitudes [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. While these approaches have provided valuable information for evaluating the effectiveness of IPE programs, they have limitations in terms of exploring students’ direct expressions and deep thinking. Recent research has started exploring game-based learning in IPE, emphasizing its potential to enhance collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills among healthcare students [ 24 , 25 ]. Game-based learning activities, such as serious games and simulations, offer engaging experiences that promote interprofessional collaboration and reflective thinking [ 17 ]. However, there is still a scarcity of research on students’ personal experiences, changing perceptions, and in-depth understanding of interprofessional collaboration through game-based learning. Addressing this gap can provide better relevance and context to the study of IPE.

Medical education literature has highlighted the importance of various educational strategies in enhancing reflective thinking skills [ 26 , 27 ]. Dewey defines reflective thinking as conscious thought in the problem-solving process, which can be considered as the active utilization of knowledge gained through experience [ 28 ]. Narrative materials, such as essays, are useful tools for gaining an in-depth understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions. Thus, analyzing reflective thinking through essays can help students better understand their learning experiences and improve their problem-solving abilities through effective collaboration across different disciplines [ 29 , 30 ].

This study aimed to analyze students’ perceptions of collaboration by examining essays they wrote after participating in game-based IPE activities, thereby providing evidence for the effectiveness of such education. The results of this study are expected to serve as foundational data to help design and implement more effective collaborative learning strategies for IPE programs.

Course design

The IPE program at a South Korean university targeted fifth-year medical and fourth-year nursing students to prepare them for clinical training. The course was divided into two phases: a six-day shadowing period and a four-day IPE activity period.

During the shadowing period, students observed various healthcare professionals in different clinical settings, including emergency rooms (ERs), ambulatory care, critical care, and outpatient environments. This phase emphasized understanding interprofessional roles and the importance of collaborative practice skills.

In the subsequent IPE activity period, students were grouped into teams of five or six, consisting of both medical and nursing students, to engage in team building exercises. These activities aimed to promote students’ collaboration, communication skills, mutual understanding in clinical settings. The activities during this phase were meticulously designed to develop essential soft skills through structured game-based exercises. These included the Marshmallow Challenge, which aimed to enhance understanding of team building dynamics; the Puzzle Game, which focused on defining roles and fostering teamwork to achieve a common objective; and the Message Game, which underscored the importance of clear and effective communication. Additional activities, such as the Drawing Shapes Game and the Drawing the Story Game, were designed to improve skills in accurate verbal description and to enhance understanding of the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) communication protocol, respectively. Finally, the Board Game was specifically developed to reinforce systems thinking and to illustrate the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex issues in a hospital. Table 1 outlines the key activities included in this period.

This study aimed to analyze essays written by students after participating in the IPE activities to assess their reflections and learning outcomes.

Research procedure

The fundamental premise of text network analysis is to extract keywords representing the core content from the literature [ 31 ]. This study focused on understanding students’ thoughts and perceptions by analyzing their essays. The research process comprised (1) data collection, (2) keyword selection and data processing, (3) core keyword extraction and network construction, (4) network connectivity and centrality analysis, and (5) topic modeling. This approach facilitated a nuanced understanding of the conceptual relationships within the text, yielding deeper insights into students’ reflective thinking and experiences with interprofessional collaboration, thereby aligning with the objectives of this study.

Data collection

Data were collected in 2021 after the IPE program. Of the 82 medical students who participated in the program, 77 voluntarily submitted essays, representing a 93.9% response rate from the entire cohort enrolled in the IPE program. The essays were collected after the completion of the entire program, capturing students’ reflections and feelings about the course. These essays were not intended for assessment or evaluation purposes but were written freely by students to express their thoughts and experiences regarding the program. The primary aim was to gather qualitative insights into how students perceived and internalized the IPE activities, which aligns with the study’s objective to understand the impact of game-based learning on developing interprofessional collaboration, communication, and team building skills. We focused on medical students’ essays to explore their specific perspectives and experiences within the IPE program, as these students often play crucial roles in multidisciplinary teams. Therefore, understanding their views can provide valuable insights for improving IPE programs and enhancing interprofessional collaboration in clinical practice [ 32 ].

Keyword selection and data pre-processing

The student essays were collected using MS Office Excel. Pre-processing involved an initial review using Excel’s Spell Check, followed by manual corrections to fix typographical errors. Morphological analysis was performed using Netminer 4.5.1.c (CYRAM), which automatically removed pronouns and adverbs, leaving only nouns. To extract the words, 25 designated words, 40 synonyms, and 321 excluded words were pre-registered. Designated words are terms that convey specific meanings when grouped [ 33 ]. In this study, terms such as “interprofessional education” and “Friday Night at the ER” were classified as such. Synonyms, a group of words that have similar meanings, were processed as a single term that can represent the common meaning of those words [ 34 ]. For instance, “Friday night ER,” “FNER,” and “Friday night in the ER” were extracted as “Friday Night at ER.” Words considered irrelevant to the current research focus or general words that did not contribute to meaningful analysis were excluded (e.g., “and,” “or,” “front,” “inside,” “during”). Three professors specializing in emergency medicine and one medical educator handled word extraction and refinement, and the final selection was reviewed by the entire research team.

The data analysis utilized was qualitative content analysis, focusing on both the identification and contextual usage of keywords. This approach involved the descriptive counting of keywords as well as an in-depth analysis of their usage within the essays. This rigorous process ensured that the keywords selected were relevant to the study’s focus on IPE and collaboration, providing both quantitative and qualitative insights into the students’ reflections and experiences.

Extraction of core keywords and network construction

Core keyword extraction was based on the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) method. The frequency of word occurrences is expressed as “term frequency (TF),” which indicates how often a word appears within a document [ 35 ]. By contrast, “inverse document frequency (IDF)” is calculated using the logarithmic value of the inverse of document frequency [ 36 ]. The TF-IDF value is computed by multiplying TF by IDF. A high value indicates that a word is important in a specific document but rarely appears in others [ 37 ]. This method allows the assessment of the importance of words in documents. For network analysis, the 2-mode word-document network was converted into a 1-mode word-word network. The co-occurrence frequency was set to occur at least twice, and the word proximity (window size) was set to two, following previous studies on text network analysis [ 38 ].

Network connectivity and centrality analysis

Network size and density, as well as the average degree and distance at the node level, were identified to understand the overall characteristics of the network. Network size denotes the total number of nodes (keywords). Density measures the ratio of actual connections to possible connections, indicating network cohesion. The average degree reflects the average number of connections per node, while the average distance shows the typical number of steps between nodes, revealing the network’s connectivity and compactness [ 35 , 38 ]. Centrality analysis included degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, whereas closeness centrality was excluded due to poor performance in lengthy texts [ 39 ]. Degree centrality measures how well a node is connected within a network, helping to identify keywords that play a central role in the network [ 40 ]. Betweenness centrality measures how frequently a node appears on the shortest path between other nodes, indicating how well it acts as an intermediary between two nodes [ 41 ]. Eigenvector centrality assesses the influence of a node by considering the importance of its neighboring nodes beyond the degree of connection [ 42 ]. This study extracted the top 30 words for each degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality. Finally, a spring map was used to visualize the keywords and their connection structures in the network.

Text network analysis was chosen because it provides a detailed understanding of relationships between concepts, unlike traditional methods that focus on theme frequency. It visualizes keyword interactions, highlighting central themes and their connections, offering insights into students’ reflections on IPE and their thought patterns.

Topic modeling

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is a statistical text-processing technique that clusters keywords based on their probabilities and distributions to infer topics [ 43 ]. In this study, keywords extracted from essays were compiled into a matrix for LDA. To determine the optimal number of topics, combinations of α = 0.01–0.03, β = 0.01–0.03, topic model = 3–8, and 1,000 iterations were tested. The optimal model was selected based on the coherence score (c_v), with the highest coherence score ensuring the validity and reliability of the inferred topics [ 44 , 45 , 46 ].

Key keywords

Table 2 presents the keywords derived from analyzing medical students’ essays selected through the TF and TF-IDF analyses. In the TF analysis, “thought” appeared most frequently (365 times), followed by “group” 359 times, “class” 322 times, and “game” 278 times. The top 20 keywords in TF-IDF included “patient,” “game,” “group,” and “person.” Keywords that appeared in both TF and TF-IDF analyses included “nursing school,” “nurse,” “game,” “hospital,” “person,” “mutual,” “communication,” “time,” “group,” “important,” “progress,” “puzzle,” “patient,” and “activity.” Comparing the keywords between TF and TF-IDF, new terms that emerged in TF-IDF included “IPE,” “room,” and “clinical practice.”

Text network analysis

Network structure

In this study, a network was constructed based on a co-occurrence frequency of at least two words with word proximity (window size) set to two words. The resulting network comprised 1,218 nodes and 627 links. The network density was 0.012, with an average degree and distance of 3.919 and 3.447, respectively.

Centrality analysis

Table 3 lists the top 30 keywords according to degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centralities, providing insight into the overall network characteristics. The top three keywords across all three centrality analyses included “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication.” The ranking and composition of the keywords were similar in both degree and betweenness centrality analyses. In the eigenvector results, “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” were ranked highest. When comparing the top 30 keywords from eigenvector centrality with those from degree and betweenness centrality, new terms such as “future,” “society,” and “need” emerged. These findings are presented in Fig. 1 , which illustrates the spring network map of centrality.

Spring network map of centrality. a Degree centrality. b Betweenness centrality. c Eigenvector centrality

Topic modeling: selection of the number of topics

To determine the optimal number of topics, 54 combinations of options were tested, including α = 0.01–0.03, β = 0.01–0.03, topic models = 3–8, and 1,000 iterations. Three topics were identified.

In the topic modeling process, after reviewing the keywords and contents of the assigned original documents, the research team convened and named each topic to reflect the trend of the subject matter, as shown in Fig. 2 . Following prior research, the final topic model was visualized using a topic-keyword map displaying the top eight to thirteen words [ 44 ]. Topic 1, accounting for 17% of the total topics, includes keywords such as “group,” “game,” “puzzle,” “delivery,” and “activity.” This reflects the inclusion of group-based, game-centric activities in the IPE classes; hence, it was named “game-based collaborative activity experience.” Topic 2 comprises 23% of the topics centered around the thoughts of doctors and nurses about patients in clinical settings, with keywords including “doctor,” “thought,” “patient,” “hospital,” and “nurse.” It was thus named “interprofessional perspectives.” Topic 3, with the largest share at 60%, incorporates keywords such as “class,” “nursing school,” “thought,” “activity,” and “student.” It primarily addresses class activities involving nursing students, thus the term “interdisciplinary educational experience.” Visually examining the entire network of topic modeling indicates that Topic 1, “game-based collaborative activity experience,” and Topic 3, “interdisciplinary educational experience,” are connected through the keywords “person” and “activity.” Topic 2, “Interprofessional Perspectives,” and Topic 3, are linked by “thought” and “class.” In the network, Topic 3 plays a vital role in connecting Topics 1 and 2, as illustrated in Fig. 2 .

Semantic keywords of topic modeling

This study is the first attempt to demonstrate the educational impact of game-based IPE activities on fostering an interprofessional perspective, communication skills, and team building skills among healthcare professionals through a text network analysis of student essays. This distinguishes this study from previous studies. This approach can help students develop collaborative skills, thereby effectively addressing various challenges in clinical settings. The primary findings and implications of this study are as follows:

First, the keywords with the highest degree of centrality were “patient,” “thought,” and “group.” High-degree-centrality keywords play a central role in the entire network, suggesting that the overall program should be designed around these keywords. The keywords with high betweenness centrality were also “patient,” “thought,” and “group.” These keywords act as necessary connectors within the network, indicating that they are crucial for establishing communication channels between different professions and ensuring a smooth flow of information in medical education. Keywords with high eigenvector centrality included “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication.” The prominence of keywords such as “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” in centrality measures signifies their strong connections to other important terms in the network. This highlights the pivotal role of doctors and nurses in collaborative practices and underscores the importance of communication skills in IPE programs. The central positioning of these keywords within the network emphasizes the need to prioritize interprofessional roles and communication competencies to enhance collaborative practices in clinical settings. These results align with previous findings emphasizing the importance of education in promoting effective collaboration and communication among healthcare professionals [ 47 ]. The centralities thus provide quantitative evidence supporting the critical roles and interactions that are essential for successful IPE.

The relevance of these keywords can be understood within the framework of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies, which emphasize patient-centered care, reflective thinking, and effective communication. The central keywords align with IPEC’s domains: values/ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams/teamwork [ 4 , 48 ]. For instance, “patient” and “group” correspond to the emphasis on patient-centered care and teamwork, while “thought” and “communication” are essential for reflective practice and effective interprofessional communication. Integrating IPE into medical education strengthens transparent and efficient teamwork across different specialties, minimizes errors in clinical decision-making, and improves patient outcomes. Consequently, medical schools should develop curricula that provide students with ample opportunities to collaborate with team members from various specialties [ 49 ].

Second, the topic modeling analysis indicated that Topic 1 provides a collaborative experience through group-based gaming activities in an IPE course. This aligns with previous research, indicating that game-based learning can enhance participants’ socialization and communication skills. Thornton Bacon et al. [ 50 ] and Sanko et al. [ 51 ] reported that students who participated in the Friday Night at Emergency Room (FNER) game demonstrated a statistically significant increase in systems thinking scores. In addition, Fusco et al. [ 52 ] confirmed that gameplay positively affected students’ systematic thinking, effective collaboration, and socialization skills. This suggests that game-based learning is useful for developing collaborative problem-solving skills and can be effectively integrated into various educational designs of IPE programs. Topic 2 highlights the significant focus on the perspectives of healthcare professionals in clinical environments. According to Bridges et al. [ 53 ] and Prentice et al. [ 54 ], IPE provides opportunities to develop a better understanding of roles and improve communication among healthcare team members. In this process, improving knowledge about one’s own roles and responsibilities as well as those of other professions can enhance teamwork between professionals [ 55 ]. This finding suggests that IPE programs can improve the quality of healthcare delivery by fostering mutual respect and understanding among different healthcare professionals. Topic 3 primarily addressed class activities for nursing students and included interdisciplinary educational experiences. These results show that game-based IPE activities are an effective educational method for enhancing interprofessional perspectives and communication skills, going beyond traditional lectures that simply deliver knowledge to students.

Additionally, Bjerkvik and Hilli [ 56 ] stated that expressing thoughts through writing facilitates the understanding of personal experiences. This enables learners to explore their emotions and attitudes, ultimately leading them to deeper self-understanding and professional growth. Consequently, this study analyzed students’ reflective thinking through topic modeling and presented evidence that game-based IPE activities are crucial in promoting learners’ reflective thinking and professional growth.

This study has several limitations. First, a limited group of students from a specific university participated in this study, which may have restricted the generalizability of the findings. Additional research is required to verify the results of this study across multiple student groups from various backgrounds and environments. Second, the research methodology relied on text analysis of student essays, focusing only on students’ subjective experiences and perceptions. To address this limitation, we used a rigorous coding scheme, inter-rater reliability checks, and TF-IDF for keyword extraction. Our methodology included keyword selection, data pre-processing, network construction, and LDA-based topic modeling, optimized with the coherence score (c_v). These steps ensured that the data analysis was both robust and reliable. Additionally, incorporating multiple methods for data analysis allowed us to cross-verify the findings and enhance the overall rigor of the study. Future research should integrate a range of methods, including interviews and surveys, to achieve a more comprehensive evaluation. Third, the effects of IPE programs on students’ collaborative competencies in clinical practice and healthcare settings is limited. Future research should explore the long-term impacts of game-based IPE on clinical practice, patient outcomes, and students’ readiness for clinical environments. Additionally, tracking the career progression and professional development of participants will help assess the sustained benefits of these educational interventions.

Conclusions

This study is the first to explore changes in reflective thinking and perceptions among students who participated in IPE programs. This demonstrates the positive effects of IPE on professional healthcare students. Specifically, through the analysis of degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, we identified keywords such as “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” as crucial to interprofessional perspectives and communication among healthcare professionals. Topic modeling further underscores the importance of game-based learning, interprofessional perspectives, and interdisciplinary educational experiences.

These findings emphasize the need for innovative teaching methods in medical education and reaffirm the importance of promoting effective inter-professional perspective, communication skills and team building skills. Medical schools should strive to improve the design and implementation of their IPE program by incorporating students’ experiences and reflective insights. This will ultimately improve the quality of medical education. This study can serve as valuable foundational data for future research. Future studies should investigate the long-term effects of game-based IPE on clinical practice and patient outcomes. Research should also explore the impact of game-based IPE on participants’ career progression and professional development to assess sustained benefits. Additionally, future research could examine how different game-based learning activities influence specific interprofessional competencies, such as teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills, to identify the most effective approaches for IPE programs.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical constraints but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Interprofessional education

Friday night at emergency room

Latent Dirichlet allocation

Term frequency

Term frequency-inverse document frequency

Inverse document frequency

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Study conception and design: YK, MN, CK. Data collection: YK, MN, CK. Data analysis and interpretation: YK, MN, SM, EE, CK. Drafting of the article: YK, MN, SP, MK. Critical revision of the article: YK, MN, SP, SM, EE, CK.

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