| | October 20149CIOReviewthis information, institutions will need a proactive data policy and strategy to be good stewards, while leveraging the data to improve student outcomes. This success is defined as better learning in the classroom, improved program completion rates, and better alignment to employer skill needs. At IBM, we think a lot about education. We supply technology to help run universities, urban school systems and charter companies at the forefront of this transformation. We provide consulting services on how to use predictive analytics to understand the impact of different programs and ways to improve them. And as parents and taxpayers, we want education to be as effective as possible for our children and neighbors, and from a business standpoint, we all want and need a well prepared workforce.Technology is likely to have a bigger impact on education in the next 10-15 years, in several very transformational ways. The coming change will partly be because ubiquitous technology has changed student expectations, and also because employers' needs are changing: technically proficient workers are crucial for a growing number of professions and industries. We see five main trends where education and technology are intersecting, revolving around three components--smart instructional content, longitudinal student data, and human engagement:I. Technology immersion: the 21st century student is wired in a way that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. Third graders use technology to communicate and collaborate. And all kinds of learning devices, from whiteboards to lab instruments, are connected to the Internet.II. Data analytics: analyzing each student's understanding of material with regular short, low-sta ke s quizzes can automatically create review lessons and assure comprehension. Analytics can also permit administrative review of students and teachers. III. Personal learning paths: even students in classrooms will get personalized lesson plans on their tablets, created with knowledge of how they learn best. Older students will be able to mix and match classroom experience with online education from the world's best presenters.IV. Knowledge skills demand: with 61 percentof the world's economy in the service sector, employers need knowledge workers who can analyze needs, research resources and create plans.V. Education for growth economies: governments increasingly try to align their education budgets with employers' workforce needs. Schools aren't just about learning to learn; they're about learning job skills, including programming skills. The good news is that changes in the underlying technology make these changes much more accessible to cash-strapped school systems. Data in the cloud makes sharing and delivering educational software much cheaper than it was when every school needed its own server and every student needed a fully loaded PC. WiFieliminates the need for hard-wiring every classroom. Many teachers and students--especially lifelong learners--have their own devices and can use them to obtain an education. Technology is at the center of the efforts that will help the education industry move away from being arbitrarily measured and schedule based and toward personalized competence-based learning systems. Pre di c t i ons of likely graduating skill pools and hiring profiles will better link curricula with employers, narrowing the skills gap. This seismic shift will level the playing field and ensure that barriers to education become less of a factor for success across the world.The time has arrived when political leaders and school administrators need to focus on how they can use technology to deliver the goals of the educational systems. By thinking about the needs of students, they can see where they need to go with cloud, mobile, and analytics technology paving the way forward.The time has arrived when political leaders and school administrators need to focus on how they can use technology to deliver the goals of the educational systems
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