Exploring the Future of Learning

How and why we learn is shifting fast... With it, the world of education is changing shape. With longer lifespans (half of all children born today will live past 100), many of us will seek to re-evaluate our careers at least a few times over.Our brain composition is also changing. With less need to rely on our memory (thanks, Google), our capacity to recall information is shrinking. Analytical muscle is growing, though, and our skills in disseminating complex information will determine winners and losers in an age of information overload. Developing emotional intelligence is key: a learned skill that is hindered by changes in how we interact socially – increasingly digitally, via smartphones and social media.Organisations such as The School Of Life (a Matter Of Form client) have quickly developed traction, delivering the tools to help people build EQ through games and activities, as well as an accessible network of therapists to help find balance and solace as the pace of life quickens.In addition, our ability to access teachers, therapists and colleagues online or through conferencing facilities is now reliable and universally accepted. Individual tutors and educators can deliver a curriculum and build personal brands that capitalise on their previous CVs to quickly gain recognition and regard.Institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge, who have been instrumental in supplying exceptional talent to the UK service economy, stand to be disrupted as people seek a different type of skills-based education.Adaptive learning affords us the opportunity to build a modular curriculum to achieve highly specific goals.All of these changes are interlinked to changes in how we travel, where we live and how we work.High-speed transport will impact city design, remote working will impact workplace design, and the physical classroom will also serve new purposes.Remote and flexible working arrangements will continue to democratise access to a more specialist and globally distributed workforce, which will, in turn, increase the importance of niche specialisms.When we do convene in physical spaces to learn, work or be entertained, the onus will be on collaboration and human-to-human interaction. Presence and proximity encourage emotional responsibility, and change how we process and absorb information.The best lessons are learned through the stories of others, adapted by humans and their sensitivity to situations and each other, inferred from body language and the subtleties in intonation.“The best lessons are learned through the stories of others, adapted by humans and their sensitivity to situations and each other, inferred from body language and the subtleties in intonation.”Those little rewarding moments that demonstrate our appreciation of the efforts of others, and the roles we fulfil within physical cohorts of classes where we work together. They’re the micro-moments that really matter. That we strive so hard to reenact online.It’s why this year, I’ll be reading fiction only.And trekking across town to choose some real-life evening classes at Experience Haus (well… across the hall).If these musings interest you, come along to the fifth edition of Experience Haus’ conference. A Conversation About Design: The Future of Learning will take place on March 9th 2019 at Rise, Shoreditch. We will be exploring how to learn better, how our brain makeup and attention spans are changing, and how we build the types of analytical muscle that we need to thrive in an age where information is available at a fingertip or voice command...Discover more and book tickets. Our skills in disseminating complex information will determine winners and losers in an age of information overload.

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Exploring the Future of Learning