Head of "Schools to the Internet" on #digitaliseverywhere
Digitalisation is on everyone's lips - just not in the curriculum. Swisscom is therefore stepping into the breach together with partners and two new teaching materials. They not only bring the topic into the classroom, but also a new way of thinking, which could play a decisive role in the future.
For pupils, the digital world has long been part of their everyday lives, and increasingly also of their school day. And there is a difference between how they see the world - and how the world will present itself as soon as they enter working life. After all, the world is still in the process of digitalisation, of "becoming digital".
No, because a useful part of the new curriculum is recognising personal skills and talents at an early stage. With Curriculum 21, career choice is also a compulsory part of the curriculum for the first time. And it also makes sense for pupils to think about this: What will the world of tomorrow look like? What will the professions of tomorrow look like? And above all: What do I need to bring with me into this world?
Exactly, because we will need each and every one of them. I don't want to paint a bleak picture - but when I see that the first generation of computer scientists will soon be retiring, it makes me feel a little queasy.
That is a shallow assumption. It's not about recruiting computer scientists at primary school. Carpenters, plumbers and businesswomen will also encounter a completely new job profile. Today's plumbers can only just afford to be found in the regional yellow pages under the search term "plumber".
"Two out of three children will work in jobs that don't even exist today."
His successor, on the other hand, will need to know that he has to add the search term "blocked toilet" to his website - otherwise the national express provider will siphon off all his customers. And the businessman of tomorrow must be aware that social or creative skills will become more important again - and perhaps the accurate typing of invoices will become a little less important.
Today's schools are in a historic phase of transformation: they now have the mission, the subjects and, in some cases, the necessary equipment - but by the time a topic makes it into the classroom via teacher training, it is often already outdated. One example: Facebook. It has now arrived with the teachers - but is already over with the pupils.
We first provide insights into specific areas of application that exist today: In short clips, the students learn how, for example, digitalisation will support doctors in making diagnoses or farmers in fertilising in the future. In this way, we use concrete examples to convey the theoretical principles - on the basis of which they then develop their own ideas and present them to the class. This in turn naturally leads to discussions and questions, which they discuss together. Especially for the Digital Day, they did this in the largest classroom in Switzerland, in a live video chat with various experts. It's not the only teaching tool: with the "Computational Thinking Initiative", we are launching another project with digitalswitzerland, SUPSI in Lugano and EPFL that is also aimed at schools.
The two offerings complement each other. #digitaliseverywhere provides a basis. This is about digitalisation in general. The Computational Thinking Initiative with the robot "Thymio" then takes a playful look at robotics and, above all, "computational thinking". In simple terms, this is the ability to programme a computer in such a way that it can solve a problem and not - as was mainly the case in the past - produce new problems through complex processes. "Thymio" then places this thinking in the context of robotics, in which this type of thinking takes on a special meaning.
The little robot Thymio has very special abilities: He can visualise code. He makes computer language tangible and therefore understandable for children.
Yes, because we're talking about a professional field that is actually a huge opportunity for this generation - but one that is still being developed and is therefore hardly recognised in terms of professional orientation. So we are simply trying to ensure that at least the talents in this field recognise themselves early on.
I think that we have the best prerequisites in an international comparison. Various factors such as the practical orientation, the early modernisation of curricula and schools - also with our modest support - are now increasingly paying off. The big challenge will be for schools and teachers to be able to absorb the impending changes more quickly and, if necessary, integrate them into lessons or into interactions with pupils and parents. Teachers need to be more open to new ideas and move away from the idea that the subject matter in their subject will remain unchanged until retirement. This doesn't apply to sports or French lessons and certainly not to maths. Schools have no other choice when you consider that 2 out of 3 children starting school today will one day work in jobs that don't even exist yet.
Digital is everywhere - digital technologies have long since arrived in everyday life and work. Pupils should therefore be able to utilise the potential of new technologies and understand how they interact with society. This free learning unit offers teachers the opportunity to address the exciting topic of "digitalisation" in their lessons in a practical and level-appropriate manner in accordance with Curriculum 21.