Keynote address, Minna, Nigeria, October 2019

2. Laying the foundations for
the innovations of
tomorrow
Curriculum issues related to Science and Technology
Education in the 4th Industrial revolution
Prof Geoff Lautenbach, University of Johannesburg
Keynote Address, 3 October 2019

3. The many faces of
Geoff Lautenbach
3

4. 4

5. A talk in 6 parts…
1. A minute in time and a few revolutions
2. The second and third Industrial Revolutions:
Very briefly
3. The Technology Hype… and New Literacies
for a 21st Century Curriculum
4. 4IR and Implications for Curriculum Designers
5. Who are these curriculums for?
6. More Curriculum Questions than Answers?

6. Part 1
A minute in time and a few
revolutions

9. Compare our 4.5 Billion year old earth
to a person, 45 years of age
vs

10. Nothing is really known about the
first forty years or so…

11. So we only get to know the earth
when it turns 40

12. At the age of 42 the earth had some
plants…

13. At the age of 44 (one year ago on this
scale) dinosaurs appeared

14. 8 Months ago, mammals appeared…

15. Early man appeared 4 hours ago…

16. During the last hour (60min ago) man
discovered agriculture…

17. The 1st industrial revolution started
60 seconds ago!

18. And in this last 1 minute we have put
many scars on the face of the planet…

19. In this last 1 min we have had 2
more Industrial revolutions

20. Our earth is fragile!
…and so is our future!
So why are curriculums important?

21. Part 2
The second and third Industrial
Revolutions
Very Briefly…

22. 2nd Industrial Revolution
1st wave of electronic media
• Radio
• Cinema
• Phonograph
• Television

23. The 3rd Industrial Revolution
• digital revolution
• computers and IT (information technology)
• since the middle of the 20th century.

24. Constant companion - the computer
• Desktop
• Laptop
• Handheld
• Mobile

25. Constant companion - the computer

26. The history of word processing

27. The Mobile Era

28. The Mobile Era

29. …and don’t forget Bluetooth & Hands-free

30. Part 3
The Technology Hype…
and
New Literacies for a 21st Century
Curriculum

31. In the year of my birth, 1964…
• Man was already contemplating educational
technologies…

32. “Educational Technologies”
• 1964 - Understanding media:
The extensions of man
(McLuhan, 1964)
– the medium is the message
– the dissolution of the linear
mind
– electric media of the 20th
century are breaking the
tyranny of text over our
thoughts & senses
– the transformative power of
new communication
technologies

33. McLuhan – more ideas
• The technology of the medium disappears
behind whatever flows through it
• In the long run a medium’s content matters
less than the medium itself in influencing how
we act and think
• The medium may mold what we see & how
we see it (it changes individuals & society)
• Every new medium changes us

34. e.g. - Has the Internet changed our
mental habits?
• Lost the ability to read a long article on the
web or in print?
• Scan short passages from many sources?
• Skim & scroll?
• Want quick access to info?

35. Trading riches of the www for old
linear thought processes
• Reading lots of short, linked snippets online is
a more efficient way to expand the mind” (Karp,
2008)
• We cannot recognise the superiority of the
networked thinking process because we are
measuring it against our old linear thought
processes (Carr, 2008: Is Google making us stoopid?

37. In response to Carr
• The array of problems facing humanity – the
end of the fossil-fuel era, the fragility of the
global food web, growing population density,
and the spread of pandemics, among others –
will force us to get smarter if we are to
survive.

38. A 2010 survey…
Source: http://www.elon.edu

39. Stephen Downes, National Research
Council, Canada
• It's a mistake to treat intelligence as an
undifferentiated whole
• We will become worse at doing some things
('more stupid') requiring rote memory of
information that is now available though
Google
• But, we may (and probably will) be capable of
more advanced integration and evaluation of
information ('more intelligent')
Source: http://www.elon.edu

40. Alex Halavais, vice president,
Association of Internet Researchers
• Holding information in your head that is easily
discoverable on Google - no longer a mark of
intelligence, but a sideshow act.
• Being able to quickly and effectively discover
information and solve problems, rather than do it ‘in
your head,’ will be the metric we use.
The question is flawed: Google will make
intelligence different.
Source: http://www.elon.edu

41. We are developing “fluid intelligence”
(Cascio, 2009)
• …the ability to find meaning in confusion and
solve new problems, independent of acquired
knowledge.

42. Shifting cognitive capacities in 21st
century curriculums
• Students will not have to remember as much,
but will have to think harder and have better
critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Less time devoted to memorization gives
students more time to master those new
skills.

43. My view?
• We do not automatically get smarter.
• We already have access to even more
information than what was imagined in 2010
• How smartly we can make use of this potential
will depend on our emerging media literacies
(access, critically evaluate, and create media.)
• Are these in our curriculums?
Source: ME 

44. Modern Learners will also need
new ‘digital literacies’
• Social networking
• Creating content
• Organising content
• Reusing and repurposing
• Filtering and selecting
• Self presenting
• Privacy maintenance
• Identity management

45. • Social networking
Source: www.heacademy.ac.uk

46. So are our curriculums
obsolete?
Have we been shortchanged by a system and
philosophy of education that has long outlived its
effectiveness?

47. So are our curriculums
obsolete?
• Do our curriculums stand as gateways to
knowledge that is not needed in this modern
age?
• Does EdTech have a role to play in curriculums
of the future?

48. What can technologies do?
• Extend physical strength, dexterity, resilience
– Plough, sewing machine, fighter jet…
• Extend range or sensitivity of our senses
– Microscope, amplifier, Geiger counter…
• Enable us to reshape nature to serve needs/desires
– Genetically manipulated corn, birth control pill…
• Extend/support mental powers - Intellectual
technologies -
– Typewriter, abacus, slide rule, sextant, book, newspaper,
computer, Internet…

49. Intellectual technologies
• have the greatest & most lasting power over
what & how we think
Our most intimate tools for self expression, for shaping
personal & public identity, & for cultivating relations
with others

50. Hype and fear around emerging
technologies
Are you completely dominated by tech?
Are you completely in control?

51. Technology’s role in shaping
civilization
• Technological Determinists (Veblen)
– Technological progress
• is an autonomous force outside of mans control
• has been the primary factor determining the course of
human history
• Instrumentalists (tools under our control?)
– downplay power of technology
– see tools as neutral artifacts
– see tools as the means to achieve an end

52. time
visibility
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg/300px-Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg.png
Gartner Hype Cycle
Maturity, adoption and social application of specific
technologies
technology
trigger
peak of inflated
expectations
trough of
disillusionment
slope of
enlightenment
plateau of
productivity

53. programmed
instruction
1960s
computer-assisted
instruction
1970s
hypermedia
1980s
multimedia
1990s
online
learning
2000s
personal
learning
2010s
Ed tech - hype
open
learning
2020s
Source: Sims, EDMEDIA 2013

54. About the hype cycle for emerging
technologies
• A brief set of emerging technologies and trends
• Focuses on emerging tech
• 2019 - new technologies not previously
highlighted in past iterations
Older tech?
Still important, but are no longer “emerging” &
others have been featured for multiple years
Source: Gartner.com

55. Gartner Hype cycle for 2019
• Emerging technologies with significant impact on
business, society and people over the next five to
10 years
• This year’s emerging technologies fall into five
major trends:
–Sensing & mobility,
–augmented human,
–postclassical compute and comms,
–digital ecosystems,
–and advanced AI & analytics.

57. Source: Gartner.com

58. Part 4
4IR and Implications for
Curriculum Designers

59. The 4th Industrial Revolution
• … emerging out of the third but is
considered a new era rather than a
continuation because of the explosiveness of
its development and the disruptiveness of its
technologies.
• Driverless cars, smart robotics, 3D printing etc.
Characterised by a range of new technologies that
are fusing the physical, digital and biological
worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and
industries.

60. The 4th Industrial Revolution
Trends
Internet of Things (IoT)
Robotics
Virtual reality (VR)
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Changing the way we live and work…
Changing us?

61. Disruptive technologies
• displace established technologies and shake
up the industry
• … or a ground-breaking product that creates a
completely new industry

62. Source: https://www.mckinsey.com

63. 4IR
• As with previous revolutions, the promises of
the 4IR are exciting and universal
• But… also worrying!!!
• Diversity and inequality can grow in tandem
If the lessons of history are taken seriously, the
good & bad consequences of 4IR will be unevenly
distributed & they will reinforce the current
hierarchies of the world system

64. “We must develop a comprehensive and
globally shared view of how technology is
affecting our lives and reshaping our
economic, social, cultural, and human
environments. There has never been a
time of greater promise, or greater peril”
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman,
World Economic Forum

65. US White House Report, 2016
• 23% of US low wage
jobs will be
automated
• i.e. 66 Million jobs or
62% of the
workforce

66. More predictions
• 47% of US jobs are at high risk (Frey & Osborne, 2013)
• 60% of European jobs are at high risk (Bruegel,
2014)
• Less than 5% of occupations can be fully
automated… but half of all activities within
jobs could be (McKinsey, 2017)

67. Can schools keep pace?
• Its impossible to predict what will be needed…
“65% of children in primary school today will
end up working in new job types that don’t exist
yet” – (World Economic Forum, 2016)

68. Is there a new 21st century
learning lifecycle?
• 0-4yrs - critical development
• 5-13yrs - crucial competences
• 14-19yrs - learning adult roles
• 20-80yrs - lifelong learners
Should our curriculums mirror/reflect this?

69. Key Questions
• What implications does the 4IR have for the
role of curriculum developers in schools that
find themselves on the wrong end of the
digital divide?
• What implications does the 4IR have for the
teacher who would like to remain up to date
and relevant in the modern classroom?
(Then again, will we need classrooms in the future?)

70. More curriculum issues…
• So how, and what, do we teach in a world
where the future is not static?
• How do we ensure that appropriate skills are
learned in preparation for this changing
future?

71. 4IR Sensationalism? What real
people think…
• I want to live in the past. The future looks so
ugly
• The third world will NOT embrace any 4th IR…
they are barely benefiting from the second
and third
• An artificial world created by technocrats run
by AI… What could possibly go wrong?

72. Let us not forget my pitch here…
• Curriculum issues are overshadowed by the
challenge of global sustainability

73. Part 5
Who are these curriculums for?

75. Together Alone

77. 20th Century Curriculum
• conformity over creativity
• keeping that 9 to 5 job…

78. 21st Century Curriculum?
• New skills and knowledge to survive and thrive in a
fast-changing and interdependent world.

80. Collaboration

81. 3 More C’s to ensure success for the
modern Professional
• Complex Problem Solving
• Critical Thinking
• Creativity
Multiple careers, spanning different areas of
expertise, requiring totally different range of skills.

82. A curriculum for who?
• Tapscott, (1998) called students who were born
post 1998 the Net Generation
• Prensky (2001) referred to these students as
the Digital natives
• Oblinger and Oblinger, (2005) called them
Millennial Learners
One thing in common –
the affinity to technology and the use thereof

83. In the near future, three of the most
studied generations will converge on the
workplace at once
• Generation X, born before the 1980s but
after the Baby Boomers
• Generation Y, or Millennials, born between
1984 and 1996
• Generation Z, born after 1997 (Bresman & Rau, 2017 -
Harvard Business Review)

84. Millennials (Gen Y)
• a force to reckon with - their presence in organisational
workforces and several leading global economies is
increasing.
• Millennials have had a different upbringing compared to
their predecessors (Gen X and Baby Boomers) and
deserve to be treated differently.
• What may have worked for older generations may not work
with millennials…
• What interests them, what puts them off and what catches
their attention?
• What are their traits, their learning preferences, their
behaviour and how do they go about their everyday lives?

85. Millennials
• like learning to grow at work.
• look for relevant information & don’t like wasting time on
detailed supporting information.
• appreciate hands-on learning experiences.
• are not fond of authoritative styles of teaching and taking
orders.
• like their say to be valued and an environment which
encourages them to voice it.
• show a strong preference for visual aids (rich media).
• Group-based activities work well with them.

86. Millennials continued
• prefer experiences (real life scenarios) they can
relate to easily and apply.
• are at ease with technology and respond best to
interactive and engaging multimedia formats.
• like exploring things (vs. being “asked” to do
something or following a rigid learning path).
• want more freedom, less pressure & platforms to
express their creativity.
• crave attention and personal care.

87. Students and parents will demand…
• Constant access to learning materials
and resources, friends, & experts online.
• Personalised and customisable
learning environments.
As a result, the future curriculum will be
more student-centered, experiential, interactive and
social

88. Part 6
More Curriculum Questions than
Answers?

89. Role of the 21st Century Curriculum
Developer?
• Collaboration with peers
• Foster cooperation among students within the
classroom
• Encourage students’ curiosity and intrinsic
motivation to learn
• Use different forms of assessment tools
• Facilitate and guide learners

90. Role of the 21st Century
Curriculum Developer (Continued)
• Listen more and talk
less
• Promote collaborative
skills
• Use various tech tools
• Establish a safe,
supportive, and positive
learning environment
for all students

91. The P21 Framework

92. Information, Media & Technology
Skills
• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT (Information, Communications, and
Technology) Literacy

93. Information, Media & Technology
Skills (Continued)
Curriculums must EMPOWER individuals to become:
digital CREATORS
digital CURATORS
digital CRITICS
digital CONVERSATIONALISTS
digital COLLABORATORS
digital COMMUNICATORS
AND to continue this dialogue face to face as
Digital Citizens

94. Information, Media & Technology
Skills (Continued)
Learning technologies brought the world
into the classroom…
Social media can take the classroom into
the world! (Me, 2019 )
Connectivity leads to interdependence

95. Information, Media & Technology
Skills (Continued)
 Networks multiply the value and growth of
knowledge
 Possibilities for learning

96. The P21 Framework

97. Life and Career Skills
• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
• More students from around the world are gaining access to
top-ranked companies - diversity has become an asset rather
than a hindrance
• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Self-Direction
• Productivity and Accountability
• Leadership and Responsibility
The human element?
Has EdTech made it easier to teach these skills?
Best learned in a relational space? ZPD

98. The P21 Framework

99. Key Subjects & 21st Century Themes
• Global Awareness
• Financial, Economic, Business, and Entrepreneurial
Literacy
• Civic Literacy
• Health Literacy
• Environmental Literacy
Can a curriculum ensure a social impact?
– Embrace the role we play in enabling an inclusive future
– Use our collective intelligence to shape the impact of
this Industrial Revolution

100. Implications for those who have to design
curriculums for the 4IR?
• Mobile-ready (incl. multi-device access)
• Short, bite-sized learning that is fun to go through
• Readily available & accessible within their
workflow
• Must offer room for contributions

101. Implications for those who have to design
curriculums for the 4IR?
• Easy to understand, relate to and apply
• Sharp and well-defined outcomes (that resonate
with learner needs)
• Must include rewards and recognition
(Gamification)

102. Implications for those who have to design
Curriculums for the 4IR? Continued
• Should include Social or Collaborative Learning
• EdTech must not replace mentors and educators, but
pair them with learners for the best possible
outcomes
• EdTech disrupts the single teacher approach,
supporting productive peer & group work
• EdTech allows individual students to tap into existing
knowledge & experience – no need to recreate
something from scratch

103. Implications for those who have to design
Curriculums for the 4IR? Continued
• Should offer Personalized Learning
• With EdTech, we are better able to adapt curriculums
to suit each student
• We can expanding access to new resources online
• Delivered in high-impact formats (keep them
interested)

104. The 4IR Curriculum: A message of
hope
• The future MUST BE more human orientated
• Jobs will not be eliminated completely…they will
transform into more human-orientated jobs
• We will continuously have to unlearn, and learn
new things continuously to prepare for the future
• Time and human efforts are already a tradable
commodity… and will be more so in future
• and…
• If we look after the earth we will be able to
concentrate on new curriculums 

105. Young people are leading the way:
The workplace has changed and so must
the education system to meet it - recent
high school graduates are well placed to
identify the gaps and failings, as well as
fill them.

106. Education is ripe for disruption
With a system still largely modelled on
the 1st industrial-age classroom,
education is a large sector that has seen
very little transformation to date

107. What must new curriculums do?
• Reduce content pressure
• Provide greater flexibility for (good / relevant)
teaching
• Allow for individual participation & progression
• Support personalisation of learning
• Include citizenship & creativity
• Focus heavily on environmental issues for the global
citizen
• Move towards international standards?

109. Thank you
Prof Geoff Lautenbach
Email: geoffl@uj.ac.za