There were many critics of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines in U.S. students’ reading and math proficiencies provided fuel for their argument.

A bit of research in advance would have revealed that using technology to simulate a virtual classroom was not the answer for remote learning: The rate of online course completion is between 5 to 15%. And if online learning does not work for adults, how can it work for children?

But students are flocking to virtual worlds. So how can we get remote learning close enough to this experience to engage them?

We got it all wrong, but teachers had little to no choice. They were unaware of concepts such as the metaverse or NFTs (non-fungible tokens). So, they selected technologies closer to the familiar: the traditional classroom. But the recent disastrous results in reading and math show that more of the same won’t work in the 21st century. It is time to upgrade our education system.

History shows schools haven’t evolved much

Schools haven’t changed much from the 18th-century format, although there is plenty of research and practice that says they need to change.

The first industrial revolution happened in the 18th and 19th centuries when rural agrarian communities became industrial and urban. Schools as we know were created during this period and helped prepare students for industrial jobs.

Between 1870 and 1914, the world experienced industry growth and faster expansion with electric power and mass production, along with major technological advances such as the telephone, light bulb, and the internal combustion engine - the second industrial revolution. Schools had no change in their format.

Along came the third industrial revolution in the 1980s – the digital revolution. Technology moved from analog and mechanical devices to digital as we know it today, such as the personal computer and the internet. But once more, schools’ format remained the same.

We now live in the fourth industrial revolution, in which technology has become embedded with societies and the human body: robotics, artificial intelligence, metaverse, NFTs, biotechnology, nanotechnology, autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, Web3, brain-to-computer interfaces, wearables, and so on. We have never seen so much creativity and fast expansion. Yet, schools’ format remains the same, ignoring the necessary skills students need to succeed in this new revolution.

What to do?

First, we must understand that schools need to evolve to catch up with the cyber-physical systems’ era in the same way we experienced transitioning from one industrial revolution to the next. It means the transformation must be smooth to ensure the education community can embrace it, rather than force them into the unknown and unfamiliar.

Second, to design this evolution, we must: (1) enable biological intelligence to thrive in a world where artificial intelligence is gaining ground; and (2) consider how to use the existing technologies to benefit learning.

I do believe artificial intelligence will take humankind to the next level. However, it is irresponsible to make our children oblivious to how to function in this new normal. Therefore, the first step is to ensure we are developing students’ learning autonomy, enabling them with the skills necessary to learn anything, anytime.

As far as how the existing technologies can benefit learning, I offer you five points to consider when designing your education transformation:

1. The World Economic Forum predicts that many jobs will cease to exist as artificial intelligence takes over, while many other inexistent jobs will be created. Changing various jobs in a lifetime is the new normal. We must enable life-long learning at the speed of the fourth industrial revolution, or boost students’ biological intelligence.

2. In the metaverse, students’ digital identity allows them to express themselves, have whatever body shapes they want, and wear the fashion of their choice with no right or wrong, whereas the factory-school format makes them all the same. The fourth industrial revolution starts by respecting the individual and personalizing the experience on their own terms. In the fourth industrial revolution, students design their learning, not teachers. It is time to enable students to do so.

3. Students prefer to learn from each other rather than from a teacher, according to research. New technologies will not displace teachers. It will transfer the teacher’s sole responsibility to teach to the student’s responsibility to learn. We can prepare students for it by developing their learning autonomy.

4. People enjoy communities by interest in virtual worlds. The school location no longer groups students by where they live, but by what they are passionate about. TikTok has over 100 million active users in the U.S. alone, averaging approximately one hour of daily usage, and approximately 30% are school-aged children. If students are grouping themselves according to their “tribe” when using technologies like TikTok, why not take advantage of it when it comes to learning?

5. The most popular games allow children to build virtual worlds through their own eyes. There is more motivation to live in a world where they can be whoever they want to be, do what they love, and still make money. Roblox, for example, allows players to build their own “experiences” in a metaverse environment and commercialize their creations. These creators made $500 million in 2021, a 54% increase from the previous year. It breaks the preconception that we must choose a career with steady employment. If real-world careers may not exist tomorrow, children must learn skills to transform themselves rapidly, including in the virtual world.

If we continue in this factory-schooling model, we will form consumers. If we decide to transform education to embrace new technologies now, we will form creators and shapers of our future. What is your take?