Learning is not a destination nor can it be solved by just the introduction of technology, but it is indeed a journey, as emphasized by Jordan Belmonte, education programs manager, Microsoft Nigeria at the recent launch of the anticipated LP+365 learning solution by Microsoft in partnership with Dynamiss Digital Learning Solutions Limited, a teaching and learning digital solutions company and Learning Possibilities, the largest learning solutions provider in United Kingdom.
Belmonte went ahead to remind the pious gathering comprising of education scholars, teachers, technology developers, government functionaries, among others: “A human behavior that involves constant transformation and evolution in which multiple stakeholders need to come together, obviously the student themselves, the parents also have a role to play, teachers, educational institutions, and the local community – it’s a very important journey in which we all embark upon together – And Microsoft sees it’s self as one of the partners/players in furthering this journey”.
Here, learning prettily focused on the learning outcome is surly inevitable, because such outcome has a lot to do with helping individuals, students to realize their true potential.
Obviously and as she would put it, “to make sure that they find a job, employment and opportunity in life that accomplishes their passion and at the same time ensures their communities and economy as a whole works”.
As a country, we are in a crossroad, a zigzag occasioned by soaring rate of Unemployment.
With unemployment up to 8.2% of the population. A disproportionate number of those unemployed are youth as it was reported recently that almost 18% of youths between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed. Yet at the same time employers and companies tell us that there is a short supply of skilled and talented people!
Yet, about 33.7 million out of 173.6 million people in Nigeria aged 15-35 are youths.
Of the about 57 million out of school children globally, 10.5 million of them are Nigerian children, making Nigeria the country with the second highest concentration of out of school children globally.
There is no need flogging ourselves for missing the industrial revolution, however, posterity will judge us should we remain ‘idle’ in the face of, “Globally, job opportunities are shifting away from manufacturing economies to information economies that services largest sector of the 25 largest economies”.
Microsoft aptly captures the trend thus, “We have shifted to an information society that is based on Information economies… It used to be important for people to be able to calculate complex math in their head or to know how to memorize and repeat an action. But most of those things can now be completed through technological compensation. This means our global job market has changed. Services, Information Technology and E-Commerce are some of the fastest growing economies”.
And the biggest impact of this shift is what has happens to the occupations available. Most jobs today are unrecognizable to what they were 15, 10 or even 5 years ago. So true!
The International Data Corporation reported in 2014 that “More than 50% of today’s jobs require some technology skills, which percentage will increase to 77% in the next decade. And within ten years, 60% of the jobs that will be available are ones that don’t even exist today”.
Aside computer jobs or ICT jobs at tech companies like Microsoft, the fact is that majority of the jobs already require some degree of understanding of technology, everyday jobs in the community, bankers, store clerks, doctors, civil servants, name it!
Unfortunately, the gap is just too big without the majority of classrooms in Nigeria not inspiring and becoming more and more obsolete; complete opposite of today’s working style.
Technology induced system is the only way out of an education system that still relies on the old formula of memorize, regurgitate and flush and caters to a learning environment that more closely mirrors the modern workplace and sets student up for professional success.
That is why we at Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believe that LP+365 learning solution by Microsoft is timely and should be embraced by the Government, and other education stakeholders to move the sector to a better status.
We are reliably informed that LP+365 digital learning classroom solution is a cloud-based learning platform which transforms the Microsoft Office365 into a school’s virtual learning environment, enabling teachers to design and plan the curriculum, deliver subject material, manage coursework and communicate with learners using simple drag and drop technology.
Thus, LP+365 solution provides 24 hours access to learning for both teachers and students, virtually everything you are learning in the classroom is on line and it can be accessed anywhere you are.
The Dynamiss LP+365 offers educators and students the opportunity to access Always-On access to knowledge, Personalized learning, Better engagement, Improved communication and collaboration.
The apparatus is such an expedient measure on rethinking how to develop technology competency skills in Nigerian youths and equip them to solve real world problems. To remain relevant in today’s world demands our problem solving capabilities.
To this end, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, public sector director, Microsoft Nigeria, enlightened attendees on the evolution in education.
According to him, “Youth Empowerment and life-long learning is core to Microsoft’s identity and we have made a huge investment in Nigeria in this area. 1.66 Million Nigerians have gone through Employability and Entrepreneurships programs in the past 1 year and 6 months; 60,000 + Youth Trained on ICT skills; 10,000 + youth Trained with Build youth Business Curriculum and 5,000 + Teachers complete train their trainer ICT training”.
These are commendable owing to the fact the “future of learning and innovation is in this room! Somewhere outside this room- or possibility, if any of you are sneakily working on your phone or tablets, somewhere inside this room- the next unimaginable, unpredictable innovation is about to arrive and transform education all over again. What we are doing here is democratizing education for the 21st century”, Adeniji-Adele said.
We count it as Microsoft is on “mission critical”: to help every person and every organization in Nigeria to achieve more.