Future of learning: A mass revolution is brewing, says Nandan Nilekani

Bengaluru: Chairman of Ekstep Foundation and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Nandan Nilekani on Monday said that the future of learning will depend on how the process is reimagined, depending upon the ability to co-create contextualised solutions. “Focus on architecture, not features, as we are seeing the third mass revolution in education, triggered and powered by new-age platforms,” he said. With data taking the form of new foundation, its abundance has led to a growing avalanche of data begetting data over the years. 

He said, “The nature of jobs we have at present will be in turmoil as automation has taken over across fields. As the job we would do tomorrow has not taken existence yet, the way we look at learning should also be different from how we have looked at it in the past. Learning will be lifelong and continuous, enabling us to earn and learn at the same time.”

Citing himself as an example of an individual who gives importance to Just-in-Time Learning (JITL), he said that learning in small sachets while on the go will become more important over time. “Even at the age of 62, JITL helps me understand advancements, including Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Technology. As each of us will have our unique journeys of learning, we need to create sufficient infrastructure to ensure that the samaaj (society), bazaar (market) and sarkar (government) cooperate with each other to co-create contextual solutions,” he said in his presentation, ‘Micro is the New Mega: Lifelong Learning in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) World. 

Elaborating on his views of an ideal architecture that should be acquired by universities in the future, he spoke on how they will act as platforms that distribute the ability to teach and learn. “Rather than providing only direct classroom education, they might have faculty signing up on their platforms to teach students outside their respective campuses, equipping the world with holistic learning situations,” he said, adding that they will also become testing grounds for various blended learning models.   

He was delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of The Future of Learning (FoL) Conference 2018, the first in the three-year series of annual conferences, jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B). 

Earlier during the day, Prof. Deepak B. Phatak, from IIT-B and Co-Chair of FoL 2018, highlighted disruption in the education sector and spoke of the need to bring the different silos together and focus on creative disruption. Prof. P.D. Jose, Faculty in the Strategy area at IIMB, said that the conference will examine how to bridge the learning divide in the country and not let it go the way of digital divide.