The Education 3.0 Honeytrap

The temptation to view Web 3.0 technologies and the digital frontier as realms ready to dive into to find solutions to education's most fundamental problems is almost immeasurable. From virtual reality to blockchain, these new tools open gateways to enabling new connections, communities, and creative endeavors to flourish. I ask though: is the education industry prepared?

I say no. Let's ask some fundamental questions to explore why:

1. Have the problems of access to new technologies been solved?

2. Have the problems of access to education as a right been solved?

3. Have the problems of administrative bloat and burden been solved?

4. Have the problems of learner excitement for learning been solved?

5. Have the problems of educator dignity and quality of life been solved?

A quick web search for things like digital deserts, graduation rates, teacher satisfaction, standardized testing overwhelm or many other topics will reveal the answers are no, no, no, no, and no. These are just the first five questions that come to my head while writing this piece, and the answers continue to be no when I think about graduate professional readiness, the youth's view of teaching as a career option, and opportunity equity across various demographics.

So why do I call it a honeytrap? Because the impulse to believe new technologies will solve these problems can take on an almost romantic feel. Grand visions of all students connected on the digital information highway exploring far off worlds and creating stunning visual art are needed in the long run, but they will be on very shaky footing if these are built in the educational world of today. The instability of such visions becomes even more pronounced when we face the reality that the education community is overall not the most technologically innovative group. 

I should take some time to mention that I am someone with one of those grand visions. I am working to make it happen, but am also determined based on my research, experience, and ideals to ensure that I do not take grand leaps without first building bridges for those who need to walk, run, or crawl to get there as well. I'm blessed with technological comfort and courage to explore, break, get frustrated, and then figure out new technologies. I'm also blessed with the time to do so. Many are not so fortunate, and those educators who do not have the time or energy to do so are those we need to be most focused on empowering. 

Teachers serving in classrooms today know the problems, are constantly coming up with solutions, and are not receiving their due for this work. I can attest to there being dozens of new learning management systems cropping up that do not actually solve anything. They are branded better than their predecessors, have greater access to capital, have made UI/UX improvements, provide better administrative capabilities for gathering analytics, or have inserted digital fixtures that replace an area of education that non-educators have a tendency to view as replaceable - the educator.

You'll notice something missing from the above list though, and that's any improvement or innovation of education itself. If the learning management system is an AI-enabled, mobile-responsive, VR-ready, multi-platform juggernaut that lives on the blockchain but still requires students to log in at a given time, be graded according to an overarching set of standards, study the same subjects, and progress at the same pace as their peers then the technology has changed but the educational experience hasn't. In short, a hypothetical TikTok for Education with LMS integration will not be as innovative as a teacher who has figured out how to include TikTok in their already enjoyable class experience. Unfortunately, that teacher will struggle to share their experience and in all likelihood will go uncompensated for doing so even if they can.

A teacher being willing to speak to a learner on their level, with empathy, and while expressing a genuine care for their wellbeing that the learner truly feels is worth more in their classroom than all of the money generated by the entire eLearning market growth from the pandemic. Full stop.

We need wholesale societal, industry-wide, global, and I argue existential change in education. I also call Education 3.0 a honeytrap for personal reasons. Please take 3 minutes to watch the video below for which I wrote the script in 2020 for Onyx Learner Academy and my ever-aspirational declaration of Onyx being the world's first Education 3.0 company: