iNTRODUCTION
Over the recent years technology such as the internet has empowered many students to learn digital skills at home through online videos and tutorials. The content they are learning ranges from learning how to code, program, create and remix web content and electronic kits. The rise of students learning at home has been encouraged by social networks and platforms that can broadcast their creation to thousands of online users. The power of this technology has helped some students to become entrepreneurs and very talented in their interest. These skills have trickle into schools but are not explored or acknowledged because they don’t fit into the UKs National curriculum. As a result these digital skills and talents remain hidden and go undetected in the education system. The article will seek to explore this tech revolution and help to shed some light on the matter. | "New tech culture emerging.." |
The tech phenomena amongst many of my students reminds me of how Hip Hop began in the US during the late 1970’s. It originated in block parties and then evolved from artists making music in their neighbourhoods. The Hip-Hop culture was about being creative, free and expressing yourself to others. As a result, the Hip-Hop movement created a vibrant scene and platform where people could express themselves without too many restrictions.
The Hip-Hop movement reminds me of the new tech culture emerging amongst my students at school and tech events. This is also similar to the Tech City Scene in East London, where tech savvy people are starting up businesses to help simplify daily activities and provide innovative solutions. What keeps this phenomenon powerful is that there is no limit to how creative, free or innovative one can be. Another major factor is that young people have a platform to express themselves and think outside of the box. The increasing number of students coming to school and telling stories about the digital skills they learnt and used at home is mind-blowing and leaves me amazed at the amount of talent around us.
The Hip-Hop movement reminds me of the new tech culture emerging amongst my students at school and tech events. This is also similar to the Tech City Scene in East London, where tech savvy people are starting up businesses to help simplify daily activities and provide innovative solutions. What keeps this phenomenon powerful is that there is no limit to how creative, free or innovative one can be. Another major factor is that young people have a platform to express themselves and think outside of the box. The increasing number of students coming to school and telling stories about the digital skills they learnt and used at home is mind-blowing and leaves me amazed at the amount of talent around us.
Guess who are the most tech savvy?
According to OfCom Research, the 'millennium generation' of 14 and 15 year olds are the most technology-savvy in the UK.
Reference: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/news/cmr-2014/
Take the Ofcom simplified Digital Quotient taster test to find out how tech savvy you are!
Take the Ofcom simplified Digital Quotient taster test to find out how tech savvy you are!
One 14 year old student that I teach, has 3,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. He teaches people how to create various buildings in Minecraft. He showed me one of his YouTube clips and I was stunned with his presentation skills. He had a slick introduction designed in Photoshop and Sony Vegas. The video production and sound quality was amazing and could compete with some of the professionals on YouTube. When I asked him why he likes posting tutorials online, he simply stated "I like helping others to enhance their skills and knowledge." Perhaps with a bit more direction from school and home, this student could potentially create a very popular YouTube channel and walk into a very exciting career in online video production. However, with teachers and parents having insufficient knowledge of this particular sector, this student will be unaware of the wider potential of his work (e .g. career prospects from a niche market) and therefore view this hobby as just a bit of fun.
Another example of hidden talent in my school occurred during my computing lesson. An 11 year old student said, " Sir! Guess what? I've got 1 million views on YouTube!" To my astonishment, he had 1,350,000 views on a music video he had created by mixing a few pop star tunes together. He referred to this as a "mash-up". This student is clearly talented in creating music content for online streaming. However, the travesty is that this digital skill will go unnoticed by the school since the platform he uses to create these "mash-ups" will be blocked by the school's internet system. Unfortunately, this leaves the student with the only option to create these "mash-ups" at home, which leaves them one click away from creating a master piece or ruining their lives with inappropriate content. Schools and teachers need to be better at identifying gifted and talented students that don't necessary fit into the curriculum or school model.
Another example of hidden talent in my school occurred during my computing lesson. An 11 year old student said, " Sir! Guess what? I've got 1 million views on YouTube!" To my astonishment, he had 1,350,000 views on a music video he had created by mixing a few pop star tunes together. He referred to this as a "mash-up". This student is clearly talented in creating music content for online streaming. However, the travesty is that this digital skill will go unnoticed by the school since the platform he uses to create these "mash-ups" will be blocked by the school's internet system. Unfortunately, this leaves the student with the only option to create these "mash-ups" at home, which leaves them one click away from creating a master piece or ruining their lives with inappropriate content. Schools and teachers need to be better at identifying gifted and talented students that don't necessary fit into the curriculum or school model.
The EDUCATION sHIFT
These anecdotes highlight that the educational system is not moving fast enough in order to be able to support these hidden talents and digital skills. In an attempt to address these issues, in September 2014, the Government removed the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Curriculum and changed it to Computing Curriculum, which covers writing code, designing computer programs, as well as the ethical and legal impacts of digital technology.
The curriculum change is greatly needed, however the time, support and implementation has been a major issue due to the rush for teachers to up-skill themselves in a short space of time and roll out a curriculum which is not as straight forward as expected. Despite the rapid changes, many teachers have taken the opportunity to use the new curriculum to prepare students for tomorrow's world. For example setting up tech clubs, appointing talented students to become digital leaders and connecting with the tech industry. | "new computing CURRICULUM at KEY-STAGE 3 mapped by Urban Teacher." |
As teachers prepare students for the 21st Century, it's also about changing our mentality to accept that growing up in this day and age isn't the same as we experienced. A prime example would be playing computer games in the 80s - 90s era, was all about having a good time. However Twitch, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, with more than 45 million users, is taking the online world by storm. Through their site you can broadcast, watch, chat and donate money to gamers if you like their Twitch Channel. The power of Twitch enables gamers to sit at home and earn money for playing computer games. The rise of such platforms challenges the traditional perceptions of games and shows how jobs and opportunities are emerging from niche markets.
Digital Skills Shortage
Even though the digital age is empowering many students to use tech to simplify, enhance and support their daily activities, there are still a large number of students who don't have mobile devices or internet access at home. Therefore, many of them are being disadvantaged from digital opportunities for learning and online innovation. To avoid the digital gap from widening, action needs to be taken to address this issue.
The report, Digital Skills for Tomorrow's World, chaired by Maggie Philbin, engaged with hundreds of organisations within the UK and interviewed over 5,500 students across the country. The report emphasises that “the importance of extending basic digital skills to all of the UK population is enormous”. Solving these challenges will be a benefit to the most disadvantaged in society. Failure to tackle this issue could lead to greater digital divide and exclude large sections of society from Government services. The report calls upon the Government to make “the necessary investment to extend basic digital skills to all of the UK population by 2020”. Below is a visual representation to help support schools, teachers and families identify ways to reduce the digital gap.
Just as in the Hip-Hop arena, every hidden talent is looking for a gig or stage to perform on. To help students bring their hidden talents to the forefront, I asked tech companies and programmers to visit my school to showcase their latest tech and innovation. From Google Glasses to the Oculus Rift, all my students were inspired and were made aware of the tech opportunities available. It also empowered and encouraged talented students to work alongside experts. For example, one student gave a programmer some key advice on how to improve their services. Immediate changes to their platform were made, based upon the student's feedback. The success of this programme led me to create a platform called www.labgap.com, which helps to seamlessly connect tech companies to schools.
The Digital Opportunities
The Local Government Association recently published a report called 'Totalling the hidden talent'. The document looks at underemployed young people, including those in part-time work seeking full-time positions, and those who are currently working in jobs for which they are 'over qualified'. The report states that the hidden talent group in England and Wales is currently 2.46 million. This equates to 40% of the youth populations - a figure which has increased by nearly three quarters of a million since 2005. The worst affected are those in inner-city areas. It's estimated that one third of all the young people will be underemployed by 2018 unless Government, schools and industry start to tackle this issue. The most thought provoking aspect the LGA report on hidden talent is the tech savvy and digitally skilled young people that haven't been accounted for in this investigation. In recent months, there has been some glimmer of hope. The Duke of York in partnership with Nominet Trust has founded the inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA) with the aim to improve the digital and enterprise skills of one million young people. The programme was launched at Buckingham Palace in October 2014 after a six month pilot scheme. Following the recent success of the programme, the decision was made to roll it out nationally. The intention is to help one million young people develop digital and enterprise skills. The target is to enable 14-25-year-olds to establish 500 digital business Start-Ups and 50 successful digital businesses, within five years. Another positive move has come from the Digital Business Academy which is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which brings together nine free courses from industry experts and educational institutions. Once young people complete individual courses, they may have the opportunity to apply for digital tech jobs, work experience or receive free advice from industry experts. Research carried out on The Future of Digital Skills by O2 in 2013 found that Britain will need 750,000 skilled digital workers by 2017. If the Government can't support this growth, it could result in costing the UK as much as £2bn each year.
tHE aWARENESS gAP
"Awareness is the key" | For the hidden talents to be recognised and developed , it is vital that teachers and parents improve their career advice. It is equally important that teachers and parents are aware of the digital tech opportunities in the UK and the digital skills required for the industry. This will help them to become more effective when spotting talent and nurturing them in the right direction. As the underground Hip-Hop scene thrives with new talent coming through, so does the tech scene amongst young people. It's our duty to empower and prepare students for tomorrow's world and jobs that don't exist yet. |