F~ to INDIA Rising complexity across the board

Online learning is the future- so don' t get left behind

Have you ever known h ow much you n eed co know tha c you do n't yec know?

Mose p eo p le have op inio n s (me too!) and they take them for granted, bm as soon

The Jase rim e I wr ote about ouline !earning was in J uJy 201 1. LuckiJ)' for m e, seve ral of my p redictio n s guic kl)' came cr u e I said that o n line educa tion courses would be free an d s up p or ted b y pub li c interests in philanch rop)~ governments and b ig corporations; peer groups would help scu dents co learn online bette r; and o n line learni n g is the futu re of learni n g. T h ese ideas have n ow b een fou n d to be crue b)' no n e other th an the Di.recto r of R esear ch a t Google, Peter N orvig. He st arted wi th the obvious assumption t hac o ne -ro-o n e learning faceto - face was perh aps th e bes t method, bm soo n found, thro ugh h i s and hi s colleagu es' detailed experiments with online learning, chat uJcimatel)' as you questio n the m o n facts thac led them to char op in io n you find they have little kn owledge, ve r y ofte n wron g facts and even tl, e w r ong un derstand ing Facts are now easily ac cessible th.rough searc hes o n t he i n tern et, so learnin g ro find facts co n tinuo usly, correc tly and vetti ng them appropciacely, is c entral to fo rming opinio n s This is just o n e r ea so n for life long o nline ed u cation

My worst fears are imagined when 1 m eet board members and directors of many leading, and even currin g- ed ge o rganisations, and find that n ot o nly do tl1ey lack facts, they shu n co mp lexity, ar e afraid of i t and in mrn are afraid to form the solid op inio n s necessary for th eir businesses to s t rategi se and su c ceed As soon as you talk of even simple t h ings, they fee l overwhelmed by tl1eir ign o r an ce I there was noc a huge diffe re n ce between machine (onli n e) learning (with peer assisted n e t work~ and more) compared w ith face- co- face learn i ng am routinely to ld, "\'\Th at you say is too complex, simplify it" As o n e of the best sim p li.fiers of com p lex things (as my friends know m e), I fi nd tl1at man y W h ere J got ic wrong was tha t ch e pee r to p eer grou p s I speculated about ctid not pro liferate o n social m edia like Fa cebook (t he)' still m ay), bm for now smde n t pee r groups have a few other sites as listed by Norvig. I can only be deligh ted by aJJ t hese!

J\s the new Modi govern ment pu shes online education in India, I am in seven th h eave n India's ed u cation prob lem i s h uge and o nline education is a god send Quota syste m s are n oc a solution to India's pro bl em s, bur online education , fo r aJJ w h o wane it, is. Bm m o re o n that some o t her ti m e Fo r no,v, I wan e to focus o n why o nlin e educ atio n is a mus t fo r eve r yon e around the wo rl d thro ug h out t heir

The success of onli ne education shou ld not be measured by how many students took and cleared an exam, but rather by how each person achieved the obj ective they set for t hemselves with in their learni ng framework lives Yo u sort of know i t, a nd su spect it's crue, but scill you have doubts an d hence chis s piel:

''board m e m bers do not und erstand eve n the basics

''Supp ose )'OU are in in surance and do n 't kn ow what 1 n jury Bio m echani cs' m ea n s! Or yo u are a programm er acq uirin g a software start- up an d do n ot know w h at 'Parsi n g' m eans Or an aca demic and you do n 't kn ow what 'declension' d oes to languages! God help you! O nli n e education can!

As Peter Norvig n otes, tl1e success of onli n e educati o n should n ot be measured by how many srudencs coo k and cleared an exam, or wi th w h at c redit, but rather by bow e ach person a chieved the objective c.bey set fo r iliemse.lves within their learning framework. As to t h e b oard members,

''l have bad n ews. L ife is no t sim ple anymo re and you n eed to brace com plexity or exit tl1e boards and sp are your organisatio ns more failures!