Making lemonade from lemons
20 MAR 2020
The new coronavirus is the firing pin for major innovations. In many educational institutions, less than half of the customary study time is being invested in this year’s spring semester. There is some distance learning, but in many instances, the faculty is very much dependent on technology which they learn from students rather than the traditional reverse.
The pandemic is bringing rapid innovation to education. Just consider that traditionally the sector has not distinguished itself with high-speed change. A debate on the cost of tuition was strongly buttressed by the biblical anecdote of the young Jesus Christ ejecting the money changers from the temple, an event that happened 2000 years ago.
At universities, if one could implement time travel for professors and their students, they could be delivered to a university town in the distant past and still feel right at home. There still remains the amphitheatre seating of chairs, and the black or white board to communicate information. There is the professor in front moving from one side of the room to the other while students take notes or raise their hands to indicate a desire to comment. There are still office hours with various functionality and examinations that are a pain to take and to grade.
Any changes to this model requires approval by at least four faculty committees, each one of which needs substantial time to investigate the impact and potential repercussions of the alterations. Then there are reviews by board members, insights from administrators, and the “Fingerspitzengefuehl,” or social awareness, of financial liaison. Woe to the planner of change, who is likely to encounter a lead time of lead. The bottom line: change for education is very difficult to achieve.
How has the education system performed in a time of pandemic? We can attribute to it very high degrees of rapidity, focus, transparency, and adaptation that have led to significant changes. Students by the tens of thousands shifted their main residence within a week, making important decisions about what clothes, equipment, and learning materials to take with them. Faculty members have at the same time solidified new course materials and given major thought to teaching under entirely new conditions. Administrators have had to rapidly find ways to handle complaining and even enraged students and parents.
How to conduct an international programme under severe travel restrictions? How to interact with high-mobility groups? How to adjust the delivery of a classroom joke which now has no classroom audience?
Long-term contemplation must now give way to a new kind of framework – I suggest 10 days to adopt innovation. My textbooks, which I developed over 40 years, now need a revision time measured in weeks. The virus has given us a way to cope with complexity with extraordinary speed. Innovations are now swiftly accepted and pump new energy and strength into the education system. The best is yet to come.
In Germany, educational changes have been seen as the end of the world. Even students at an airport on a school day were seen as a threat to society for missing out on their classes. Now, due to the virus, students must stay at home. The mission of schools had gradually shifted from being institutions for learning to offering pressure against drugs, against cigarettes, and for democracy and diversity. It appears that teachers are now beginning to teach again, and students can ask questions that actually are answered. Although in past events of national need, the ability to adapt resources appeared not to exist, this time, the resources, and the teachers are all here, all in support of insights and service of German youth. Support is getting much better.
Earlier societies and time periods had their own changes, some without much benefit, such as bubonic plague and the great influenza epidemic. Other changes triggered much displacement but also led to eventual improvement of society, for example the printing press of Gutenberg, electricity of Edison, and aeroplane of the Wright brothers.
The pandemic has led to adjustments and new approaches, unexpected adaptations and many more options. We will have new playing fields, new players and new rules. The post-viral times will not necessarily be convenient or tranquil, but there will be many more opportunities for innovation and creativity. We wish you well. Stay safe!
Professor Michael R. Czinkota teaches international marketing and business at Georgetown University. Michael L. Czinkota is a 9th grade student at Bischof-Neumann-Schule.
Any changes to this model requires approval by at least four faculty committees, each one of which needs substantial time to investigate the impact and potential repercussions of the alterations. Then there are reviews by board members, insights from administrators, and the “Fingerspitzengefuehl,” or social awareness, of financial liaison. Woe to the planner of change, who is likely to encounter a lead time of lead. The bottom line: change for education is very difficult to achieve.
How has the education system performed in a time of pandemic? We can attribute to it very high degrees of rapidity, focus, transparency, and adaptation that have led to significant changes. Students by the tens of thousands shifted their main residence within a week, making important decisions about what clothes, equipment, and learning materials to take with them. Faculty members have at the same time solidified new course materials and given major thought to teaching under entirely new conditions. Administrators have had to rapidly find ways to handle complaining and even enraged students and parents.
In Germany, educational changes have been seen as the end of the world. Even students at an airport on a school day were seen as a threat to society for missing out on their classes. Now, due to the virus, students must stay at home. The mission of schools had gradually shifted from being institutions for learning to offering pressure against drugs, against cigarettes, and for democracy and diversity. It appears that teachers are now beginning to teach again, and students can ask questions that actually are answered. Although in past events of national need, the ability to adapt resources appeared not to exist, this time, the resources, and the teachers are all here, all in support of insights and service of German youth. Support is getting much better.
Earlier societies and time periods had their own changes, some without much benefit, such as bubonic plague and the great influenza epidemic. Other changes triggered much displacement but also led to eventual improvement of society, for example the printing press of Gutenberg, electricity of Edison, and aeroplane of the Wright brothers.
The pandemic has led to adjustments and new approaches, unexpected adaptations and many more options. We will have new playing fields, new players and new rules. The post-viral times will not necessarily be convenient or tranquil, but there will be many more opportunities for innovation and creativity. We wish you well. Stay safe!
Professor Michael R. Czinkota teaches international marketing and business at Georgetown University. Michael L. Czinkota is a 9th grade student at Bischof-Neumann-Schule.
