How to teach 'digital natives': education in the age of high technologies

The first day of the VII Moscow International Forum 'Open Innovations' was devoted to education digitization, modern learning models and cooperation between companies and HEIs in staff training. The media partners of the Forum are Accreditation in Education Company and Higher Education Discovery.

The Skolkovo Innovation Center brought together government officials, Russian and international experts in the field of education as well as heads of major companies interested in the talented staff search and training.

Many participants of the Forum note that the educational process digitization becomes a necessity today. Mainstreaming of high technologies, development of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, generation Z mentality— all these factors influence our everyday life and should not be ignored.

At the session 'New vectors of knowledge. An educational breakthrough in the global technological paradigm' the speakers noted that today people can obtain much knowledge independently using electronic gadgets and the Internet, therefore it is important to create an educational environment that will motivate students.

'The most complex interaction is where you should translate very high competencies because this is an off-line environment. Why do we need an online mode? Firstly, a transfer of a number of formats into the online environment is cost-effective. Secondly, this will allow us to 'reach out' to a great number of the right people,' – noted Dmitry Kalaev, Deputy Director for Acceleration and Educational Programs of the Internet Initiative Development Fund.

Interaction between business and universities was actively discussed. According to Yuri Udaltsov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, RUSNANO MC LLC, modern students should be engaged in real projects. In this case graduates can get practical experience which will help them adapt themselves in the company.

The question of introduction of AR- and VR-technologies in the modern education was also touched upon:

'Everybody wonders why we need VR. By means of immersion in virtual reality a person is ten times more focused on the process. To spark the interest of the state, we need cases and a program. At the moment VR is cheaper than a computer,' — says Natasha Floksy, СEO of Cerevrum.

Diana Koroleva, Director of the Center of National Research University Higher School of Economics, told the Forum guests about two types of innovations which can be observed across the world today. 'Top-down' innovations are nationwide changes; 'bottom-up' innovations are startups which often die at the beginning without sufficient support from municipal and federal bodies. The ways of ensuring an effective ecosystem which will contribute to the development of young entrepreneurs were discussed at the session 'Synergy model. Creation of the innovative educational ecosystem'.

'The biggest problem today is a lack of suitable tools, we should not only have an idea, but also an opportunity to embody it. In our projects we integrate science, technology and practice. We create a network between different organizations for knowledge sharing. Creation of a common environment for innovations is a necessity in the modern world including developing countries,' – says Marques Anderson, founder and CEO of the World Education Foundation.

The Russian startups were presented to the investors from the Near East for the first time. The EastBound contest was organized by the Skolkovo Foundation and VEB Innovations company. The winner of the pitch session was the Skolkovo resident, Motorika company producing functional arm prostheses.

At the Press center of 'Open Innovations' Andrei Sharonov, President of Moscow School of Management Skolkovo and Zhao Lei, Vice President of HuaweiRussia signed a cooperation memorandum. The cooperation agreements were also concluded by VEB Innovations LLC and State Transport Leasing Company. The multilateral agreement was signed by VEB Innovations LLC, Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Sberbank of Russia, Skolkovo Foundation, Russian Venture Company and Internet Initiative Development Fund.

Registration on the website:https://openinnovations.ru/

Official image hosting site:https://forinnovations.tassphoto.com/

Read more education news including international events, conferences, forums, exhibitions, and other important venues on hedclub.com, international education advertising website. If you would like to inform various stakeholders on the upcoming event or project you are planning to implement, contact HED, your reliable media partner.