IBM working in Education

1. Building a new model
of education
Global education faces two challenges: make learning more effective for students,
and prepare them to meet the unique demands of the 21st century. Countries, regions
and cities that invest in education reform will have citizens who are better positioned
to compete -- and lead -- in the workforce and in the world economy.
But how do we apply this investment and actually reshape education? To start, we need
better ways to use information, innovative thinking and new technologies.
Here’s what IBM has learned from nearly a century of regularly engaging and
innovating with leaders to shape and support education.
Reinventing Education
What is changing
1. Education drives economic
vitality around the world, but cost
and availability are not consistent.
Globally, economic circumstances are widening the
gap between the prepared and the unprepared.
• 121 million children worldwide have no access
to education, primary and lower secondary.
Current models of education cannot meet the
growing demand for quality education in growth
markets. For example, in India the rising middle
class will produce 45 million additional 10th
graders by 2020.
• The percentage of U.S. students from the poor-
est families earning college degrees has barely
moved in more than 40 years – increasing only
from 6 percent to 9 percent.
• The cost of higher education has surged more
than 538 percent since 1985.
• Seven full years after the defining events of the
2008 economic meltdown, the problem of youth
unemployment (defined as those ages 16 – 29
who aren’t in school, jobs or training programs)
has reached a peak of nearly 40 million youth
across two dozen countries.
2. Employers cannot find enough
qualified workers as new technolo-
gies widen the skills gap.
Far too many jobs remain unfilled despite high
unemployment levels, and the problem will only
compound as young people enter the job market
without the specific knowledge and skills required.
Jobs are becoming more highly specialized and
reliant on technology, requiring higher order critical
thinking, communication and problem-solving skills.
• Three million jobs in the U.S. are unfilled due to
the skills gap.
• In the EU, 27 percent of employers have en-
try-level positions empty because they cannot
find the skills.
• In India, 47 percent of graduates lack the skills to
be employed in their field of study.
• It is estimated that 40 percent of today’s 8th
graders will enter jobs that do not yet exist.
3. Technology is disrupting and
driving new requirements and
opportunities for education.
While adoption and standards remain inconsistent,
new opportunities are emerging.
• 73 percent of academic leaders surveyed be-
lieve that technology is disrupting the traditional
higher education model.
• 56 percent of educational service providers
surveyed believe that keeping workforce skills
current with the rapid advancement of technolo-
gy is their greatest challenge.
• Digital learning content and one-to-one devices
(such as tablets) are driving the expectation and
feasibility of data-driven, improved outcomes
(better performance, higher graduation and
employment rates). Governments, parents and
students demand these results be transparent,
and institutions are investing in IT to enable it.
• To exploit this disruption, there is a surge of new
venture capital investment of $1.87 billion.
• At California Community Colleges, technologies
that provide greater access to classes, curricula
and other educational content have enabled the
CCC system to retain 10,000+ students annually
who otherwise would have dropped out of less
engaging, asynchronous online courses.

2. The unique opportunity to rebuild education
How to act strategically
The skill requirements of the 21st century are higher than ever before, but schools sadly have not kept pace. Artificial barriers among elementary, middle and high schools, and post-sec-
ondary education still exist. The structure of education still follows an agrarian calendar decades out of date. Classroom instruction, while somewhat improved, lags the kind of change that
has taken place in other enterprises.
Here is what we need:
A new model of education, must focus on
teaching and learning for 21st century careers:
• Global integration – education focused for a workforce
that supports local employment
• Knowledge and skills – new learning communities and
provider channels that provides options for students
and teachers.
• Technology immersion – emerging technologies (e.g so-
cial media, cloud, big data) that changes the education
dynamic.
Prepare the next generation of students
to have skills to succeed
• 21st century skills: The ability to think critically, recog-
nize patterns, solve problems, communicate and adapt
to new demands in the
workforce and in society.
• Workforce planning: Embed industry skills
in the learning process and connect them to education-
al requirements.
Design new systems of education
• Personalized learning – student-centered
processes and adaptive learning support
new student paths.
• Prioritize and focus on practical and applied education-
al experiences.
• Embrace technology to improve education access,
experience, variety and outcomes.
• Build and expand relationships with industry
and other ecosystem partners.
Develop a continuum of lifelong learning
• Begin with high quality, early childhood
education to set the foundation for learning
and prepare students to solve problems and adapt to
new technology.
• Integrate science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM) with other core academic courses.
• Develop skills that translate directly into meaningful
career pathways, as well as increasing independence
in education.
• Continue learning as an ongoing journey
that extends into and beyond a professional career –
and to mentoring the next generation.
Apply big data and analytics to improve
education—for institutions and for students
• Identify students at risk
• Optimize recruiting in higher education
• Support student retention
• Improve the student experience
through collaboration
Apply personalized and cognitive solutions to support
new outcome-based learning models
• Improve visibility of student information, learning inter-
ventions, accountability and transparency.
• Enable inspiring and interactive learning content to
increase student engagement and success.
• Help educators to create better lesson plans and build
personalized teaching strategies
for students
Why IBM?
IBM has the technologies and expertise applying them to support leaders in the education industry who move quickly to adopt cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security. Plus, we have a
long-standing commitment to improving education and a proud history of leadership in creating the public/private partnerships that can successfully address critical societal issues.
EXAMPLES
IBM has long-standing commercial
partnerships in the education industry.
London South Bank University (LSBU) partnered with
IBM to implement the Exceptional Student Experience,
which uses a mix of analytics, mobile, social and security
solutions built on cloud infrastructure to monitor individual
student’s academic progress.
Hillsborough, Tennessee public schools achieved a
25 percent reduction in the annual dropout rate and an 8
percent increase in graduation rate, as well as increases in
standardized test scores by using analytics to understand
patterns of risk and identify students at risk to align support
services around them.
Gwinnett County, Georgia public schools used predictive
and advanced analytics to track, monitor and forecast
student academic achievement plus measure and compare
learners’ progress in relation to that of their classmates. By
spotting learning shortfalls proactively, teachers can inter-
vene with personalized instruction to put students back on
track. This technology helped Gwinnett County gain the
ability to demonstrate improvements in student achieve-
ment, which resulted in their high school students receiving
$1 million in college scholarships.
We also continue to support innovation
through our citizenship efforts and successful public/
private partnerships:
P-TECH, first opened in Brooklyn, New York in
September 2011, is starting to see impressive results. In a
school with no admission requirements, and largely serving
poor and minority students, attendance and academic
achievement are very strong, with students taking and
passing college courses while still in high school at record
levels and with grade point averages that are exemplary.
Beyond Brooklyn, the P-TECH 9 -14 School Model has
grown to 27 schools across three states with 70 employ-
er partnerships. By fourth quarter of 2016, the number
of P-TECH schools is expected to grow to 100. At full
enrollment, that will serve tens of thousands of students.
And the model is broadening to other areas of the world as
visitors from six continents have visited P-TECH to witness
the school in action. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
announced that Australia will launch P-TECH
with two initial schools in January 2016.
Teachers TryScience helps teachers at all levels improve
their instruction of hands-on, project-based lessons
focused on STEM with access to free
lessons that are linked to online professional
development resources, and more.
Transition to Teaching helps address the critical shortage
of math and science teachers by enabling IBM employees
to become fully accredited teachers in their local commu-
nities when they choose to leave the company. It provides
tuition reimbursements, stipends during student teaching,
online mentoring and other support services in conjunction
with colleges, universities and school districts.
MentorPlace allows IBM employees around the world
to provide students with online academic assistance and
career counseling with a focus on STEM through a Web-
based software program.
Watson Teacher Advisor is busy learning the concepts
of teaching third grade math and in the fall of 2015 will be
helping educators create lessons and build personalized
teaching strategies for students. The pilot is starting in New
York State and is expected to extend to other grade levels,
curriculum and areas to help teachers improve their instruc-
tion. Watson Teacher Advisor will be available for free
for all teachers.