Are bootcamps the new educational revolution ?
5 key points that the current educational system must learn from bootcamps
Our educational model is in crisis. The obsession to obtain degrees, the difficulty to find a job after studying for years at university and the slow adaptation of the educational system to the labor reality, makes the traditional educational models in need of revising
After a lifetime of being part of a traditional pedagogical system (structured by a model of teacher-student hierarchy, individual work and disconnection with the working world) and after overcoming our first sprint in Adalab (a bootcamp designed to train women coders), we extract five points that make bootcamps, the future of technological education (or of education in general).
1. Linking theory to practice — one of the keys of these training programs.
The origin of these educational models has to do with the high demand for specialized professional technological profiles, compared to the limited supply. The university plans are not specialized in areas such as front-end web development, big data, digital marketing or UX / UI. This makes the bootcamps alive and continuously updated.
2. Intensive educational program in short periods of time, focused on job placement.
As mentioned in the previous point, bootcamps can be considered job placement programs based in collaborative learning and teamwork as a vehicle to achieve it. The intensity of these educational centers means that students are completely immersed in the educational program for an average of 3 to 4 months, although there are currently more flexible part-time programs.
3. Alternative pedagogy based on group collaboration
This learning model revolves around group collaboration in which students share their own knowledge in order to increase group knowledge. In that sense, it is intended that the students are responsible for learning for themselves and from others, creating a dynamic of autonomous work. For this, the role of teachers in the program is key, since they will have the main function of setting guidelines and correcting errors contributing to the group’s formative growth. However, in these programs the novelty of eliminating the conventional teacher model is introduced. In this way, teachers stop giving explanatory classes and become practical facilitators of content so that it is the student who independently acquires the theoretical knowledge and can make it available to the group.
4 Use of digital tools linked to the IT community.
During the training course not only technical knowledge and related to professional development are acquired, but the student is offered a series of digital tools so that he or she becomes familiar with these softwares and learns to use them. The main purpose is to show the students that in the digital world, the knowledge is in the network and that it is accessible through different platforms.In this way, they will have enough resources to continue learning after completing the program.
5. Bootcamps spaces
Bootcamps are usually located in modern spaces linked to startup communities. In them, it is possible to share very modern and up-to-date working and leisure areas, so that the image of the course taught in a boring conventional classroom disappears completely. In addition to these spaces, once again the concept of sharing is promoted, not only knowledge but also work spaces within the technological community.
In conclusion, the objective of these pedagogical models is to place students into the working world. For this, we opted for an intensive pedagogic model, in short periods of time and with dynamics similar to those of the companies: teamwork, collaboration and horizontality, self-management of learning and immersion in the tech community. The time of the individual is here, and the hierarchies in schools are over! Let’s bootcamp!
- Article created in collaboration by DesiGC
