
Interview with Techstars Managing Director Alex Iskold: “Instill love to learn”
In the age of technology, it is essential for parents and teachers to instill a love to learning to the kids.
Technology, machine learning, virtual reality, artificial intelligence have becoming buzzwords for today’s society. It also revolutionized the education industry. What does it mean for the future of education and the role of parents and teachers?
I interviewed the managing director of Techstars New York, Alex Iskold for his thoughts on technology and education. Techstars is a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. As the Managing Director of the NYC accelerator, Alex has insightful things to say about the potential positive and negative impacts of technology on a child’s learning experience and how parents and teachers can encourage and inspire the next generations.
How is technology transforming the education industry?
Alex: “On a very high level, technology is allowing students to experience education in a much more immersive way. Before technology, everything was isolated and local, and technology is bringing the world to the classroom. There are multi-dimensional effects. In the near term, VR will allow students to experience technology in a different and immersive way, especially in science. So in general, I think technology will allow students to learn for the better, in a more interactive and more immersive way.”
As technology is changing the industry, what do you think is the teacher’s role in today’s society?
Alex: “ The positive effects of technology is that it gives people access to information. But the negative effects is that we interact with other humans a lot less. The role of the teacher, increasingly is about making sure that kids are still emotionally driven about learning, and that they are collaboratively learning as a group. The group dynamics are essential, and it is important to make sure that the students are absorbing qualities that make us human. It is going to be increasingly difficult because we are digitizing ourselves more rapidly, teachers can be mentors and agents that really ignite and inspire learning. But if people are highly digitized and less emotional. With more technologies available, the faster people are able to learn, but because it is so immersive and it is changing who we are, so how do teachers still inspire the love to learn? I think there are a lot of questions to be answered”
So for parents, who are very important figures in a child’s life, how are parents influencing and shaping a child’s learning experience?
Alex: “The worst extreme of parenting is when parents just give kids popcorns and ask them to watch TV. Nowadays it is so easy to allow kids to be immersed in devices such as the phones, iPads, and the kids are very addicted to the devices. Getting them out of these devices are very difficult. Even my kids they are super good and super manageable, but they are still hooked, and we are hooked too. It is very challenging, so we are seeing this picture where everyone is eating dinner but they are all staring at the phones and posting on social media instead of talking to each other. And that poses a very serious threat to family dynamics because we are spending less time with our kids, and they are spending more time with their phones and we are spending more time with our phones.
So how do you build trust and relationships? I think the trick really is to bound them in some amount of time they spend in the digital space, take them out, go for walks and traveling. Those still need to be happening and we are seeing clear trends in the digital age that physical spaces are diminishing. The trick we’ve always done with our kids is that we try to inspire curiosity and try to get behind on whatever they are interested in. But sometimes it is important to say to them that you really need to focus on this subject. And we can’t say it from a point of authority, but from a point of leading by example.
So really what it boils down to is be genuine, be curious, and to pass on this curiosity to kids. To blend digital and physical space in a way that makes sense and amplifies both.”
Many companies have also focused on education technology, and there are many investment fund set up by big companies and public figures focusing on education technology. For example Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan set up the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for Edtech. So for these Edtech companies, which area do you think companies should invest money and resources in?
Alex: “I think that having smaller classrooms is a good idea. So the rise of microschools and individualized attention is super positive. A lot of these kids are much more addicted to their phones, and by definition, having these smaller classroom you’ll have a better chance of reaching them and giving them this individualized attention. There are online courses that are done in smaller groups that are also great. So essentially what it boils down to is that personalized attention. The more access you have to the teachers and mentors, the easier it is to inspire curiosity and love for learning.
With regards to personalized education, I do believe that there are some fundamentals that every kids should learn. There are two different kinds of personalized learning. One is that kids learn in different ways, so to make sure that kids understand the things you are explaining. And the other one is that there are longer term curriculum building to make sure that the courses are best aligned with kids interest. These personalized classrooms can better foster a child’s learning interest.”
How can parents, teachers and EdTech companies work together to create an environment that is best for child’s learning?
Alex: “I think the best teachers are the ones that inspire curiosity. The ultimate goal is to instill a love for learning. People, especially kids, are naturally curious. And teachers should be role models to help support that curiosity.
So the advice would be don’t be boring, be conscious about it and make learning fun. Kids are going to get addicted if it is fun. If we can guide the whole process to be fun and inspire curiosity and love to learn, it is going to lead to great results.”
For more reading on how technology is transforming the education industry:
[1] http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/index.html

