It all started with this specific video that I’ve watched more than twice. The more I kept watching and analysing every single word said by Zuckerberg, the more I felt that our education system is failing many people to reach their utmost potential. In a recent article published by Dr. Yong Zhao, he stated I quote: “Education is in the futures business in that it is responsible for preparing students to live successfully in the future … But it should not be about preparing them to cope with the future or simply wait for the arrival of the future. It should be preparing them to proactively create the future. To train future-creators, we need future-oriented educational institutions, which are drastically different from institutions of the past and present.”

Here goes my argument, all learning should be personal. Whether we talk about personal learning or personalised learning our focus should be on the twenty-first century process by which students are given a greater say in what they learn and how they demonstrate that learning. The need for this focus on student agency is largely facilitated by the transformations in learning rendered possible by the digital landscape of our day. It’s clear that we are poised on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution. A transformation characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. With this, we are obliged to prepare children not for our past but their future. Thus, it’s vital for schools to consider the following questions when deciding on the learning programs we are providing to today’s students:

• For what roles are we preparing our students after completing their studies ?
• What skills will they need to thrive and how have we determined what they are ?
• How will they learn them, where and from whom ?
• What experiences should they have now that will have the best chance of providing those skill-sets and mind-sets?
• How to cope with social tensions, moral boundaries and inequity ?

Indeed, if we are educating students for their futures and not our pasts, then the perpetual red herring of “it’s not about the technology” must be seen for what it is. The discourse surrounding educational change has one constant: the erroneous view that technology is a threat to human relationships, rather than a simple acknowledgment of an efficient set of potential realities. Where technology has failed to transform learning environments and learning outcomes, we should ask ourselves why this is. Yong Zhao contests that we have, in too many instances, introduced technology to do merely what we have always done. In order to ensure integration that empowers students and enhances teacher depth, Zhao suggests we need to:

• See technology as a complement rather than a replacement
• Embrace its creation potential over consumption
• Encourage personalized learning, autonomy, and creativity over outcomes
• Celebrate digital competence over curriculum improvement
• Focus on tech-pedagogy over product usage

We have arrived at a juncture in our schools where the opportunity and need to make learning more personal has never been greater, has never been closer to realisation. We can get lost  in the semantics of theories, theorists, and experts, or we can honestly try to address the contexts and challenges that Zhao presents us with.

Is it then as simple as asking students: what would you like to learn in school today?