She carries a keen eye on the educational continuity that has been in place for millions of students in French – and which continues for the majority of them. Unpreparedness, lack of training, tools of another age… Marie-Christine Levet does not mince his words. This expert, one of the few women to navigate the digital in the last twenty years, after having founded Lycos and led Club Internet, has created the first investment fund of ed-tech (understanding the digital education), EduCapital, in 2017. Because this mother of two children, believes in innovation in education, and she wishes that France can catch up.
What is a preview of the remote school – and it boils down to, according to her, in the “sending e-mail, PDF and of the virtual class” would be that the B. a.-ba of a digital revolution. “We can do a much better condition of the resources,” she says. If Stanislas Dehaene, the chairman of the scientific Council of the national Education, advocates a “Netflix pedagogical, centralized, and free,” Marie-Christine Levet, she advocates for a public-private partnership, with innovative start-ups. “If the State had been able to make of digital education, he would have done for a long time, she said. Innovation thrives more often in small structures agile with less constraints, otherwise Accor would have invented Airbnb and SNCF in france, Blablacar… ” Interview.
The Point : What lessons do you take two months of distance learning courses that students can come to live ? This crisis will she upset in depth the educational system ?
Marie-Christine Levet : This crisis has precipitated the world into the ed-tech (Educational technology or digital education, editor’s NOTE) ! We realized that the educational system was not ready : with the exception of a few countries, there is all fell into the cold water ! It has been a shock, but at the same time, it brought down psychological barriers among the parents than among the teachers. The school is going to have to adapt, but the role of the teacher remains key, as we have seen during the confinement period. The good side of things, it is that we will be able to have teachers who use it wisely, when they want and according to their needs, digital interactive tools that can promote the involvement and motivation of young people.
It was a disaster ! We were served a tv school of the 1960s ! As for the Nca, it is a tool that dates back to Vichy…
so, You are not agree with Jean-Michel Blanquer, who, at the end of February ensured that distance education was ” ready “, in particular via the Cned ?
It is not necessary to hide the face, it was a disaster ! We were served a tv school of the 1960s (with The House Lumni on France Télévisions, editor’s NOTE) ! As for the Nca, it is a tool that dates back to Vichy… Even if it has been modernized, it uses basic functionality, the basics of ed-tech. And the system, as we saw at the beginning, was not ready to support such a huge influx of connections. What has been proposed, in the majority of cases, it is in the mail, sending PDF and the virtual classroom. It has not used what is the interest of the digital-to-school, learning tools more personalized, more engaging, more fun and immersive. I’m not criticizing the teachers, they managed it as they could, as they were not trained.
The big winners of this system, what are the Gafam !
many teachers have used apps like WhatsApp, YouTube channels or platform Zoom to make the video conferences.
Yes, and the big winners of this system, what are the Gafam ! It is necessary to recognize, they are incredibly effective and easy to handle, but with a degree of data protection is very random. The business model of Gafam, it is the sale of data and targeted advertising, this is not to make an educational product. Even the Cned is using a tool american (Blackboard). He must make up for our delay and develop a sector ed-tech French, but this requires investment. The digital is the poor relation of the national Education budget : 90 million euros in France, compared with 900 million in the United Kingdom. And only $ 10 million per year for innovative resources, representing a euro per pupil per year, this is nothing !
also Read Stanislas Dehaene : “It is necessary to highlight the talents of the child”
It is said that the present crisis, and, therefore, the all-digital, would have increased inequality and contributed to the stall.
there was a problem with the equipment, and a lack of training of the teachers. The digital should allow, on the contrary, learning is more personalized, a different program for each child, what we call the” adaptive learning “, as we can see with software like Lalilo (app French learning of the reading, supported by EduCapital) or Duolingo (app american learning foreign languages).
Read also This French start-up that defies LinkedIn on the market of e-learning
The digital tools allow you to repeat a child in trouble, to liven up the class, make it more fun, it can also make life easier for the profs. It is at the very beginning of the digital revolution and artificial intelligence ; the same for the learning immersive-based augmented reality or virtual. For example, Labster (a Danish company supported by EduCapital) team all middle Danish to learn physics and chemistry by doing experiments in a virtual laboratory.
All school children in china had “live class” all day.
You point to a delay of the France, but, since January 2013, and the act of refoundation of the school of the Republic, speaks of a ” public service of digital education “…
If the State had been able to make of digital education, he would have done for a long time. Even China doesn’t do that ! In the country that has the ed-tech the most developed in the world (it invests more than $ 7 billion each year in this area), the State is partnering with businesses ed-eech private. These are the ones that are best suited to the pedagogical continuity : all the school children in china had “live class” all day.
One should do, for the digital, as with the textbooks : leave the choice to teachers the tool they need.
This is not a large State plans that will work, it is necessary to return in a public-private cooperation with innovative start-ups. And if one imposes the digital for the teachers, it will not work. It is necessary to allow for a maximum of educational freedom. In England, the teachers consult a platform where you can view various digital products and select those they wish to use. We should do it, for the digital, as with the textbooks : leave the choice to teachers the tool they need.
A report of the Court of auditors of July 2019 derives from the creation of the famous ” public service of digital education “, a summary “disappointing” : high levels of inequality depending on the territories, an offer of resources not sufficiently organized, a minority of the teachers comfortable with the pedagogy of digital lack of initial and ongoing training…
In four years, the communities have invested € 2 billion in ed-tech and the State has multiplied the plans equipment. Some of these individual equipment stayed in the closet, of students being over-equipped with computers and tablets ! While other students were under-equipped in other territories… But we have not thought of the educational innovation by including it in the programs. A beautiful digital service, it takes months to develop, we will unfortunately not get out, as if by magic, intelligent tools by September… In the meantime, it should not be summed up the ed-tech to what we saw during the confinement.
Read also Jean-Yves Hepp : the benefits of digital education
writing will advise you
TRIBUNE. For a digital school “made in France” Back to school : why it gets stuck in certain neighborhoods Back to school : the private education mobilized Education and déconfinement : between the classroom and the child care Déconfinement : small tour of Europe’s back-to-school ” it May be that the parents realize how it works and that it is difficult to teach “
