Can we learn in a different way? | Anna Stépanoff | TEDxOrléans

Today, 90% of jobs require a level of mastery of digital tools and networks. Based on this observation and on her views on higher education in France, Anna Stépanoff decided to create her own school in which she can develop her own methods. Indeed, she is convinced that it is through education, that our society will be transformed.

Anna Stépanoff is the founder of the Wild Code School. She is the daughter of Belarusian researchers. Education, knowledge and innovation are the driving forces behind her. After undertaking her university studies in a post-Soviet structured system, she discovered openness and freedom at a major American university. European at heart, she finished her student journey in France. From these three experiences, the desire to take down borders in education and in the pedagogical approach was born, placing great emphasis on the exchange of practice. The onset of online training and digital technology in education have liberated her enthusiasm for launching her concept. Could coding be the necessary path to revolutionise education?

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I would like to start
by presenting to you four people,

two men and two women.

Florian is a young man aged 20,

who didn't get his A-Levels

but loves tinkering with his computer
and playing video games.

Next to him is Emmanuelle,
a young woman aged 44,

who has three children
and ran a bakery for 12 years.

After this, she suffered a serious stroke

and, as a result, can no longer
exercise her former profession.

Next to her is Aizkoa, a young woman
from the Basque Country.

A year ago, she was still working
as a nursery school teacher,

looking after little ones.

Finally, we have Balthazar,

a young man who wears
shorts rain or shine.

He studied film but later realised
he didn't want to work in cinema.

So he ended up unemployed.

These four people
who seem so different,

what do they have in common?

Today, they all work as developers.

When I say 'developer', I mean

people who create internet sites,
and mobile and internet apps.

Actually, this job has become
extremely accessible today.

It has become significantly
more democratic,

a far cry from the cliche
of the spotty geek behind his screen.

No, this job has now opened itself up.

As a matter of fact,
it's a real career accelerator.

What other domain allows you
to change your career

in such a radical way?

New jobs appear everyday in this field.

Others disappear.

For instance, not too long ago,
the job of webmaster was replaced

by that of community manager.

You may not know it,

but in Europe, in 2020,

we are going to need
900,000 professional programmers.

And 90% of all jobs
will require digital skills.

In such circumstances, working
in digital technology is very exciting.

There is the profession of developer.

Other professions are in short supply

such as UX designer,
community manager, data scientist.

Working in the digital
sphere is thrilling,

but can sometimes be more of a marathon

because you have
to run faster and faster

and stay always up to date.

Today, there are both
developers who are out of work

but also a shortage of developers.

And the developers
who are out of work

are those who didn't run
fast enough and dropped out.

So, in this universe where everything
is moving faster and faster

due to the new technologies
that constantly evolve,

does it still make sense

to study for a long period of time?

Does getting a Master's degree, five years
or more studies, still hold a purpose?

Think about it.

What you are going to learn
during the first year

will be obsolete by the time
you are in your fifth year.

And what you will do three years
after the end of your studies

will probably no longer have anything
to do with what you studied.

No, it no longer makes sense

to stay away from the real
professional world for so many years.

So,

why do we hear today

people saying that
education is getting longer,

that students want their studies
to be increasingly longer,

that people are less and less
satisfied with just a Bachelor's?

They want a Master's degree,
and some want to do a PhD.

There is a real inflation
of qualifications.

You're going to say that those jobs
need more and more skills.

Well no.

I'm sorry but it is rather training
that is becoming less and less suitable.

And after three years
of inadequate training,

students don't really feel ready
to enter the real business world.

So they undertake even
more years of study.

Even after completing their Master's,
they still don't feel ready,

no more ready than they did
after completing their Bachelor's.

Now ask PhD students
if they feel ready.

No, you are never ready.

Believe it or not, a friend of mine

had to remove the mention
of her PhD from her CV

to finally get hired.

In fact, our school system pushes us
towards more and more studies,

towards an academic career as it seems.

Yet at university,
there are no job opportunities.

So, how can we learn differently?

How can we change the system?

How can we make it
more effective, more flexible,

closer to professional needs?

Finally, how can we avoid this
extraordinary cost burdening our society

of years of studies

to learn about occupations
that have no job opportunities?

I would like to share
three ideas with you.

My first idea is that we need to stop
thinking in terms of 'long studies'.

We need to start thinking in terms
of 'short' and 'modular' studies.

I'm going to study for five months,
and then I'm going to work.

Later, I'm going to do
another five-month course,

and then I'm going to work.

My second idea is...

we need to stop
compartmentalising education.

We need to stop differentiating

'initial training'
and 'continuous training'.

Let's all consider this:

Pierre, a young man,
has just passed his A-Levels.

He enrols in university.

He may go to an engineering school.

He will complete five-years studies
to then work as a software developer.

Now let's look at Marc,
a young man aged 30,

a technician in the automotive industry,

who does a vocational
training for one year

and then works as a software developer.

Is it justifiable

that one is going to study for five years

to learn an occupation that the other
is going to learn in one year?

My third idea centres
around digital technology.

It allows us to automatise
part of education.

Just imagine.

You are listening to a lesson
on public speaking.

Your teacher speaks about best practice
and shares techniques with you.

Actually, this teacher is going
to repeat the same techniques

several times in front of many classes

as many times as he or she
teaches this lesson.

With the digital tool,

teachers will be able
to video record their lessons,

write the instructions
on a document online

and then make these resources available

to all of their students
before the course itself.

Therefore, when
the students walk into class,

they are all prepared,
they can ask questions,

and teachers can go quicker.

So digital technology helps save time,

and with this time,

teachers can focus more

on supporting each one
of their students individually.

On the basis of these ideas,
I created the Wild Code School,

a school where we train people
from a wide range of backgrounds

to become web developers in five months.

In this school, we make no distinction
between initial and continuous training.

We also use digital technology

to automatise part
of the learning process

and save the instructor some time
so that they can devote their attention

on the individual coaching
of each of their students.

In this regard,
I'd like to tell you a story.

Ten years ago, I was
a young teacher at university.

I was 25 years old.

I was leading a course
with an experienced teacher.

I wanted to improve my teaching,

to go beyond traditional lecturing.

So I came up with fun exercises,

interactive workshops, and serious games.

I put forward this new
approach to my teacher.

Unfortunately, he did not
appreciate it at all.

He said to me,

'Anna, this doesn't follow
our university tradition.

It won't work,

and in any case,
the students will go on strike.'

What was I going to do?

Either I try, I carry on with my ideas,

and I risk being punished
and loosing the support of my teacher,

or I give up, I do just as everyone does,

and I step into
the 'university tradition'.

Well, I had already invested too much
in preparing my interactive exercises

to just drop everything like that.

So I decided to carry on.

I used my method, my exercises,

and by the way,
my teacher didn't even notice.

And after all, the students liked it.

They passed their exams successfully,
and nobody went on strike.

This story helped me understand something:

if you really believe in something,

no matter the difficulties,

you should try, experiment,
you should be daring.

It might fail,

but it might also succeed,

and if it does, you will have won.

So for me, I dared to create
the Wild Code School.

And it's because I was daring,

that Emmanuelle, Aizkoa,
Florian, Balthazar,

as well as dozens of others

have a job today that they really enjoy.

Thank you.

(Applause)