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The essence of schooling has changed little in the past 200 years, a KU professor says. He's hoping to play a part in changing that.

A new analysis from a University of Kansas education scholar recommends giving students more control over their education and finding ways to use technology to support this approach.

The schooling system has largely run on a “deficit model” for over 200 years — that is, focusing on what students lack — though curriculum, textbooks and testing have undergone significant changes in that time. To help students thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, schools must shift their education paradigm, giving students more control over their learning, says Yong Zhao, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies and Educational Psychology at KU.

“I believe every child has talents,” Zhao says. Currently, “schools have a deficit model, (which gives the impression that) we want to fix children to meet certain standards instead of looking at what they can do to make them great.”

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Yong Zhao

Artificial intelligence encourages personal learning by tailoring educational experiences to personal needs. While AI can recommend learning materials like videos and articles, it can also provide instant feedback to an individual’s work, helping that person understand mistakes and improve faster.

Zhao is the lead author on the paper “Paradigm Shifts in Education: An Ecological Analysis,” published in the East China Normal University Review of Education.

He says that even if schools block the use of AI, that doesn’t necessarily stop students from using it.

“Like any new technology, you don’t impose (it) on people, and people (can still) have access and be exposed to it,” Zhao said. ” … I’m completely opposed to any reforms or innovation suddenly imposed on all children and people. That’s basically inviting resistance.”

But some aspects of technology — the smart phone, for example — are inevitable, and getting ahead of them, so to speak, is optimal.

“No matter what you do, you are going to face technology and you’re going to face artificial intelligence,” Zhao said. “Unless we actively engage our students in using them and making them a learning partner, we are really depriving children of a possible future.”

Zhao proposes a measured approach to providing small innovations that have the potential to grow into systemwide changes in which students are given more of a say in their learning. A more tailored approach vs. a standardized education, he says, is key in helping students achieve success.

“If your children go to school, you want your children to be happy, to be satisfied and their needs to be met, but the one-size-fits-all does not meet that,” Zhao said.

Zhao suggests a “school within a school” model to help meet the needs and maximize the potential of each student. The model refers to an educational structure in which a large school is divided into smaller, more autonomous sub-units, each with its own curriculum, staff and student population.

Zhao acknowledges that some educators may resist the idea because it represents change, but change is exactly what is needed, he says.

“If we are serious about educating our children, it can be worked out if we’re willing to engage in this kind of conversation,” Zhao said.

Zhao’s paper shares examples of schools in China, Australia and the United States that have attempted the model and report more engaged, successful students who discover their own unique strengths, learn to find and solve problems worth solving, and learn from others around the world via technology.

Zhao said that he’s currently meeting with districts across Kansas to begin piloting the idea of the “school within a school” model.

“I’ve seen education change and not change,” Zhao said. “Whoever is interested in this, I want to work with them.”