School education, as a whole, has already failed. Since the 1980s, human societies have been drastically transformed by advances in science and technology. But education has not been able to produce the human talents needed to cope with and take advantage of the changes. All education reforms have focused on playing with the curriculum, tiny changes in pedagogy, and holding schools accountable to testing. None has made a difference in education. As a result, today’s generation does not have better world to live in than their parents and unless transformative changes are made, future generations will have even worse fate. In this presentation, Professor Yong Zhao discusses the necessity of transformation in education with a strong focus on individuals and communities through personalization of learning and problem finding and solving.

Transformative changes are not easy but completely possible. The biggest tension in schools is prescribed curriculum and student autonomy. In the age of AI, we all want personalization and support student autonomy, the lack of which is the cause of the common and increasing rising phenomenon of social and emotional challenges among youth. But the perception of curricular mandates and college admissions prevents us from imagining the possibilities. In this presentation, Professor Yong Zhao presents strategies and examples of radical changes of schools to provide personalization of learning.

The world needs globally competent creative and entrepreneurial talents to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by technology and globalization. But schools are pushed to produce homogenous, compliant, and employee-minded test-takers, as a result of the traditional education paradigm. Zhao proposes a new education paradigm needed for the new world.

Dr. Yong Zhao calls for a paradigm shift in education and brings extensive evidence to show that every child has both the potential and the need to become great. He advocates that the goal of education is to help each child discover and develop their unique strengths and passions so that they can be best prepared to meet the challenges of the modern world including globalization, technology, smart machines and the need to create value for others. To do so, parents and educators need to make education personalized by the child, instead of personalized for the child. Together, we need to help each child find what uniquely makes them great.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both unprecedented disruptions and massive changes to education. While some changes may disappear, the pandemic has created a unique opportunity for schools to rethink what is necessary, desirable, and even possible for current and future generations. In his inspiring keynote, Yong will explore the essential abilities and spirit of the new world – creativity and entrepreneurship – where every child creates their own value through individual greatness. He’ll also discuss the vital role policymakers can play to build back better an education system that positions students to thrive in the modern world.

Creativity and entrepreneurship are the essential abilities and spirit of the new world, where every individual needs to create value using their own unique greatness for others and the world. In the 4th Industrial Revolution, smart machines can take away human jobs but also create new opportunities for the creative and entrepreneur minded. In this presentation, Dr. Yong Zhao discusses what schools can do to create an education that supports the development of creativity and entrepreneurship.

Educational changes have often been led and implemented by adults but they are supposed to affect students. Students have rarely been considered as owners of their learning or partners of change in education. In this presentation, Dr. Yong Zhao discusses how today's students should be involved in educational changes.

Never send a human to do a machine's job is the best advice for using technology in education. Today, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and students have been exposed to the potential of technology in education. As schools reopen, we need to consider how technology can be best integrated with in person education. In this presentation, Dr. Yong Zhao discusses thoughtful and effective uses of technology in collaboration with human educators.

In this presentation, Dr. Yong Zhao discusses the real changes we need. These changes should respect students' agency and rights to self-determination. They should address the issues of quality and equity. They should be globally and locally oriented. They should be online and in person. The overall idea is to help each and every student to discover and develop their unique talents and translate their talents and expertise into valuable solutions to significant problems.

Evidence-based education has been popular, but what evidence matters. In this presentation, Dr. Yong Zhao talks about the various issues about evidence. In particular, he discusses that education has multiple outcomes and the outcomes can conflict with each other. Achieving one outcome may come at the cost of another outcome. The same education intervention can both improve some outcomes but cause damage to other outcomes.