Digital Agility, Entrepreneurial Mindset Crucial For Students To Face Modern-day Challenges

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Digital agility besides academic excellence plus an entrepreneurial mindset are crucial ingredients to mould well-rounded students to take on the challenges of today’s modern world.

Taylor’s Schools president and chief executive officer adjunct professor BK Gan told a panel discussion on the role of educators in today’s world that students must adapt to changing needs quickly by using digital technologies.

As such, he said, educators’ focus should be on preparing students for a world that is increasingly driven by technology, innovation and social responsibility.

“We are also raising a generation with an entrepreneur mindset who will look around to see what tools are available and use (them) for their benefit and those around them.

“That’s part of being relevant because as things continue to change, they will remain relevant if they have such a mindset,” he said at the discussion organised by Taylor’s Schools and moderated by its chief operating officer Angelina Tee. 

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Gan said Taylor’s Schools has redefined the 3Rs of education as “Relevant, Responsible and Resilient” to prepare students to face the dynamic demands of a digital age, in contrast to the traditional 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) approach to education.

Garden International School principal Peter Derby-Crook MBE said academic excellence goes hand-in-hand with emotional intelligence, whereby “you can’t have one without the other”.

“Emotional intelligence and life skills provide tools for applying the academic knowledge gained,” he said.

Another panellist Simon Mann, who is the principal of Nexus International School in Singapore, opined that educators are developing young people and not products.

“That is why the breadth of our programmes, the opportunities and environments we provide allow learners to connect with each other, build relationships and explore their passions.

“It's (about) our ability to apply what we know to new and different situations, which is why the ability to pivot, adapt and apply the knowledge and understanding we have to new situations between subjects is going to be a critical skill moving forward,” he said.

In emphasising the idea of lifelong learning and the importance of being self-directed, Mann added, “If we don’t begin this process in schools, it’s very unlikely that learners will leave school fully prepared.”

Elaborating on the importance of digital agility, Shoaib Raza, director of Digital Learning and Entrepreneurship at Nexus International School Singapore, said out of the amount of data that exists in the entire world today, 90 percent was created in the last two years.

“Neuroscience tells us that the brain of a 25-year-old person is supposed to be fully formed but since teachers and educators won’t be with the students (when they reach that age), it is imperative to equip them with the digital skills and entrepreneurial mindsets,” he said.

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Shoaib said digital agility would have to include artificial intelligence (AI) which is the “wallpaper in the room and always in the background and which empowers learners to think critically, collaborate globally and create fearlessly”.

He also clarified that entrepreneurship at Taylor’s Schools is not about making money but rather creating value through objective-led processes.

It is about experiencing the highs and lows of entrepreneurship and understanding that sometimes things are tough or can go wrong. It helps develop resilience in students who will then ask questions as to how they can adjust or respond to failure, he added.

-- BERNAMA