:: Lt Gen (Retd) Arjun Ray ::

The 4th Industrial Age has arrived

01-January-2018

The 4th Industrial Age has arrived. The changes in the next 5 years will be more than what we have experienced in the past 5000 years. Such will be the awesome rate of change and acceleration.

AI, automation, and new learning technologies will dominate every aspect of our life, our work, our genes, our bio-chemicals, our attitudes and our beliefs. 40% of today's jobs will become obsolete by 2030. Another 40% will undergo major changes in roles, responsibilities and expectations.

Knowledge obsolescence will be rapid, and we will experience the diminishing importance of formal education.

Lifelong learning and reskilling will be a master competency to survive and flourish in the 21st century. Therefore, Learning How to Learn will be the # 1 pedagogy in the 21st century, a shift from a training culture to a learning culture. This will be our New Year resolution.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Adapt and Innovate

01-December-2017

The speed of change and knowledge obsolescence is hurtling us into a future we do not know.

Where changes in the next 20 years will be more profound and unpredictable, than what we have experienced in the previous 5000 years.

Where VUCA are the most natural conditions of life.

Where the rate of acceleration will be awesome.

When AI and machine-learning will dominate our life and work.

We must ADAPT and INNOVATE; or else we will suffer from what Alvin Toffler calls "future shock", the disease of change.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Collaborative Learning Model

01-November-2017

85% of a teacher's time is spent in routine tasks: preparation and delivery of content (4 out of 7 periods a day), formative and summative assessments, house-keeping and record-keeping chores. As a result, she finds it a challenge to spend quality time and personalize learning; to teach the child, and not just the subject. After all, that is her primary role.

We intend to introduce teacher-robots in the near future; they will make the teacher more relevant than what they are today. This will be marked by complementary between human teachers and robots as shown below:

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

01-October-2017

A renaissance is already happening, and the education revolution has already arrived. Its contours are evident:
Innovation is the # 1 leadership competency. Those who

are not creative are illiterate. They will perish.

Preparing students for jobs that don't exist yet. About half of the teacher

population may probably be replaced by Humanoid teachers by 2030.

Coding, math skills and soft skills will be the lingua franca of the 21st century. Core curriculum will comprise of application of knowledge through creativity and interdisciplinary knowledge.

Curriculum will move from content, to competencies, to application of knowledge.

The medium is the message. Our nervous system is an

extension of the medium we use. We will need bi-literate brains.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Lifelong Learning

01-September-2017

Lifelong learning is a master competency in a world where knowledge is getting outdated every two years, and 50 percent of jobs today will not exist in the next twelve years. Such is the awesome rate of obsolescence!

Lifelong learning is essential for prolonging our neuroplasticity, and becoming self-aware. Learning about oneself is a life's journey and involves:

Unlearning and then re-learning.

Reskilling oneself at successive tipping points on our work and even personal life.

Acquiring transdisciplinary skills.

Self-directed and collaborative learning.

Deep reading.

The lifelong process should aptly begin by setting a personal vision, followed by challenging and interdisciplinary goals.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Creativity

01-August-2017

The world belongs to creative people, people who give rebirth to themselves, who give meaning to life, who lead an examined life, who are happy.

In 2010, IBM conducted a landmark study of 1500 global CEOs to determine what crucial competency was required to flourish in a VUCA World. The overwhelming response said creativity.

Creativity is as essential as literacy. If you are not creative, you are illiterate. And if you do not have the desire or ability to unlearn and relearn, you are a liability to society, and even to your family! Period.

Creativity cannot be taught because man is born creative. 98% children at age 5 are genius. However, as they advance in school and in life, the environment conspires to deprive them of creativity. The best and more effective way of sustaining creativity is by providing children a creative environment in class, campus, and in homes. Emotional intelligence, must therefore be a teaching objective.

Creative is the only mantra for:

Hope

Happiness

Survival

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Becoming Outliers

01-July-2017

Every teacher is an R & D lab, wherein meaningful research is to be conducted in the domains of self-growth to become outliers. Extraordinariness and, uniqueness have to be institutionalized. There is no such thing as 'once unique,' "always unique." Uniqueness bestows innovation. These could be learning goals as part of lifelong learning, or on becoming an outlier.

All teachers must pledge to be outliers.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Experiential Learning

01-June-2017

There is common agreement that, experiential learning is the best form of learning. This belief is a half-myth, because our direct experiences - about 15%, are grossly limited. We need to access the experiences of others, mainly in the form of books. This lack of understanding is responsible for the illusion of knowledge.

Human beings do not think alone, because human intelligence resides in the collective mind. We live in a community of knowledge comprising:

Experts

Internet

Application of ideas to make a difference to us and society
Deep reading for distilling new ideas and experiences of others

Our quality of thinking depends on the quality of ideas. It's not surprising that the history and evolution of man is the history of idea. Ideas are contained in the minds of several people; and we find them in their books. Deep reading (both in plasma and paper) is an excellent source for knowledge and practical intelligence.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Peak Performance

01-May-2017

There is no straight forward definition of peak performance. It is not merely winning gold medals, out of turn promotions and hefty salaries; but the ability to pursue excellence in life. Peak performance is, therefore, not episodic, but a way of life to unleash our brain and body's maximum potential.

It is important to know that we are doing our best. Our best is not determined by output alone. It is whether we are walking the extra mile, and whether we experience flow. Flow is a positive state of mind characterised by total involvement in what one is doing, that one loses all sense of time, place and the past.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)

Self - Reliance and Leadership

01-April-2017

The leadership process of unlocking a child's potential must start at the earliest. Presently, our children are over-protected, and not exposed to risk and failure.

The first and the most foundational and critical stage in a child's leadership journey is self-reliance, the ability to be independent in thought, courage in expressing one's point of view, exercising choice and trusting one's abilities and efforts. Self-reliance is a philosophical concept that inculcates the ideals of individualism, develops a growth mindset and enhances creativity. History testifies that innovation is born out of self-reliance. It is, therefore, critical that parents and teachers encourage their children to take risks and not be over-protective.

Training in self-reliance happens at home and in classrooms. The aim of fostering self-reliance in children should be fourfold: reducing adult dependency in learning and experimentation through self-directed learning, persuading risk-taking where it matters, encouraging children to experience what life is and not what life should be, and teaching self-sufficiency to make them more independent and confident to deal with difficult situations as they grow, and take hard decisions.

(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)