Meet Jason :
Jason Cohen is currently consultant and part-time lecturer for KIDsforSDGs à Hong Kong. He advocates the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and mentors young pioneers and change-makers to make a measurable impact on their local communities. One of the programs for which he consults is the Young Changemaker Incubator, which not only teaches children thematic subjects, empowering them to become the generation that will make a difference to many social, economic and environmental issues, but also exercises traditional core modalities - reading, writing and public speaking - while developing new ones, such as project management. At KIDsforSDGs, he is co-curator of the ASCEND program, which seeks to democratize quality education for sustainable development through inclusive learning modules.
Click here to find out more about Jason.
Why did you become an educator?
It's so simple! I love learning, so it's only natural that I want to share that learning. Sharing learning is teaching.
What is your definition of an educator?
Anyone who shares their knowledge with people who don't know it, and does so on a regular basis.
How have the educators in your network fared in these times of crisis?
They've simply adopted a very flexible approach, depending on the circumstances. What do we need to do to adapt to current circumstances while continuing to effectively pass on knowledge? Perseverance and creativity were put to the test to advance social impact, and again and again, the young people proved that they were capable of withstanding adversity!
How do you see the future for educators?
We need to find a way to use technology to expand education while preserving what really works: face-to-face human interaction and personalized attention. Technology makes it possible to democratize learning, to disseminate even the most obscure knowledge almost everywhere. However, the “reach” that technology offers is not synonymous with “penetration” In my experience at KIDsforSDGs, The best way to impart knowledge is to establish a relationship of trust and personal rapport with the student. There must be a way to preserve or even enhance this element alongside the technology. Using a STEMxSDG framework as a vehicle will engage students' minds in solving some of the world's great challenges, like this one - the future of education.
If you could give the lesson of your dreams, what would it look like?
A small group of children in an exceptional natural setting, immersed in the subject matter to be taught. This would be a multi-modality, multi-day immersion program involving visual, auditory and kinetic learning. The group size would be small enough to allow personalized attention, but large enough to foster a social experience. There would be a mix of teaching and self-directed learning, like what we do at YCI. This empowers students while providing support and guidance.
