Abstract

Frequent conflicts among different nations in recent years have triggered introspection and soul-searching among researchers engaged in the field of technology-enhanced education. Indeed, facing unprecedented challenges confronting humankind, education must strive to instill broader values and principles beyond merely imparting knowledge and skills in specific disciplines. Within this context, the concept of Global Harwell (a term combining 'harmony' and 'wellbeing') emerges as a possible universally shared educational goal. The term 'our' in the subtitle of this document refers to all of humanity. It encompasses all stakeholders involved in education, including international organizations like UNESCO and OECD, non-profit organizations, educators, researchers, students, and parents. The goal is intended to foster a worldwide understanding and commitment to global harmony and wellbeing.

This proposal is based on a series of thoughts still in their nascent stages from a group of international researchers. Achieving a globally shared educational goal is indeed a challenging problem. To facilitate exchanges and discussions, we encourage interested researchers to host forums or panels, either in person at academic conferences or online. Through this process, we can deliberate ideas, develop consensus, promote publications, and initiate actions to realize the Global Harwell goal.

There are three documents in this proposal. The current document (Part 1) describes what Global Harwell is and asks whether it should be our shared global educational goal. The second document (Part 2) provides a set of frequently asked questions with plausible and brief answers, hoping to spur follow-up actions among global researchers. The final document (Part 3) is a letter inviting researchers worldwide to join the GH Group as members.

Motivation

More than 160 years ago, Dickens wrote in the first sentence of his A Tale of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...’. Today, the human lifespan has extended, but millions of people have deceased in a short time before our eyes due to COVID-19; digitization enables all of us to connect and communicate, but we constantly quarrel over different beliefs; online games offer immersive experience, but the specter of children’s addiction looms large; artificial intelligence promises to enhance our lives, but it jeopardizes human dignity and harbors the potential for great harm to human beings; the advent of metaverse could herald a luminous future, but it may also signal a dark abyss to come; we cheer for technological advancement, but we simultaneously face threats such as nuclear holocaust, wealth disparity, societal polarization, climate change, depletion of Earth's resources, and mass extinction of species, among others. For the first time in human history, there is an acute worry about whether we and our descendants will survive on this planet. More recently, the rising frequency of global conflicts has further pushed us to the brink of peril.

Wilson (1978) puts forward that human nature constitutes heredity, development, aggression, sex, altruism, and religion. Aggression may have been inherited from our ancient ancestors, who plundered resources from others to survive or to ensure better survival chances. Individual aggression aims at personal survival, while tribal aggression targets the survival of the group. Human selfishness may stem from this inherited aggression, potentially leading to conflicts among individuals, societies, and even the global community. Technology can be said to enhance human wellbeing and advance civilization only when it diminishes human aggression and fosters altruism and humanity.

A letter, believed to have been discovered in a Nazi concentration camp at the end of World War II, is addressed to Teachers:

Dear Teachers:

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses, women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates.

So, I am suspicious of education.

My request is: help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.

Indeed, what is the meaning of going to school if education cannot shape our world into a place of peace and safety? Why should future generations learn about knowledge and technology if these human creations cannot foster a civilized world for tomorrow? If knowledge and technology become disconnected from human values, can we truly live in a harmonious world and achieve wellbeing? What does the future hold for humankind? Should all these 'why people learn' issues from a global perspective be a fundamental responsibility for every educator? We have to admit that our education has long been primarily concerned with what and how people learn, but not enough with why they learn.

Chan, in his keynote at AIED2007, put forward that ‘the global educational goal problem—rethinking educational goal from the global perspective’ as one of the grand challenge problems in our research community. Chan admits that when he first posed the problem, he had no idea about the answer. Indeed, have we ever considered our educational goal in both a higher-level manner and a broader sense? If not, are we confident that we fully understand the significance of our research's contribution to future education? Or do we simply let ever-advancing technology guide our research? The problem is so fundamental that it underpins why we do what we do.

We are researchers in our field, not experts in philosophy, religion, or politics. Nevertheless, based on our knowledge and life experiences and widely accepted concepts developed by prominent researchers in learning, education, humanity and related fields, we can still discuss and contemplate a possible universally shared educational goal without intentionally considering religious doctrines, ideological beliefs, and other factors.

Wellbeing

When considering a global educational goal, we need to think about what most people aspire to throughout their lives. Likely, happiness, health, and wealth are among the key aspirations. This leads us to humanistic psychologist Maslow's work (1943) on human needs—a hierarchy comprising physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization needs. It also brings us to the work of contemporary positive psychologists on wellbeing. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, wellbeing refers to "the state of feeling healthy and happy." In positive psychology, it denotes a broad and multifaceted concept encompassing an individual's holistic state of happiness, health, prosperity, and the pursuit of goals and dreams, spanning the physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial aspects of one’s life. Indeed, the concepts of human needs, wellbeing, flourishing, and eudaimonia are interwoven. In this article, we use Seligman’s PERMA model (2011), which consists of positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. PERMA's 'positive emotion' and 'positive relationships' align with Maslow's 'belongingness and love' and 'esteem,' respectively, while 'accomplishment' relates to 'self-actualization.' These elements of wellbeing collectively contribute to an individual's overall sense of happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment, defining the quality of life.

Harmony

However, wellbeing is impossible without harmonious environment. If nations are at war, can their people attain wellbeing? If a society is filled with conflict, division, and misunderstanding, can families sustain wellbeing? If a family is broken, can its members find wellbeing? If an individual's own mind is not in harmony, can they experience wellbeing?

Harmony, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, refers to “a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other, or when things seem right or suitable together.” This includes feelings of calmness and peace, amity with the people around us, concord between countries, as well as comfort and consonance in our natural and living environment.

We can categorize harmony into two types: ‘environmental harmony’ and ‘human harmony.’ Environmental harmony pertains to both natural and artificial environments, including physical and virtual spaces supported by digital technology, where we live. Currently, our environmental harmony is threatened by climate change, natural disasters, pandemics, biodiversity loss, and the depletion of fossil fuels, among others.

There are four levels of harmony: global, societal, family, and individual harmony. It should be noted that without global harmony, societal harmony cannot exist; without societal harmony, family harmony cannot be maintained; without family harmony, individual harmony is not possible; and without individual harmony, individual wellbeing cannot be attained. At present, our human harmony is undermined by an inability to embrace diversity, a rapid increase in social inequity, a lack of inclusiveness, starvation, and the impending threat of wars.

Global Harwell

Harmony and wellbeing, aspired to by most people, encapsulate not only the essence of our envisioned progress as a species but also common core of human aspirations or values. These include shaping our biological traits, concepts of consciousness, social constructs like culture and morality, and existential questions about human purpose and identity. This is why humans are human.

Harmony, as aforementioned, takes precedence over wellbeing, meaning that harmony is a necessary condition for achieving wellbeing. Harmony also aligns with the concept of eudaimonia, which suggests that genuine happiness is achieved through virtuous living and realizing one's potential, prioritizing a meaningful life over mere pleasure or wealth. From this point forward, the term 'Harwell,' a portmanteau of 'harmony' and 'wellbeing,' will be used throughout the rest of this article.

In addition, the 'global' aspect is a critical concern for two main reasons. First, as we transition into the digital future, the world becomes 'smaller' in the sense that people, even those far apart across the globe, can interact as if they were in the same room, face-to-face, due to ever-increasing bandwidth speeds and capacity. Consequently, any significant idea or practice, including our endeavor here—which aims for students worldwide to enjoy an education infused with 'harwell' and sustain it throughout their lives—can rapidly spread across the globe. Second, to cultivate human harmony—a foundation for humanity—one must work from the 'inside' out, beginning by bettering oneself, nurturing a caring family, incubating a concordant society, and fostering a peaceful and collaborative global community. However, due to the same cause—the ever-faster pace of interactions within the global community—we must also work simultaneously from the 'outside' in: starting at the global level, moving to the societal, then to the family, and finally to the individual level. Yet, because taking optimal care of the individual and family is an innate capability inherited from our ancestors, the emphasis on promoting harmony at the societal and global levels should be further prioritized and significantly amplified in the future. For example, we should emphasize that virtues such as 'compassion' and 'gratitude' and should extend not only to people we know but also to our society and the entire world. We can do this by promoting the terms 'global compassion' and 'global gratitude' more frequently. We may deliberately raise global issues that trigger students' global compassion and inspire them to seek ways to use technology to help people who are suffering but are far away, thereby practicing their global compassion. Similarly, we may prompt students to take action to demonstrate their global gratitude.

Henceforth, global harmony and wellbeing, or Global Harwell, will refer to environmental harmony and human harmony at all levels as well as wellbeing attained by everyone in the world. In fact, both UNESCO and the OECD have published documents addressing these global concerns of harmony and wellbeing for decades. Among these, the most notable is the call for the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals, which primarily tackle environmental and equity issues. These goals fall within the realms of environmental and human harmony. Wellbeing, a focus of UNESCO, is now further highlighted due to challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for students' wellbeing within their learning environments.

Should Global Harwell be our shared global educational goal?

If Global Harwell represents an overarching goal most people pursue throughout their lives, reflecting human aspirations and values across diverse cultures and nations, and offering a succinct and clear direction for human endeavors in today's unpredictable, turbulent, and even dangerous world, then creating human knowledge and technology should aim to facilitate its realization. Therefore, the purpose of education should be to work towards achieving this Global Harwell goal, a universally shared educational goal.

Indeed, education must go beyond imparting knowledge and developing technology. It should cultivate future generations into active global citizens committed to ensuring wellbeing for all and building a peaceful, sustainable, and equitable world through the use of knowledge and technology, embracing the entirety of humanity.

It should be noted that the education we provide today will shape the destiny of humanity in the years ahead. Within the next two decades or so, today's students in schools and universities will become the pillars of our society. The character and value system established during the first 20 formative years of education are likely to persist throughout a person's life. Thus, if students worldwide adopt Global Harwell as their educational goal during this formative period, the world will be filled with Global Harwell values, while regulating the potential misuse of knowledge and technology that harms harmony and wellbeing. This reflects the essence of what we strive to achieve for future generations.

Future Education

Designing education is equivalent to designing the future of the world. Educational researchers, especially those adopting technology in education, bear an even greater responsibility to lead the change of education and, consequently, of the world. Now, suppose we have a global educational goal for the future, and we further suppose that it is Global Harwell, we may then formulate future education as follows:

Future Education = (Global Harwell Goal, Design Theory, Future Digital World)

In this formulation, the Global Harwell goal, represents the 'why' and 'what' of learning; design theory informs the 'how' of learning; and the 'future digital world' addresses the 'who' and 'where' of learning, as well as how future education can be supported by and integrated into the digital world, propelling the transformation of education forward. The overarching Global Harwell goal embodies a strong mission and provides a direction that drives the development of theories, methodologies, and approaches for designing future education.

Standing as a beacon of hope for the future, education is, as Mandela said, "the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." The Global Harwell goal is a lofty vision of new possibilities for future education, but it is not mere imagination. Given the existing conditions, it is what education needs today, a matter of utmost urgency. Our collective and daring attempt to achieve this goal may signal the arrival of a new epoch in educational history, bringing eternal peace to the human race and a sustainable living environment for our planet.