We are currently in the whitewater of cultural and professional change, catalyzed by the exponential technological growth (exemplified by Moore’s law).’ Even the nature of change itself has changed, and instead of intergenerational change, there are now fundamental and disruptive changes in job markets occurring each decade as a result of technology.
Technology is transforming the way we work, play, and interact with others. And more our children are growing up in a society that continues to change, and as new industries and business models are emerging, so should our way of educating them.
I am predicting that the future classroom will have fully integrated technology use, not just students or teachers using educational technology, but the whole learning process will be transformed. Educators will shift from being providers or curators of content to leaders of learning experiences. Below is the link to a website I created to illustrate the future classroom idea. Enjoy!
https://sites.google.com/view/futureclassroom/home
Hi Emily,
I enjoyed reading your vision for the future, and as Janice mentioned above, many aspects of this classroom of the future are feasible today. For example, I used the CK-12 platform (https://www.ck12.org/teacher/) to share flipped lessons and videos along with adaptive assessments that differentiate question difficulty based on student performance. That said, I have found the greatest challenge is that some students regularly take up their responsibility to review content at home, while others do not. This makes my role as teacher complex as the class activities must both stimulate engagement and provide sufficient practice for those that did their part, while not overwhelming those who have yet to get started. Have you encountered this scenario? Regardless if you have or have not, how would you approach differing levels of “flipped” engagement?
Hi Emily,
This was a clear and thoughtful look at the school day of the future. This is not too difficult to envision and doesn’t feel too far off from where some schools are already. The flipped classroom is an interesting concept that has a lot of traction, and it also works for online learning. One of the questions that I wonder about with the flipped classroom is whether or not most of the content should be created by the classroom teacher (or teaching team)? Does this help to develop the relationship between the teacher and students? Does using a majority of outside sources diminish the role of the teacher? I know that many of our teachers have been challenged with hybrid teaching this year, creating content for in-class and online students, and sometimes with students in vastly different time zones for part of the year. Creating a variety of resources for all topics covered could seem like an overwhelming task. Having these resources available in advance (maybe put together by the team during departmental collaborative times or inservice days) could be a huge benefit – is that what you envision or do you think that teachers will use third party videos and content sources?
Emily, this is a great day in the future classroom. I love the collaboration of padlets, gamification, quizzes, etc. It sounds like a great way to incorporate activities into your daily learning schedule, I love this idea! It looks like we had similar ideas for our A3, but I think I like yours much better! Have you thought of personalizing the daily class to student’s individual needs as well? For example spending more time in an area where the student is struggling automatically?
Hi Emily,
The environment you created in your website is very different then the world I teach in (high school shop class). I did enjoy reading a completely different perspective, and pondering the possibilities in the future.
While going through your google site, I had the sense of this future technology almost replacing teachers. I understand that this scenario gave teachers a role as leaders of the learning experience, but it seemed like once you got a handle of the technology, any individual might be able to do it. It felt as if there was less need for an individual with extensive experience in a subject matter. The technology did not seem too far off from giving a lesson, and instructing students to break off into groups and space out around the classroom. Perhaps it was just a feeling I had.
Either way, I enjoyed reading your A3 assignment. Well done.
Hi Michael, thanks for your feedback!
I do believe that technology can not and will not replace teachers. If anything, I believe teachers’ roles are increasingly more important, to help guide students in their journey to learn. Even though it seems that students don’t need teachers when they have all this free space to learn, teachers need to design their learning experience, provide them with the right tools, and teach them the skills they require to be successful in their learning experience.
Perhaps I should have laid out the information in a better way to illustrate that. I think what I am proposing for the future is the change in curriculum design and teacher role in the increasing trend of using technology in the classroom. Rather than simply digitizing paper content, I think there will be a complete change in our style of teaching the students.
Thanks again!
Hi Emily,
Well, I feel like I have been through quite a journey looking into the future classroom through your website. As educators, sometimes we can get lost in the way that we do things, so it is always interesting to hear about new ideas (thank you for linking to all of the apps and technology that you referenced) and especially future speculations about the existence of classrooms and education.
I feel like you have addressed some really interesting speculations about the formal and traditional existence of “education” in the classroom, but as I saw the future through the lens of your speculation, I began to wonder about the Social Emotional Learning side of education. Right now, SEL is a huge topic of interest within the district that I work in, and I was wondering where this would fit into your speculative “A Day in the Future Classroom.” How would SEL be addressed in a technology focused classroom?
Hi Kelvin,
Thanks for your feedback! You bring up an interesting point. I think in an increasing space where students are used to using asynchronous ways of communication rather than face to face, SEL will also be increasingly important. I am not proposing that technology replace human contact, but rather a different style of communication and collaboration is under way. For example, students may be in a gamified learning environment where they work in groups to complete projects, and as they complete online work they can collect points for their group, maybe for an exchange of power up badges as a group. In a traditional classroom, students can only communicate when they are at school, but in a technology focused classroom, they could also communicate after school hours via online platforms.
Thanks for the comment, let me know if you have other suggested ideas!
Hi Elixa!
Thanks for commenting! To answer some of your questions:
1. What would you say are some key differences between remote learning now and what you have proposed for the future classroom?
2. How can schools better prepare to embrace this new technology in the classroom?
The key difference would be a total integration of using educational technology on a regular basis, and not just a temporary fix to help children stay education during the pandemic. Rather than using technology to make offline material available online, I think a redesign of an online merge offline education is required to achieve the future classroom. I think our mentality should shift from trying to get kids to use more technology in the classroom for the sake of using technology, to thinking about how to design our course with technology already in our mind. There are many ways of doing things that are different for digital natives, for example, they desire a learning environment that is more collaborative, more personalized, faster to access information….etc, thus I think our curriculum should shift to accommodate that. It’s more than just using technology in class, it’s a revamp of our curriculum.
I think I’ll leave the other questions for others to comment on. They are all really thought provoking. Thanks!
3. How can we make budget allocations and training for teachers to be able to use these devices properly in the classroom?
4. What modifications would have to be made to the public education system to embrace having devices available to all the students?
5. Would having access to mobile devices for student learning in the classroom provide this same flexibility for teachers?
6. Or would the extra attention return to the classroom management model?
It would be nice to see the classroom upgrade to this era of technology. Although after going through your project, I am seeing a lot of parallels with what teachers are doing now for remote learning as every student needs a device to connect into their learning. What would you say are some key differences between remote learning now and what you have proposed for the future classroom?
How can schools better prepare to embrace this new technology in the classroom? How can we make budget allocations and training for teachers to be able to use these devices properly in the classroom? What modifications would have to be made to the public education system to embrace having devices available to all the students?
The greatest part of having a classroom run through digital interfaces is that we can more easily differentiate learning. Having every student complete the same task is not realistic in most classrooms. My grade 6/7 classroom last year held a spectrum of students who ranged from grades 2-9 in curriculum. When we switched the remote learning where I could use digital tools for immediate feedback allowed me to alter my teaching to meet the needs of the individual students more easily than in the classroom where that extra time was used for classroom management. Would having access to mobile devices for student learning in the classroom provide this same flexibility for teachers? Or would the extra attention return to the classroom management model?