Let us know about your vision
Welcome to the future! I am not sure that I am confident that I could predict the trends in technology that will shape the world and education in 10 years as Alexander did. Nor would I have the confidence to predict even 2 or 4 or 6 years into the future.
At the same time, whatever utopian vision of technology may or may not exist in the future, I think that a more important point if there was an ‘ideal’ would be that there are varying degrees of meeting this ideal standard or not. Let me explain what I mean by this. In the year 2016, in the K-12 education systems, there are huge discrepancies among what and how education is offered. Globally we have a range of accessibility and hardware such as large international schools abroad that offer 1-to-1 computer use for their students to underfunded public school systems which lag behind running old operating systems on bulky old computers. Worse yet are places in the world where they still struggle to use basic paper and pencil technology to run their classroom due to lack of resources, this spectrum of having and have-nots will still be part of the education world as I see it in the future.
What was it that “wowed” you?
Alexander (2014) comments that all post-secondary classes would be flipped by 2024 in the Two Cultures scenario. I would love to see the end to large traditional lecture style classes in post-secondary institutions. This style of ‘chalk and talk’ teaching is antiquated and doesn’t relate to current educational research. It also means that there is a significant divide between the style of teaching in most K-12 classrooms and the style of teaching in some post-secondary institutions.
What are your concerns?
As described in my vision, my concern lies in who has access to technology. It doesn’t matter what the best/ ideal technology is and how it is used if that is only accessible to a small portion of students globally.
How do you see yourself in shaping the landscape?
I hope that my future teaching practise is focussed on providing the best possible learning environment for my students. I am a huge proponent of technology in education with the caveat that the technology is bettering learning, not an add-on, not a distraction but a truly better way for students to learn and to express their knowledge. I hope that I will be a critical consumer and user of technology and that I can also instill these values in my students.
Alexander, B. (2014). Higher education in 2014: Glimpsing the future. Educause Review, 4(5) Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/higher-education-2024-glimpsing-future?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email+marketing&utm_campaign=EDUCAUSE
Bates, T. (2014). MOOCs. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved fromhttp://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/chapter-7-moocs/ (Chapter 5)
New Media Consortium. (2015). NMC Horizon Report 2015: Higher ed edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-HE-EN.pdf
You have some interesting ideas here, Heather! I think your points about access over following trends is spot-on, and wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine that by 2024 (for example) all students would have equal access to the technology required for more self-directed, inspiring learning and teaching. Unfortunately, there still exist real divisions around class within the school systems, some of their own making and some that are just reflections of the world around them. Private versus public, Catholic versus secular, inner-city versus remote schools – these are all boundaries that seem to stop many programs that would otherwise offer great opportunities in education. Is it too ideal to hope that technology integration can’t happen in a broad, sweeping way, that is therefore inclusive? I feel like that’s a naive thing to wonder, but that is kind of shame.
Thanks, Kate. I wasn’t sure at first, if I had gone off on a bit of a tangent but I couldn’t seem to answer the questions any other way that felt ‘true to me’.
I think that it is an important part of the discussion of the future of ed tech and the future of technology.
(Not directly related but this TED talk is a real eye opener and along the same lines of what I addressed in my post – The gospel of doubt http://www.ted.com/talks/casey_gerald_the_gospel_of_doubt?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tedspread)
Hi Heather,
I think being concerned about access is a good way of looking at the future of ed tech and technology. I remember several initiatives that attempted to increase access to technology that just didn’t work. For instance, a learning tablet that, if you bought one, one would be donated to a school in need. This approach doesn’t work because “gifting” technology doesn’t work without tech support and infrastructure. So, I agree that it’s time we start thinking about access and all of the issues access entails.
I love that you made the distinction between technology as bettering learning rather than as an add-on. To me, this issue also relates to access in a way–just because we have it, doesn’t necessarily mean we need to use it.