As technology begins to dominate the world we live in more and more, the field of education is rapidly beginning to adopt more technological practices as well. Whether it is one-to-one machines such as laptops or tablets for students or pieces of tech that teachers utilize like smart boards, schools and classrooms are all starting to trend in a paperless direction. In the future of education, I could easily see this spike in technology leading to face-to-face education in a classroom becoming obsolete altogether.
Students in today’s day and age grow up looking at screens in practically every aspect of their lives. Their digital literacies at early ages has become extremely advanced and it only seems to make sense to tailor education to fit this same mold. Giving students the ability to use technology to connect to classes from any location at any time only seems to make sense in terms of fitting the technological culture that these kids grow up in.
The best avenue for how to accomplish this would be to set up online video classes where the students would still have a normal class schedule, but they would tune in via their smartphones or laptop versus actually attending the class. The students could also in these instances choose their teachers for each subject due to the fact that students would not have to be divided evenly between a team of teachers in order to not overcrowd a classroom. Giving the students a semblance of ownership in choosing their instructor would also cause them to be more excited about learning and participating in class.
The online video “classroom” could have a social media like feel to it which would allow the students to connect even more. Throughout the class, the students could view live, interactive lectures and submit comments or questions in a social media like chatroom. There could be “like” or “bookmark” features for the students to designate parts of the lectures they have questions about or just simply enjoyed. Despite the fact that the world is becoming more digital, the teacher-student interface aspect of a classroom still has its benefits. Therefore, these online lectures would be able to somewhat supplement the absence of being in front of a teacher in person.
After the lectures, the students could take part in interactive assignments, quizzes, or games that have been placed in the virtual classroom by the teacher. This is yet another aspect of the classroom that would give the students ownership of their own learning. The students would be required to complete a certain amount of assignments on a weekly basis, however the assignment options would be numerous to where the students could pick the ones that they liked the best. This way, the students could essentially differentiate their own education by choosing the assignments that cater best to their learning styles.
The students could also gain the ability to interact with other students in the class for help on assignments, to compete in review games or quizzes, or to study test materials. Despite the fact that learning is still occurring, the students would be more excited to take part in this form of education because it resembles everything they have grown up with. The classes would give the kids a reason to be on their smartphones or computers which they love using, and they would find the interactive, technological, and social media-like qualities of their learning environment much more appealing.
Education is just like any other field in needing to adapt with the times. A change like this definitely would not happen overnight, but with the amount of technology that is already being incorporated into classrooms and the clientele of students in schools today, I could definitely see it happening in the future. This would be the shot in the arm the field of education needs in order to answer the age old question of how to meet the needs of every single student.
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