I believe in this day and age we are extremely concerned with the two major issues. The issues that seem to be of greatest concern are the environmental impact of energy use (including the waste) and the associated economy. I think over the next several years, the “green” approach to life and the better use of money will be the focus of everyone including education.
Technology can be defined as the ability to modify life in an attempt to enrich our lives by making it “better” and more efficient. The biggest enrichment to most people’s lives is likely more time. We never have enough time. In a society that requires everything to be instant, the Internet has made an honest effort to make this possible. We need not travel to a library for research, to a store to shop, or to go to a school to go to school. All these situations require us to save time (and likely money too). Perhaps the best parts about each of these situations are we can do most of these on our own terms. We can research information from billions of Internet resources that are increasing exponentially and becoming more and more diverse. People are able to shop for anything, no matter how obscure, anytime of the day from the comfort of their couch, at a restaurant, or from their iphone. In reference to schooling, we can already get an advanced degree without ever seeing a professor or stepping on a college campus – all which could be completed between midnight and sunrise. Our society has really put an emphasis on convenience. We need not wait until 2020 for these things to arrive. They are here.
In addition to an increase in time, we want to do everything cheaper. An on-line course that is completed under the direction and supervision of an instructor half way across the country has money conservation built in. No travel, no paper, no books (or at least a used one bought from someone on-line also halfway across the country), no building (requiring no heat/air, no landscaping, parking passes, or campus security) are required to obtain those reduced rate three credits. All that is required is a laptop, an Internet connection, a couch, and an instructor in their pajamas. How much money does all involved working from home save? No gas for the car, no lunch at the restaurant or union building, or need for a babysitter is necessary to take classes. This, again, does not need to wait until the year 2020. It is here and available now.
We are not wasting paper by being on-line. We are not adding carbon monoxide into the atmosphere by using the resources available on the Internet. Oh how green! There is nothing I have mentioned for which we need to wait ten plus years. I believe the what we will see happen is that more any more people will become aware of these resources and will begin to utilize them. The more we as teachers utilize technology in our classroom, the more likely students will be able to utilize the resources themselves. I guess what this amounts to is that we must conserve. Now there is a novel thought. Once again…. nothing new.
So what is new aside from likely taking more advantage of what is already available? The obvious is that technology will get faster, smaller (more portable), more widely accessible, and possibly more affordable. I think the first thing we will have to accomplish and put have a greater focus is a better rechargeable battery. We have electric cars, electronic devices, solar panels, etc. The problem is that these devices are only as good as their portable or interchangeable power storage. I think this is a limiting factor in our technology. Storage or information has improved from floppy disks, to hard drives, to zip drives, and to on-line storage. I think the storage of power will have to improve equally as well for technology to continue to grow quickly.
From a purely computing point of view, I understand the direction of the computer company’s plan for is a lot different from that we currently use. I have read that the computer desktop is going to undergo a change. Instead of a jumbled mess like my own, it will be very interactive. The widgets or “apps” will be present for interaction. Real-time up dates will range beyond my weather.com updates in the corner of my desktop. My desktop will be able to follow me without my computer to wherever I have an Internet connection (I believe that is here but copyright issues are holding that up). My students will likely be able to connect to a classroom discussion even when they are absent (complete with advanced voice recognition software that recognizes and records words of emphasis – my students don’t have those capabilities). As I mentioned before, the capabilities are already here, but the application is a little slower to catch up.
Smart-phones in the future will serve as our laptops. We will be able to hook our portable device into the projector for an assignment (if it need be hooked and is not entirely wireless). With the use of smart-phones, the collaboration of student cannot only be wireless but also seamless.
Many students have found their extracurricular activities being influenced by an influx of political and economical involvement. Students have seen a connection to more real world issues. By politicians and others becoming more and more technologically advanced, students also becoming more and more interested. MTV and other pop-culture phenomenon have promoted this over the years as well. This will only become more evident as the technology improves. Because we can connect and collaborate the ability to have your say regardless of where you are located and have that voice be heard will be something very attainable. Unfortunately, the ability to be influenced and not think for oneself will be equally as prevalent.
If students arrive at a classroom, they will be stepping out of ecologically friendly vehicles. They will be given the opportunity to hear more than just their teacher. They will watch and be able to interact with a 3D or maybe even holographic 3D discussion with prominent educators or professional in their curriculum topic of the day. They will be able to collaborate with others around the country or around the world. Given the focus on the environment, future schools will be the messenger in terms of environmental education and public service in order to be sure that the academic investments (also known as public tax dollars) are not wasted. I think this all translates into schools and teachers are going to have to do more things that parents should be responsible for doing for their kids – but I guess I should look at the bright side…. We may be able to do more of it from the comfort of our home.
N 1922 Thomas Edison predicted that “the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and … in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.” Twenty-three years later, in 1945, William Levenson, the director of the Cleveland public schools’ radio station, claimed that “the time may come when a portable radio receiver will be as common in the classroom as is the blackboard.” Forty years after that the noted psychologist B. F. Skinner, referring to the first days of his “teaching machines,” in the late 1950s and early 1960s, wrote, “I was soon saying that, with the help of teaching machines and programmed instruction, students could learn twice as much in the same time and with the same effort as in a standard classroom.” Ten years after Skinner’s recollections were published, President Bill Clinton campaigned for “a bridge to the twenty-first century … where computers are as much a part of the classroom as blackboards.” Clinton was not alone in his enthusiasm for a program estimated to cost somewhere between $40 billion and $100 billion over the next five years. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, talking about computers to the Republican National Committee early this year, said, “We could do so much to make education available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, that people could literally have a whole different attitude toward learning.”
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