One of the great things about making predictions about the future, or being a futurist, is that you can get things 100% wrong, and still say, “Hey, who can predict the future?” All kidding aside, the next ten years have the potential to continue the revolutionary developments in learning that have come about as a result of the momentous changes in technology. There are several ways in which this may occur. Certainly, some seem more likely to come to fruition than others. The following essay will examine how some of the technologies examined in the present course may continue to evolve in the teaching field and reach greater applicability. Likewise, it will propose some changes to the field of education that may occur as the discipline comes to grips with the ubiquitous presence of technology.
One possible path is that technology will continue to develop and we will stumble and search out new means of education application, without a real organization or conceptual framework. In other words, we will continue as things have progressed so far. If the use the technology in the classroom, real or virtual, continues in this fashion, it will like continue to contribute to the digital divide. (For information on the digital divide see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide. Last accessed 7/24/10 1:20 PM.) Likewise, it will exacerbate the checkerboard nature of the implantation of technology.
One possibility that could certainly alter this trend, and which is already beginning to emerge in some education programs is the inclusion of a technological component to the education major. For example, at my institution, all education majors must compile and maintain digital portfolios of their work over the period of their education at the college. Moreover, these are posted on the EDU portion of the college website and can be made available to potential employers. Still, more formally, an actual technology class could be included as part of the EDU curriculum. Currently, the EDU curriculum at institutions such as Eastern Illinois University does not contain any formal technology requirement. (For Eastern, see http://www.eiu.edu/~sed_edf/ and http://www.eiu.edu/~ceps/index.php Last accessed 7/24/10 3:32 PM). By the same token, DePaul University does have one class (See http://education.depaul.edu/CoursesAndSchedules/UndergraduateCourses/index.asp Last accessed 7/24/10 3:32 PM ) This will certainly continue to grow, and educators will be expected to be more well-versed in technology coming out of school than is currently the case. An area where this will be very interesting to watch will be at the college level. Currently, the focus in disciplines such as History at the post-graduate level is on the content. One look at the course offered at the university of Chicago support this assertion. (See http://history.uchicago.edu/graduate/aut10gradcourse2.htm Last accessed 7/24/10, 3:33PM). Still, if the current directions in education continue, mere mastery of content will no longer suffice. It will have to be lashed tightly to a solid understanding and ability to utilize education technology and to fit technology to educational outcomes in order for the teacher to succeed.
(I chose these schools as all are recognized in the State of Illinois for their particular specialties. Eastern Illinois University is routine cited for its education program. By the same taken, the University of Chicago is one of the most prestigious schools in the Midwest. (See http://diplomaguide.com/articles/Top_Illinois_Colleges_and_Universities.html and http://www.4icu.org/us/Illinois.htm Last accessed 7/23/10 3:28 PM )
Beyond the manner in which technology will likely change how educators are trained in the next ten years, they will definitely change the way content is disseminated in the classroom. One way in which this could manifest would be the growing use of Kindles in the classroom. I could see this phasing out hardcopy textbooks, which would certainly have an environmental benefit, and could help to reduce the cost of textbooks as well, as there would no longer be the bulk delivery charges. Likewise, an edit feature could be included, as well as a survey function that would allow students and instructors to give virtually instantaneous feedback concerning the reception of certain chapters or sections in the classroom. This sort of response could also lead to much faster changes in editions of textbooks as they are revised to make them more compatible with the learning needs of students. If taken to the extreme, this implementation could lead to a radically different interpretation of meaning of intellectual property. The reason being that if students and instructors can make very clear editorial suggestions to textbooks companies and authors, and these are implemented, whose idea is it anyway?
Still Kindle is a piece of hardware, and these can be costly to purchase at the outset. Another avenue of change would be the web itself. One way in which the web can alter the manner in which we teach and learn with regard to skilled crafts. Many have likened the current technological revolution to the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and its negative effects on skilled trade. (See http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/578/Information-Revolution-Vs-Industrial-Revolution.html and http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/574/Information-Revolution-Vs-Industrial-Revolution-TECHNOLOGY.html . Last accessed 7/24/10, 3:27 PM ) One article that rejects this argument may be found at http://www.nber.org/reporter/winter03/technologyandinequality.html . At the same time, with the greater speed of the internet, it might be possible to utilize it as a tool to rediscover older forms of artisanal production. This could be used both generally, and in content specific approaches. For example, imagine having someone skilled in the hand-working of wood into furniture, such as cabinet-makers and joiners explain their craft to students in a classroom hundreds of miles away. This could be accomplished with use of the application Skype as a means of contacting Colonial Williamsburg from my classroom in Illinois. (http://www.history.org/almanack/life/trades/tradecab.cfm )
Flickr, as well, may see much greater application in the classroom, and may be combined with other applications such as meemov (http://memoov.com/ ) in order to take pictures and develop them into animations. Imagine animating the streets of Paris for an introductory icebreaker class on the French Revolution! While this may not be possible at the moment, within a decade, it should certainly be feasible. It may even have fallen by the wayside for the use of a more interesting and interactive technology! Imagine taking the idea for Paris above, and making it so that students in the class could break off into small groups and virtually tour entire areas, and converse with students in Paris who are touring a virtual Chicago! Another possible application of Skype, but the time differential would have to be taken into account on this type of experience.
Finally, a technology that could compensate for time differences could very well be something like Second Life. (See http://secondlife.com/ ) To the present, Second Life has remained essentially under-utilized in educations. Some schools do post lectures on the online domain, and these can be occupied by anyone at anytime. Still, for the most part, this approach has fallen out of vogue for the moment. (See http://delicious.com/secondlife/education ) This is most likely due to the fact that currently there really is not a policing facility in the domain, and thus there have been reports of some fairly lude behavior. Once this is dealt with, and some general parameters established, this could be very useful. It might be possible to create a Historical Section of the Domain in which we could walk through a street in Medieval London, or one in ancient Rome. To some extent this is already being done, but the potential has only been scratched. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag .
As stated at the outset of this course, it seems that the only limits are our collective imagination.
Jim Mc Intyre
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