Me: Free period? Maths? Orhhh.. Teacher absent is it?
Sis: Nope. The internet connection in the computer lab was down. =)
Me: o.o?!?!
It turned out that her Maths lessons now consists of having each pupil sit in front of a computer in the computer lab, navigating themselves around learning websites which has interesting programs teaching and allowing students to practise their mathematics skills through engaging games. The teacher then walks around facilitating students' usage of the computer.
About a decade ago, the age whereby I myself was in Pri 4, classrooms looked something like that...
Teachers still used chalkboards and each student relied mainly on their textbooks and exercise books.
In my secondary school, classrooms started to look like this.
Chalkboards were substituted with whiteboards. Teachers started to rely more on overhead projectors and a little bit of computers. Once in a blue moon,
we were taken to the computer labs for certain lessons. A rare treat!
At that time, our imagined classrooms of the future would probably be what we have now.
Currently, for certain schools or subjects, some classrooms already look like this...
Where each student sits in front of a computer and interacts more with the computer than the teacher. 'Blackboard' now refers to a provider of products that enable universities, schools, and corporations to host their classes on the World Wide Web.
At first I naively thought such technological advances in the classroom came with age. I'm growing up and progressing up the educatinal ladder and thus with each advancement, classrooms are more well-equipped! Until I realized that children in Primary schools or even pre-school have classrooms that are very well-equipped technological-wise. *Cue the awe and disappointment.*
Before long, we can expect to see...
And nope, this is not the farthest we could go with integrating digital wonder into the classrooms.
Imagine a future where the desks and seats have been substituted by workstations such as the RM Delta (click to read more about it, it's pretty interesting), specially designed for future classrooms.
The high utility of technology in classrooms may or may not be beneficial to the essential act of teaching and learning, as can be seen in this article questioning the wiseness of schools that have spent too much money digitalising the classroom with gadgets and technology, but the thought of a tech-savvy classroom filled with jawdropping gadgets that people of the older generation could only dream of is still an ideal that people are working towards.
At the rate we are going down the path of technological advancements, the future digital classroom is indeed something worth beholding. As far as imaginations go, a good guideline would be the government's vision for 2015.
Every student will own a slim tablet of their own, containing everything they need to succeed in the classroom.
Or perhaps there wouldn't even be future digital classrooms. With technology, learning is becoming very much an individualised process, so what's to stop it from being such that students of the future can all learn at home using their own computers and laptops and tablets and whatnots?
Classes will be taught through interactive web programs, e-learning where virtual lecturers provide students with information needed and best of all, these lectures can be repeated as and when needed (e.g. when studying for exams!) Assignments can be submitted online, students' usage of 'class hours' can be monitored online, etc.
Seems like in future, instead of teachers, we'll be needing more IT experts to ensure that all these technology function properly, cuz by then, the malfunction of the computer or an Internet downtime wouldn't mean just a free period, it'll mean a whole free day void of learning.
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