What is going to drive the learning of future?
Have you ever thought of how the education will look like in future…….
Think of our school going kids going to class with not bag full of books, but with small thin leather case in their hand holding an ipad tablet. The teacher in class is giving them geography lesson by helping them do web-conferencing with kids in Africa or China. What a way to learn about globalization. No paper based homework assignments, but each student has their own homework folder on the school cloud and students can access it from anywhere, finish their homework and submit it back on the cloud.
Home tutoring is replaced by sites like Khan Academy. Kids ask questions with teachers and classmates by using discussion forums, chats or twitter and getting responses right away. No limits or bounds for how and where the students would be able to access the information. Today most of the students are getting used to 3D content and very soon it would be available everywhere and anywhere. You would be able to access the content on any flat surface such like your home wall or your vanity mirror or in many cases in air. Companies like Celluon (www.celluon.com ) have come up with projection keywords (magic box) where you can practically use any surface as keyboard. Today’s kids are of digital generation and it is in their best interest that we should educate them how to effective use and adapt the technology in best way possible. We should be enable them to succeed and should not guard them against the future.
Another education and learning trend of present and future is online virtual learning. This is gaining momentum at both individual and government level and folks are getting involved to embrace it. It is meeting needs of children who either are not privileged to go to full time school to get the needed education or have other priorities in life taking their time during the day and need access to education with flexible hours. Online education in USA with K12 (www.k12.com) is one such program getting popular. Kindergarten through 12th grade students in most states are enrolled in online public schools or “virtual schools” that partner with K12 and the number of students is growing rapidly every year. This schooling differs from traditional schools in that classes do not take place in a building, but rather at home, on the road, or wherever an Internet connection can be found. Students take courses online with support from their teacher via phone, online Web meetings, and sometimes even face to face. Online virtual education is gaining traction in other countries as well. There are numerous such examples from India, e.g. there are ‘Skype schools’ bringing knowledge to Indian villages. In one such example, once a week, Kumar uses the Skype computer program to teach math’s to children in Chamanpura, a poor village in Bihar, 600 miles (970 kilometres) from his two-storey house in the suburbs of New Delhi.
What is going to drive learning of future is affordability, accessibility and environment friendliness and the technology to support it. Also a key driver would be ability to present individualized learning to the students and bringing the education level to match the student’s appropriate level. This is so that even though the overall curriculum can be same, but it is tailored to the student’s level and needs. Students should be able to work through at their own pace and knowing where they need to be ultimately and are not bound by the circumstances. Asynchronous, personalized, real time, continuous and engaging learning holds the key for our student’s bright future.