What will the “classroom of the future” look like?
Anyone who is interested in educational reform probably
comes around to that question sooner or later, and there are many different
visions.
Cartoonist Signe Wilkinson, of the Philadelphia Daily News, gives us a look at one possible result of ever-increasing cuts to school budgets. |
Our technology, our understanding of child development,
and our mandated necessity to teach all children in public schools suggest some
directions, including making classrooms more accessible to differently-abled
children. Growing pressure from tax-cutting state legislatures to reduce costs
suggest other potential courses of action.
This West London classroom structure was designed by Ludic Productions to facilitate a self-directed learning experience, using new technology. |
Some districts have focused on increasing class sizes or
reducing course offerings and teacher employment. In recent years, districts in
my area have cut hundreds of teaching jobs. More and more districts also are offering online
distance-learning options. By 2009, more than half the districts in the US had
adopted at least some online courses.
In addition to reducing some costs, "it provides the ability to offer coursework
that is otherwise unavailable at a child's school,” noted Anthony G. Picciano,
co-author of a 2009 survey of chief administrators (the most recent data I
could find). He added, “We find [this] to be especially significant in rural
counties."
Tennessee student Kelsey Stephenson takes an online course at home. Photo by Shawn Poynter for Digital Directions. |
By 2011, several districts
and states had begun to require at least some online classes, as a preparation
for the future. “The reality is, [at some point] they’re going
to have to do an online course,” Kathleen Airhart of the Putnam County (TN)
Schools said in an Education Week
interview. “This helps prepare the students.”
Of course, not all courses lend themselves
equally well to online teaching. As a studio art teacher, I question whether
anyone will ever be able to teach an entire studio art course as effectively
online as in person with actual materials and immediate feedback.
Salman Khan started a YouTube online teaching phenomenon--but he's wise enough NOT to teach some subjects. |
The justly celebrated Khan Academy offers more
than 3,200 teaching videos on a variety of topics—they even have an impressive
range of art history offerings—but not hands-on classes such as ceramics or
painting. I’ve seen lots of videos on these topics, true—but none could take
the place of an actual teacher in a well-equipped classroom.
Wii Sports Baseball seems unlikely to replace the real thing anytime soon. |
Videos teaching athletic skills are subject to
similar limitations. Although technology similar to the Wii gaming system may
be developing that will bridge some of those gaps in the future, that time has not yet come as I write this.
If schools only existed to teach subject
matter, it is possible that brick-and-mortar schools where students physically
gather each day for a set period of time might soon be a thing of the past. But
schools as we know them do not only
serve as a source for academic learning.
When a massive tornado destroyed Joplin High School, replacing it became a top community priority. |
Schools also are important social and cultural
centers for students and their communities. “A
place can lose its bank, its tavern, its grocery store, its shoe shop.
But when the school closes, you might as well put a fork in it,” writes Timothy
Egan in an article about the demise of small towns in the United States. This explains why rebuilding destroyed schools after massive
tornadoes in Joplin, MO, Greensburg, KS, and similar places is always hailed asan important community milestone.
Keeping children off the street and engaged in meaningful learning is a primary role of schools that was unavailable to these Troy, NY urchins as recently as 1910. |
For many families, schools play a vital
custodial function for their young children during the day while parents are at
work. It is important not to underestimate the importance of this.
Historically, public schools in the US were formed in parallel with the
juvenile justice system, in response to a growing problem of theft and
vandalism by roving bands of urchins as the Industrial Revolution pulled
parents into factories, but found children to be unsatisfactory laborers.
Kansas City Missouri's BackSnack program, sponsored by Harvesters and major donors such as LINC (the Local Invest- ment Commission) and distributed through schools, provides a vital service for food-insecure children. |
Many poor children also depend on theirschool’s free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs for steady food sources
in an otherwise food-insecure existence. The Harvesters “BackSnack” program
uses schools as a distribution center for their program to extend food aid
during weekends and holidays.
Any “school of the future” would need to meet
all of these varied needs, but there might be good ways to do this, outside of a traditional, brick-and-mortar school. I have often
wondered if some future schools might be organized into something resembling
next-generation one-room schools.
Some employers already provide day care, such as in this Boston-area store. Could a school room be part of some future places of employment? |
Children could gather in smaller groups,
perhaps in community rooms of apartment buildings or in parents’ workplaces (in
a similar facility to some employers’ current day-care centers). One or two teachers could
supervise and complement or augment online lessons for children who might vary
in age, but all attend the same location because it is in their “neighborhood.”
This is a volunteer mentor, but teacher-facilitators in educational centers could offer similarly individualized attention. |
These teachers could mentor students through
several years of schooling, providing both continuity and individualized guidance, appropriate to each student’s personality and abilities. They also could
organize outings for special classes such as hands-on science labs, studio art,
music classes, exercise classes, sports team practices, or trips to
museums.
This idea does not address the needs for racial
and cultural integration experiences, opportunities to associate with age-peers,
etc. It would work better in cities than in rural areas, but it also might answer
a more complete range of needs than individual online learning in homebound isolation, while still reducing
a district’s busing and building-maintenance costs.
PHOTO AND IMAGE CREDITS: The 2011 Signe Wilkinson (Philadelphia Daily News) “Classrooms of the Future” cartoon is from the NewsAdvance website. The photo of the futuristic-looking London classroom is from Ludic Productions. The photo of Kelsey Stephenson at work in her home was taken by Shawn Poynter for Digital Directions, an Education Week publication. The photo of Salman Khan is courtesy of the Socialtimes blog. The Wii Sports Baseball screen grab is from the Wii Secrets website. GIS at Bucknell provided the image of the tornado-devastated Joplin High School. The photo of the urchins in Troy, NY is courtesy of the "Sweet Juniper!" archive. The KC LINC website provided the "BackSnack Program" image. The employer-provided day care image is courtesy of the Boston Globe, and the photo of the mentor with her school-age friend is from the Raleigh, NC Neighbor-2-Neighbor organization's "outreach" webpage. Many thanks to all of them!
On Video Games: There is also the Kinect from Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/KINECT) and the ability it has to track hand motions and correct movements like in the game Dance Central. All we need now is a 3D projector and we can practice surgery at home.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, based on your comments about the community impact, if schools might not include some business tasks that would teach students real-life skills and give them experience they could use later.
Great ideas! Thanks for adding them! There wasn't room in one post for even a fraction of the possibilities! I'd like to return to this topic again.
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