Topic:

With all of the knowledge accrued over the course of the semester about technology use in the classroom, where does all of it go from here? During the last few classes, my class was prompted to come up with questions regarding the future of classrooms and education. This activity opened up my eyes to how different education is from only ten years ago and makes me realize how soon changes are going to occur in our current model of a classroom.

With the end of the semester upon us, my initial thoughts about classrooms of the future were only surface level and mediocre at diving deeper into what the future of education holds. But, as the questions began pouring out from classmates, my interest was sparked and I finally indulged in questioning what changes the future might hold. I initially only considered how the physical appearance of a classroom might change. For example, the set up of rows of desks being changed to discussion or sharing tables, or the lighting in classrooms being more natural instead of fluorescent. My initial thoughts about classrooms of the future did not entail anything close to what I learned about through my peers and teacher.

Assumptions:

Image Rights: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51lui5t0znL._SY300_QL70_.jpg

I had never personally given the classrooms of the future much thought, and I believe this is because when I envision a classroom that I might potentially teach in during my future career, the room looks exactly like it did when I was in elementary school. I assumed that although many years have passed since my time as a student, the place and the people are still the same as when I left them. Additionally, I assumed that a classroom of the future would be futuristic and contain wall to wall technology without an in-person teacher but instead a robot. This assumption stemmed from being influenced by movies that discussed what might happen if technology continued to advance, much like Smart House (a comedy/sci-fi movie produced in 1999). The movie suggests that technology will overpower humans if we let it, and is an entertaining and informative screenplay about how technology might achieve power.

In assessing my assumptions, I recognize that my image of future classrooms is more unrealistic than I first understood it to be. As a prospective elementary educator, my initial assumptions should have gone towards thinking about how a classroom will function in only 4 years from now. With little to no change in the layout of a classroom, the changes I assume will occur will be regarding technology usage and availability. Additionally, the technology in a classroom will need to change to be all-inclusive, meaning that even students with visual or audio impairments would be able to use the technology in a classroom. While this assumption might be true, it is untelling how the issue will be resolved in the near or far future, but I hope to see the progress classrooms need to help students succeed.

New Ideas:

Throughout this lesson, I enjoyed hearing what my peers had to say or question about classrooms of the future. While learning about the potential classrooms of the future have, I was able to connect my knowledge of how to effectively change my teaching style to cater to the development of different learners and how to change my classroom in such a way that will spark interest and awe from students. I learned from Rebekah Davis that questions are good, and especially open-ended questions because it allows for different ideas to be shared without refining your search. At the beginning of Mrs. Davis’s presentation, the class was given a large piece of paper and told to write down any and all questions that we had about the future of education. My group asked questions along the line of “How will the role of teachers change?” and “Will school funding improve?” From our list, we identified an undeniable theme to the questions, and that was that the questions all surrounded the functionality of the classroom and educating, but not explicitly about how students might be different in the future. The presentation Mrs. Davis gave about ‘Moving Forward’ led me to further understand the complexity of a classroom and how changes are crucial to evolving with society’s need for information and skill.

This experience provided me with the confidence to envision what changes I could implement in my future classroom. While society continues to evolve and demand different ways to learn and explore the world, education will need to also evolve with society. new gamify my own topic with a group, mainly because it was assigned but also because it was fun and exciting. Since considering the wide variety of questions associated with what education and classrooms might become, I learned during the activity that education can be both entertaining and informative. I believe that the future will prove this to be even more true, namely because classrooms need to provide students with a safe space to interact with others and share their ideas, and I believe the education community is beginning to acknowledge and take steps to achieve this needed space. Additionally, from Mrs. Davis’s presentation, I gained knowledge about the importance of providing new opportunities for growth and change in the classroom, and I now understand why technology is pertinent to the success of future classrooms and education.

A Course of Action:

With hopes of jumpstarting a chain reaction in whatever school I am given the opportunity to teach in, I hope to give my students access to a maker space and utilize it through project-based-learning. A maker space is a space filled with creative elements that allow students to dive deeper into their imagination and have full access to a variety of different resources to complete projects. This space is a relatively new part of many library centers in elementary schools and is one example of how teaching and learning are both on the brink of changing indefinitely. Project-based-learning utilizes the space in an effective manner by encouraging students to be creative and adventurous in their learning habits. In my future classroom, I hope to engage students through new teaching techniques and classroom experiences to spark a love for learning.

From successfully planning a PBL activity, I hope to show my future students and faculty that learning is about much more than retaining information, and can be achieved through a number of different ways. For future reference, I plan to encourage my students to use their imagination to achieve success both inside and outside of the classroom. Moreover, I believe I will utilize my platform as an educator to employ new teaching techniques into my classroom to give students the opportunity to expand their horizons on how to learn effectively.

 
Learned:

After fully immersing myself in questioning what could change in future classrooms, I have come to the realization that embracing the technological advances and integrating them into my future classroom might be the best way to ensure that I am about to meet the needs of my learners. Having the ability to adapt to change is important in life, and giving students the chance to see change and be able to keep up with it is one reason why instruction with technology is important. By embracing the changes that the future might bring, I hope to instill a sense of confidence in my students that will be valuable far beyond their time of learning in a classroom. Over the course of ECI 201, I have learned more than I ever expected to about how technology can effectively contribute to education by allowing students to grasp concepts they might otherwise not be able to.