The Classroom teacher of tomorrow is "Technology"

The “Google it” Phenomenon and it’s impact on Education:

How many times today did you just “google it” or allow Google to suggest with it’s artificial intelligence (AI) – “Did you mean”. In the past, copying off pieces of notepaper or using a calculator at exams was considered cheating. Can any one really justify that line of thinking today? If our human brain has been “augmented” by the Internet or the “cloud”, and knowledge and info on any subject on this planet can be accessed with ease, is it still wrong to “copy”?

Much has been said on the downsides of  rote learning, yet if a child knows and has understood the context of a question or a problem, is he / she permitted to access the answer with the help of a smart phone or laptop, via the internet during an exam? Why or Why not?

These are important questions we will be asking ourselves within the next few years. Yes it does sound rather scary that we may promote rusting of brains if this practice is allowed and goes unchecked. As sci-fi as it sounds, we are actually creating artificial brains that are now performing our thought intensive chores like calculations, or at the very least, storing our knowledge.

However as more and more human thoughts and knowledge gets digitized and stored offline,  probably, in the not so distant future, we will be using our real brains in a less stressful manner which may just lead to lower levels of stress (less gray hair, etc) and longevity.

Don’t embrace Technology, Master it early!

Technology in Education – There are entire businesses dedicated to servicing this rather lucrative market. After all even in a recession, the basics of life is what money is spent on. Food, shelter clothing and children’s education. While technology may still be considered a “frill” benefit in some schools, and sadly may be beyond the reach of schools in many of the under developed and developing regions of the world, there is every effort being made to reduce the cost of computers and other technology for schools.

If parents / teachers refuse to acknowledge, and keep resisting technology – there will be a serious Digital Divide or Technology Divide occurring, with drastic consequences.  This  article from the year 2002 (even that sounds ancient) is worth pondering. There would be a master slave like situation soon, where kids who grow up to be adults, would be the “dumb people” who are unable to understand hi-tech and will be in a subservient position to people who do; in a world that is run by Technology and intelligent devices.

Honestly, we have to answer this question – As parents and teachers today, are we actually in-the-know about what our 13 or 14 yr old has on his/her PC? There are net nanny tools etc, but this has been reduced to a basic form of “defense”. Today you could look at an innocent looking directory structure on a PC, but hidden (by a smart child) is all the things that should’nt be there. e.g Unrated movies, Games etc. “Boss key” software is getting more advanced by the year and being written by teenagers. The un-hackable I-phone was cracked by a 17 year old, who is again in the news 3 years later, having hacked the fortress like PlayStation 3 console.

We should not concentrate only on “humanizing” education, we have to prioritize “mastering” technology at as early an age as possible and in schools, else a child of today will be tomorrow’s “drone” getting lower paying jobs or reduced to what we call illiterates.

The point above is, that there is no question of embracing technology in schools today or not, the emphasis should hence forward be, “mastering technology”  before it is too late.

(Prepare them for the future – not your past.  From: Cyndi’s Education Tech Place)

The role of  Technology,Teachers and Parents in the future of Education:

Very soon, it won’t be unreasonable to predict how the medium of instruction and the platform for education will change. For example online K-12 schooling is gaining ground, and is a real threat to (the business of) Schools, even though there will be staunch criticism and debate from established brick and mortar institutions. Home Schooling or online schooling by it’s very nature is dependent on Technology.

A far more real and practical example is the recent Swine Flu pandemic that gave us a taste of what could happen to education – France seemed to be the only country (as far as we know) that had made, or was perfecting contingency plans to completely take education offline… or go online with it, should the epidemic have spread within the country.

How? – Driven and powered by technology. This would mean no socializing, and no personal hands on interaction between teacher and student. Hands on would be mouse, keyboard and webcam. Should these unfortunate situations or natural calamities occur, it is better to be prepared and invest more in inventing Technology that enables that very “interaction” we crave for, rather than resisting or downplaying the need for technology in the world of today and tomorrow.

There is definitely a role for Parents and Teachers to play in Education, besides of course the Formative years (this age group is being constantly re-defined) of a child, possibly after 13 years of age, the child will be self educating themselves at a speed where the “older” generation can’t humanly keep up with, due to the advances in technology and the sheer volume of information and knowledge that is getting outdated, re-defined or re-invented.

The parent and teacher’s role would be of moral guidance, philosophy and helping in character building of a child. Children themselves would always be connected to “THE CLOUD”, a digital world of knowledge and an archive of Human history, culture, science and religion, ,  and that would start with the earliest that they can lay their hands on and “master” Technology.