Some people think typical teaching of a teacher and students in the class will not exist by the year 2050. Do you agree or disagree?
Technology is progressing at an exponential pace and this makes it very difficult to predict what the schools and the teacher-taught relation of 2050 will be like. However, I do agree with the given statement that the typical teaching of a teacher and students in the class will not exist by 2050.
Education will be driven by technology and learning will be able to happen anytime and anywhere. Students will also be able to make choices in how they learn the content. Learning will be based on individual interest and need. It will no longer be the ‘one size fits all’ approach. Technology will serve as a means to the resources that students will be able to utilize in order to broaden their learning.
Teachers will become facilitators of knowledge and no longer the only experts because of the rapid and constant changes and additions to information that can be found. For example, the amount of medical knowledge doubles every eight years; it is said that half of what an engineering student learns in their first year is obsolete or revised by the time they graduate. The teacher will still guide students through learning but it will be impossible for teachers to have all the knowledge with technology that is capable of finding more than can be learned. The teacher will still be needed to help students learn where to locate information and help students evaluate sites and resources for validity.
Specialists in technology will need to be part of the educational environment to constantly enrich the learning environment for students. Each child will have a portable computer and textbooks will not exist. Teachers will use tablet PCs and projectors to call up images at the front of the classroom at the touch of a button, with the old sound of chalk on a blackboard being replaced by the hum of desktop computers.
To sum up, I believe that, despite all the new technology in 2050, school would still remain a social occasion and teachers would still be there even if their way of imparting knowledge would be driven by technology.