More than 20 years ago a video was produced called Classroom of the Future. On this video there were a number of technological advancements that had not really been produced but could be foreseen in the near future. This technology was going to revolutionize the education system and provide a safer and more adept way of handling the classroom environment. Although not all things shown in this video have been used in the classroom, there were a number of elements that have been.
The futuristic setting is in a classroom filled with, what I call gaming chairs, (you know the ones that rock back and forth and are really low to the ground, sort of L-shaped) and the teacher not teaching in front of a chalk board but an interactive "smart board". Here the instructor displays maps and a PowerPoint slide describing what is expected of the students in the assignment due the next day. She assigns groups of two in which she introduces to us a student who had recently broken his leg and was at home healing. He was on a live feed interacting with the classroom (which could happen but I am not sure that is legal) and showing his skills of research which could be done from his bed. He uses voice recognition software which then takes him to film archives, the schools online database, and a way to electronically send his work (now email) to his course partner.
I still agree with the video that there is no need for desks anymore. Now with Ipads the children have all the tools they need for a successful education, regardless of the actual age of the student. I see schools giving students an ipad for the school year in which they can leave at school or checkout to bring home to do homework. Future technology will only tell how advanced we can go!
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