It's something to look forward to , with a classroom of the future that enables students to dictate or pace their own learning - they can decide at what pace they would want to learn a certain topic, or perhaps they would be given a myriad of interesting subjects to choose from that would be pertinent to their needs and aspirations. No streaming examinations, no classifications into the normal stream, express, etc, just self-paced.
The myriad of technologies that would be available as highlighted in the video also is something to look forward to. However i have my fears. Yes we are teaching students today to be technologically savvy (if possible), and to think critically and adapt to changes (which the video terms this world is exponentially changing). Would we be able to keep up with these changes? What happens to the institution of education and schools? With self-paced learning, students might not really need to go to school anymore. They can always do their learning at home. What becomes of teachers? Will we just become facilitators? Sitting in the comforts of our home, answering and monitoring our student's progress? How will our students be able to learn EQ, relationship management, and face to face interaction and group dynamics?
Yes the virtual world now exists for us to play out what might entail in real life. This however does not replicate or replace what really happens in the real world. Yes in WOW or any other virtual game, you can make mistakes and try again. If our students make a mistake in life, for example commit a crime, or partake in pre-marital sexual relationships and get pregnant, is there a second chance?
You cannot hit the reboot button on your pc. You cannot perform a restore function. Life carries on, with the lessons learnt and baggages carried. How do we teach these skills to our children if they have no such exposure to real lessons as compared to virtual and computer game-based learning?
With technology being the forefront of our future living and work, what happens to our sense of privacy? Will we be able to switch off and go on a holiday? Or have we already been electronically enslaven? Can we live without our phones for a day? Without text messaging for a day? How will work take place. Will our newspapers become a thing of the past? I would not trade a physical newspaper for an electronic plate which acts like a virtual screen displaying the news of the day which was what the taxi driver was doing in the video which depicts a possible Singapore in 2015. (How hypocritical, we have phones now that allow us to surf the web online)
Learning will definitely be dynamic and possibly self-paced in the future. And NIE is preparing us to learn how to harness technology alongside traditional curriculum like psychology and concepts to better equip us to handle the future of education. Even though the possiblities excite me, the myriad of changes that are about to take place scares me. Life will be come more complicated, more dynamic and exponential.
Sometimes i wish life and education were simple. I guess not.
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