Gazing Into a Crystal Ball--Technology's Role in the Future of Education

K12 Education

It’s been my experience that most technology used in the K12 arena, especially at lower levels, has been used to replace pencil/paper drill and kill. Why? It’s easy. It’s “safe”. It requires little innovation on the part of an instructor. This is not a criticism; teachers in the classroom are just trying to survive. I understand that.

In the future, I’d like to be optimistic and say that educators will find ways to incorporate technologies in lessons that allow for creativity, problem solving, collaboration with peers and higher level thinking. A blog, such as this one, would be just one example of a way to collaborate and create, especially for younger students. At the high school level, it’s my hope that distance learning will become the norm instead of the exception.

It’s my strong belief that there needs be several paradigm shifts before technology will be used in the later ways I’ve expressed instead of the former.

HIgher Education

According to our text (page 22), 2/3 of colleges offer on-line courses. The demand for this type of educational experience would lead one to believe that universities will continue to provide such a service. Emerging technological advances will open the door for a variety of opportunities, almost certainly some that we can not image at this point.

Adult (Continuing) Education

As with higher education, I see adult education benefiting tremendously from the advances in technological. While it might not be appropriate for all classes to rely totally on digital delivery of content, a vehicle such a course management system could be used to provide introductory knowledge of subject. The biggest impediment to the marriage of technology and adult education might be availability hardware, internet connectivity and “fear” of computers/technology. In our small, rural community, I know this would be the case with many non-traditional learners.