Predicting the future would surely help me retire quickly, but in education it seems much easier simply because of the bureaucracies that hold teachers back. Basically, we are looking at the technology right now that we will see in schools in five years because it takes that long to implement any kind of change in education, sadly. I have the same frustration with the overly optimistic future worlds in movies. Can we really tear down the whole city and rebuild it with floating highways in 30 years? No. I wish, but no. Sorry, Back to the Future.
The death of email is inevitable. I barely use it already, mostly with my parents and junk mail, just like snail mail. It is old and outdated and that is fine. I am blocked at my school from gmail anyway, so our school has been using dropbox and apps for communication for awhile. Implementing the LMS will only increase that. As for wearable tech, I was just reading an article in Wired about virtual reality.
Much like Blu-ray and VHS, once the adult industry signs on the tech will take off, and the reason it hasn't taken off is that the quality is not quite there yet. That will be an additional technology that can be integrated into the classroom environment, or home, quite well (the VR, not the porn). Students could 'visit' different times and places, including places we cannot go to like the cellular level.
As for the general future of education, I really wish for open classes that are free to take world-wide that come with certificates that transfer for job-applicants. Teachers will be focusing on critical thinking skills in classrooms and much of the content will be learned online wherever the student wants whenever they want. However, the pragmatic side of my brain is well aware that the future of education will always be tied to the future of the political world in America. There are plenty of politicians trying to put their hands into education for better or worse, and that will have consequences. Having those free online classes can also create a bigger gap in education because of certain political or religious groups pulling out of the public schools and only offering the education they want for their children. Unfortunately, our designs of easy access to education anywhere can have negative consequences for society and there could be a backlash that puts children back in classrooms. No matter what, the learning will be happening via the internet in some capacity. It is really hard to say where it will go, but so far I am cautiously optimistic about education in the future. There are many schools and teachers trying new things now, certainly more than when I was in K-12, so that should bring about some good data and feedback that we can use to make new changes in the future.
What about children with learning disabilities?
Is the start-up culture and design ignoring the students that need extra assistance? I would argue that the technology being added to our world have been the most impressive on this very subject, in fact. Many of the latest advancements that we sometimes take for granted, or are even bothered by, are helping students that have learning disabilities the most. Click the button below for a look into what the education system is now and could be in the future for special education.