FutureWatch 4

FREE SCHOOL???

Education in the future should be available to all students regardless of location or money. With the technological advances made in the past ten years, I believe we are heading into the direction of accessibility for all people.
When thinking of online classes, the type of students that come to mind are people who have access to a computer and prefer the convenience of online classes. An article in 'The Economist' entitled Raising Alabama, discussed online education for students who do not have access to specialty classes because they live in a rural area where specialty teachers are scarce. They started a pilot program called ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide). This program allowed students in rural areas to take more AP classes, resulting in a 2.1% improvement in black students who passed the AP course, the largest improvement in the country. This program also allowed students to take virtual field trips to Antarctica, an experience that will make it more real for the students. I am particularly excited about these field trips, especially with the advancement of GoogleMaps allowing us to virtually travel to places we may have never before seen.
When I came across a blog post, In the Future, the Cost of Education Will Be Zero, the title alone drew me in. Is anything in life free? This concept seems to be a bold endeavor, and if it works, it will give many students an opportunity of continuing education. University of the People is the name of the 'free' university and was dreamed up by the United Nations GIAD. This University, "utilizes open source courseware and peer-to-peer learning to deliver information to students without charging tuition." You will not find any Med students at this University, it is a chance for third world students to take general ed type courses and build their skills and credits for a better career without breaking the bank.

New technology innovations, learning management sites, and social networks are providing us with the technology and resources to share materials and knowledge with each other at no cost. To me, it seems fair that all people no matter their background have opportunities to get an education to enable them to live their dream. Why should someone have to work at a job and be miserable their whole life just because they did not have the money to go to college? However, I wonder what that will mean for my job as an educator? I feel the role of educators and instructional designers will change with this shift. They will be used more as advisors for these types of courses. On the other hand, with the recent developments and programs such as University of the People, we will find many more opportunities for everyone... at a lower price:) It will be interesting to see the data in a few years.

The Future of my Three Loves

The Future of my 3 loves; hands-on-learning, mobile-

learning, and Mayer's multimedia principal

As educators and students we are challenged to stay current with technologies and teaching methods to provide our students with an optimal learning experience, yet it is always fun to look ahead and imagine the possibilities of our future and how they will impact our life.  As an instructional design student I have chosen my three loves to be hands-on-learning, mobile-learning, and Mayer's multimedia principal.   My first love, mobile learning, has a future of being a 'sixth sense;' a concept that may adjust my teaching of the five senses.  Ted, a networking company, is currently creating a new sixth sense mobile technology which hangs on your neck and consists of a camera, projector, mirror, and caps to allow the user to interact with projected data through their fingertips...Watch the video below to see for yourself:

The implications of this sixth sense technology means that instructional designers must educate themselves and keep current on design theory in order to design these and other learning oriented tools (Reiser & Dempsey 2007).  In five to ten years, this recent development will be as common as cell phones students will no longer have the excuse of missing homework, because it will be stored in a device literally at their fingertips.  

My second love is Mayer's multimedia principle.  In the past five years many emerging technologies have been implemented into the classroom, and schools are beginning to integrate instructional technology tools to develop "Classrooms of the Future."  Today children are able to use rich media tools like Skype to collaborate with digital classrooms around the world, connecting and learning about other cultures is now easier than ever.  As a teacher, each time I see a new video, educational game, or software, I am eager to integrate it into my classroom.  However, I need to be careful to ensure I am choosing effective media that aligns with my instructional objectives. Instructional designers as well will have to conduct formal evaluations on current tools, and use information to guide the development/improvement of future tool.  In ten years I predict that these rich media sources, such as educational videos will be personalized based on each individual students' needs and abilities.  

The future of hands-on-learning is exciting as the trend in education is moving away from traditional lecture classrooms and towards simulated, active learning environments.  A good example of this is the Quest Learning Program, a new schools designed to use the principals of games to create an immersive hands-on-learning experience for its students.  In my own classroom I use learning centers as small-group-work, which enables my students to practice skills through guided discovery.  In the book, Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, the authors predict, "as many creative designs give emphasis to socially active learning, interactions will become an even more central force in courseware development" (Reiser & Dempsey 2007).  In our near future I see many schools implementing active learning pedagogy as the Quest to Learn Program has done.