How did you experience school? Did you love her or hate her? Did you feel like you were in the right place, or did you feel like you were wasting huge amounts of time learning things that weren't relevant to your adult life? Did you dream of going to school differently?
Today we write and dream about the future of learning, education and schools. We hope that the school will look exactly like this in 10 years!
Note that these are just predictions, presented to stimulate conversation, illuminate the possibilities, and help us stop and think about where it all might be headed.
School buildings
The school building as you know it will change. No more departments with heavy doors and narrow windows, no more desks in rows facing blackboards and lecterns, dusty textbooks, old blackboards and heavy school decorations...
There will be school buildings lively and dynamic. They will represent what today is called "flexible seating." In other words, many schools will look more and more like your favorite coworking space! They will have spaces for creators and aspiring engineers, where students can manipulate objects with their hands and learn.
Schools will be filled with new technologies, such as VR/AR kits, voice-controlled devices, and the latest laptops and tablets—for every student.
School as we knew it is slowly disappearing.Photo: Max Fischer / Pexels
Teachers
The role of the teacher will changed a lot. By now, you probably know your teacher as a subject matter expert. Usually, schools hire "Ms. Novak" to teach math because she is extremely knowledgeable in this area. Your Slovenian teacher usually likes literature and may have a minor writing career. For years and years, teachers have had to be subject matter experts.
It will be in the future adaptive learning software replaced direct instruction from teachers. Adaptive learning software is computer hardware that uses artificial intelligence, to guide students through level content based on student performance on assessment questions. Adaptive learning is faster and more effective than even the best teachers.
Using flexible learning software to teach core content means that teachers no longer need to be subject matter experts. With adaptive learning software, the role of the teacher changes. This one is now motivator, trainer, curriculum designer and mentor.
Because adaptive learning software is faster than classes today, schools will condense academic work into just three hours a day, and the other three or four hours a day will teach life skills or allow students to explore projects of personal interest. This means that the role of motivator will be one of the most important roles of a teacher.
Students
Students are also constantly changing. In the future, students will come to the material in the form of state-of-the-art technologies "on demand", just like today we access, for example, streaming content on Netflix. There will be apps for almost anything you can imagine. VR/AR technologies will immerse students in learning, making it possible a deeper understanding of the content, which is being studied.
This ultimately means that students will have greater choice and control in the future of education.
VR technology will allow a deeper understanding of content.Photo: Jessica Lewis/Unsplash
