Back To Module ListModule Main | Module Description | Instructional Outcomes | Instructional Proficiencies | Instructional EventsFacilitating Positive Attitudes Toward Collaborative Change: Module One
Author
Anita L. DeBoer, ED.D., Ball State UniversityTask for Completion and Discussion #5
Anticipating the Structure of Schools in the 21st Century
Ready or not, here they come -- the unrelenting and often turbulent winds of change. They are howling around the globe, and are now beginning to blow through the halls of our schools. They will, without question, drastically change how we do things. Our challenge is this: How can each of us prepare for the future that will surely arrive?
One way to prepare is to anticipate how our schools are likely to function in this new millennium. Technology alone, with its plummeting costs, will drastically change the look of our schools. As you read the following descriptions of a “future” school, try to anticipate what skills you may be required to have at mastery in order to survive – or better yet, to prosper in this new technological environment. Ask yourself, “How must I change the way I do things now?”
- Schools are organized into learning and research (L&R) centers; there are no classrooms as we know them today. Students can be in one center for weeks researching and developing a topic of interest. While some students study the environment, others research the culture of violence. Traditional content areas such as science, history, music, and English are totally integrated into their current studies rather than remaining separate entities.
- Technology is evident everywhere: new-age computers, video phones, high-resolution, video cameras in cell phones, smart robots, high-resolution color printers, and personal communication assistants (PCAs). Students carry PCAs with them at all times, day and night. These PCAs look like miniature cell phones, have removable gigabite memory modules, and can operate for a month without having to recharge the internal power cells. PCAs respond quickly to either spoken, scribbled, keyboard, or action commands. One PCA component, the size of a credit card, contains all the information on 10 sets of encyclopedias. Students can watch (pictures/animation), read, and/or listen to this information via their PCAs.
- Books in print form are limited. Textbooks are essentially eliminated. Since current facts have a life span of about 2 years and information is doubling every 20-30 days, volumes of information are now available on-line in databases connected to the information superhighway, a 5th generation of Internet. Students access this information instantly and with ease via their PCAs. A billion bits of new information are being entered into this global data bank on an hourly basis. A PCA’s built-in radio communicates wirelessly with the ubiquitous internet’s antennas.
- Virtual reality is available to everyone. Students and teacher/facilitators are able to transport themselves to far-away places such as Jupiter or St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of those areas. Students can also experience the past and be totally absorbed with the Civil War or Admiral Byrd’s exploration of the North Pole.
- The world of fiber optics allows students to be linked to billions of other students from several places on the planet. It is possible for students to communicate and cooperate to solve a common world problem such as eliminating environmental waste and world hunger and disease in under-developed countries.
- Students have single, unique addresses and can be accessed at any time. The software they are using allows for simultaneous translation, that is, a student from Canada, writing in English, is able to communicate in real time with other students in China who read and write solely in Mandarin. Software has been designed to serve as an interface.
- By means of PCAs that have a built-in, color video camera, students can converse with experts in many parts of the world. For example, a student who is studying architectural design may be building a scaled model of the Sydney’s Opera House. He can communicate directly with an architect from Australia and learn how she mathematically represents her structures.
- Similar to the fast-food chains, lunch areas are automated through the use of intelligent robots. Students can now order their food cooked and garnished as they like it. As a result, students can eat whenever it fits comfortably into their schedules. They no longer have to go in large groups to be served by school personnel.
- Students may use personal "smart cards" to account and pay for almost everything. Smart cards use fingerprints, not numbers, for identification. These cards automatically debit personal accounts to pay for anything they need to purchase. It communicates automatically with the owner’s PCA so they can’t spend more than is available. Smart cards are also used for record-keeping tasks such as due, late, and completed projects. House keys and cash are no longer necessary because their smart cards serve that purpose as well.
- Students can be greeted by name by all the adults in the school. School personnel are aware of each student’s personal interests, accomplishments, and struggles. This is made possible because a small, embedded camera, after recognizing a student, projects critical information on the lens of glasses worn by school personnel specifically for this purpose. No student is allowed to feel isolated or bullied if it can be avoided.
- New work structures and grouping of students are now possible through the efficiency of computers. Educators now work in core teams and students are clustered into “home” groups. Each cohort of students is taught by a team of educators, some of whom are certified teachers, others are certified in related areas such as social work and language development. The variability within the groups can be dramatic. Students’ entry-level knowledge about any one subject can range from novice to scholar. Because educators are able to organize units of study around major concepts such as space travel and cultural diversity, there is a number of entry points for students depending upon their prior knowledge, not their I.Q. score or grade level.
- As a result of smart computers that serve as information providers and personal tutors, teachers may now have very different roles and responsibilities. They are able to be primarily facilitators and coaches for their students in both the social and academic areas. The former role of "sage-on-the-stage" is no longer primary or visible. The rapid pace of new information, today, makes it impossible for anyone to keep up to date and informed in all areas. Teachers may now assume a new role as a “guide-on-the-side”.
- Educators, parents, and business leaders, with other community members and agencies, collaborate regularly around such issues as educational goals, essential learner outcomes, effective instructional practices, availability of resources, new technology, student concerns, changing curricula, instructional groupings, interdisciplinary teaming, cross-agency teaming, and strategies for assessing performance outcomes. There is a common belief that education is everyone’s responsibility.
- Teachers and parents are able to be in constant communication through PCAs and wireless technology. Each person's PCA has a personal access number that follows him/her everywhere in his/her travels. Parents who travel extensively can now be contacted in remote areas of the world, if necessary.
These changes are both exciting and challenging. Unfortunately, we as educators and parents, are all at different levels of acceptance around these inevitable changes. For example, many people are relatively unaware that the winds of change are howling outside their door; some are barricading the door believing they can stay secure in spite of its gale force; others are overwhelmed and confused about how to function with such strong winds in their face; while a few are seizing every opportunity to reposition themselves so that they can sail with the winds of change at their backs.
Task for Completion and Discussion #5
Given the examples above, what skills do you believe you must develop in order to survive – or better yet, to prosper in this new school environment? If you are an educator of students with disabilities, how may you have to change the way you do things now? Write a list of the areas for your own professional development, decide how you might access that training, and then discuss this information with your “discussion thread”.
Read the book, Thinking in the Future Sense by J. James (see references), report in writing 5 important insights you gained that you believe would directly improve your school and why you believe they are important. |
