Innovations to Shape the Future of Teaching

the Journal article 2020 Vision: Talkin’ about a Revolution offers suggestions about changes we may see in teaching over the next decade. The ideas come from what are called “a trio of current and former federal Ed Tech honchos” and ed tech leaders. Some of their individual predictions are: students will lead changes and the relationship between teachers and students will change; there will be more collaborative learning; physical space will become less important, but there will need to be places for face-to-face collaboration; print books will still be used, but use of ebooks and online materials will surge; school environments will be less formal; lessons will be more cross curricular; software and networks  will move off-site to the cloud; students will learn no matter where they are; all students will have their own digital devices and won’t have to wait for instruction; and there will be just-in-time access to provide students with the learning, extra help, or enrichment they need. But, with the predictions come warnings. Teacher Eric Marcos, Santa Monica, CA says that because change is so slow in schools, he doesn’t see much difference ahead for schools. Many of the ed tech leaders agree and suggest that we need to do the following: commit more resources to improving and researching tech in education; help communities embrace use of technologies; be able to “package” and “deliver” teaching by, for example, an exceptional fifth grade math teacher instead of having “fifth-grade math being taught by 10,000 teachers across the country every single day”;  create a “new generation of assessments”; invest more in broadband; and make sure teachers connect with each other.