Rob Whittaker's Vision of Education in 2020

My vision of what education will be like in the year 2020 is not that different from what other students have stated. Like those others I see education as being further impacted and embedded with technology and continually higher technology. I do not however see it taking over classrooms or the role that teachers play in a learner's educational experience. Educators will still be the mode of facilitating a learning experience. Today many standards are being put into place to ensure that class size is limited to ensure a favorable teacher to student ratio. Technology will continue to be a tool that is used to a larger extent to facilitate learning.

I do fail to see it becoming more than a tool i.e. it will not be the sole method of instruction. For some things need to be taught in methods that high technology cannot provide. The planting of a seed in a plant emergence experiment cannot be replaced by a computer simulation with a limited number of out comes. Solely computer simulation cannot teach plant identification by the variations of the serration or the pubescence on the leaf surface. Hands on concrete experiences are required for the learner to be able to go into the field and identify weed species. Also setting the timing on your car cannot be solely done via a screen it is something that has to be felt and heard as well as visualized.

Technologies can aide in the facilitation of such learning. It would be very helpful to have my laptop plugged into my car showing me the O2 and the air to fuel ratio as I time the engine, and to plug a CD into it and have it show me examples of weeds growing in the fields. Technology greatly enhances many learning experiences but as some would have it would replace some learning experiences.

As we discussed in class today (2/25/99) the ability for the enrichment of a learning experience is something that I believe is of great value. My immersion into the technologies has greatly enhanced my learning experiences over the past five years. I believe that the communication between students via computers will aid in socialization of students. As Blessing F. Adeoye stated in his vision last semester "Technology will enable students to work across their cultural boundaries. For instance, students in an African country will be able to network with students in Japan, Europe, or United States at a click of a mouse. In order for students to work well together, they need to understand each other. It is important to know their reason behind their differences in thinking and behavior. Students will learn about other culture more than their own culture as we approach 2020. Technological investment in education will enable students to connect on-line resulting in the transformation of thousands of classrooms to the digital age; as a result, interact with different culture. Without this investment, most of the students that now benefit from education technology would have been left behind. Instead, from inner-city districts to remote rural schools, students can now communicate with each other and share vast educational resources. When students deal with multicultural issues very well, they also need to face the issues of diversity." I do believe this to be one of the largest benefits that technology can introduce to people. The making of the earth and its people, cultures, and environment something that can be introduced to those who would otherwise not be able to experience it is invaluable.

Technology is a part of our lives and it should continue to be but limiting it to certain aspects of our lives is very important, just as important as it will be in the future to use in education. Technology will not take out the human aspect that is vital to education due to the importance of our interaction among each other.