WEBVTT - School Tech and the Classroom of the Future 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.000 tech Style from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.320 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Pelette 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.920 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.320 Singing across from me as always as senior writer Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:31.000 we don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.680 says who exactly hit a wall with that one. All right, 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.080 so we're going to talk today about technology used in 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.600 the classroom and what the school classroom of the future 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:49.360 could look like. Uh. Technology in classrooms is kind of 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.920 a big deal. I mean, we've we've heard about a 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.840 lot of different initiatives to try and bring more technology 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.400 into the classroom, and about how the emphasis on the 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.120 importance of technology and daily life dictates that we have 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:07.119 to introduce students to technology earlier and uh and more effectively. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.679 The more effectively, as it turns out, is the really 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:15.840 tricky part, because it's not to not to diminish how 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.040 difficult it is to raise the money and purchase the 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:24.400 the the materials and the equipment necessary to to allow 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.319 students to have access to technology, but it's way easier 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.440 to throw tools at someone than it is to teach 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.880 them how to use them. But we're really not focusing 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.720 on that in this episode. This is going to be 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.280 one of actually a series where we thought we'd do 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.000 it like an educational series of episodes, similar to our 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.600 movie making series. So in this one, let's just talk 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.960 about some of the tech you find in classrooms today 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.720 and what we might see I don't know, ten, fifteen, 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:53.760 twenty years in the future. It's really hard to protect 0:01:53.840 --> 0:02:01.080 that kind of thing because technology is notoriously difficult to you, 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.160 you know, be clairvoyant and sit there and say this 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.440 is exactly what's going to happen in ten years. Not 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.360 to mention the fact that UM budgeting being what it 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.399 is right now in the current economic downturn, that's that's 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.000 slowing down some things like R and D plus you know, 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:21.520 the ability to add new technology to the classroom. UM 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.960 now the schools are strapped for cash to pay teachers with. Yeah, 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.119 we really we're gonna try and focus on what the 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.280 ideal situation would be, you know, like, let's let's assume 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:36.520 that the schools have the funding necessary to implement the technology, 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.239 what would a classroom in the future look like. Um, 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.440 but yes, uh, you make a really good point. The 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.840 the classroom of the future relies just as much or 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:53.280 even more so upon political and economic uh factors than 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.519 technological factors. But let's we're gonna try and take a 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.400 shiny happy look and assue whom that that the schools 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.160 get the support system they need in order to implement 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.720 the classroom of the future. Well, there are all kinds 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.359 of things that that people can do, and they're already Uh, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.359 there's already been a lot of development along those lines 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:15.920 with the technology in the classroom, things that that are 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.920 already in place today, um, that I think will be 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.840 refined in the next generation of technology and classrooms. Now 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.200 I'm coming at this at at a real disadvantage actually, 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.480 And the reason why I say that is because when 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.680 I attended school back in elementary school and high school 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:38.760 and even college, uh, technology was pretty much the same 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.760 as it had been from all the way back to 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.040 the fifties. I mean, you're talking about the fact that 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.520 the most technologically advanced thing that we had access to 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:52.920 in a general class was usually a television and VCR, which, 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.480 of course does you know that is after nineteen fifty 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.320 obviously the VCR, But but that was about as far 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.480 as we got as far as advanced technolog was. We 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.560 did have computer classes where we had access to computers, 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.920 but that was not one of the tools that was 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.000 used throughout the school like that wasn't every classroom did 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.560 not even have a single computer, much less multiple computers 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:14.960 for students to use. And of course when Paulette went 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.680 to school, they had just recently discovered fire, so he 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.920 also is coming at this from a different Please put 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.400 down the hammer. Yeah, you'll get what's coming to you. Actually, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.279 we we we do have, uh to give you all 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:35.240 the listeners perspective. We do have quite a few younger 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:40.039 listeners who are in school. UM. So you may laugh 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.400 at this, but you think about this, Um, Jonathan and 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.200 I are both in our thirties. Um, and it really, 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.320 you know, if you think about it, that's a really 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:52.279 short time for the advances in technology to have come 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.760 as far as they have. I mean before, you know, 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.240 when we were in grade school, we had you know, 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.840 film projectors in the classrooms. Still you know, I we 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.720 bird projectors, overhead projectors, you know, with the transparencies. Uh, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.800 TVs in some cases VCRs. Um, you know, now everything 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.200 is completely different. There were there might have been a 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.880 computer or two in the media center, but I mean 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.719 just a few years before, you know, in in the 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.840 nineteen sixties and early seventies, that was that was really rare. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:25.320 We didn't have electronic calculators in the classroom until probably 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.880 second or third grade for me. And you know, we 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.440 weren't really allowed to use them as part of our 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.039 studies until high school when we got into things like 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.200 chemistry and physics where you actually needed to do pretty 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:41.560 complex calculations quickly. So you know, now in in most 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.160 modern classrooms, I think, uh, at least in in schools 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.840 that are that can afford them, there are you know, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.760 PCs pretty much you know, in most classrooms, I think, 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.720 and at least in the United States. Um. Of course, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.239 it varies from school to school, school district, school district 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.280 money has a whole lot to do with that. Um. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.480 But computers are pretty affordable now, so it's not nearly 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.800 as unusual to see them as it would have been 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.880 just a few years ago. Yeah, I mean, even even 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:13.080 some things that are are incredibly simple from a technological 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.760 point of view have made a big impact in the 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.200 way that uh that teachers teach and students learn. For example, again, 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.480 when I attended school, um, the chalkboard was still very 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.560 much the most common form of of display that you 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.440 would see in a classroom, and white boards really weren't 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.719 around at all until I think, I think when I 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.279 got to maybe my junior or senior year in high school, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.680 our school started to switch over from chalkboards to white boards, which, 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.479 you know, of course, we're just easier to maintain and 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.039 much easier to write on. And you also didn't have 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.320 to worry about someone going crazy and doing the fingernails 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.200 down the white board thing because it just didn't didn't 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.279 have the same effect as the bone chilling sound you 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.120 would get from the chalkboard. Please, whoever is doing the 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.520 sound effects for this podcast, please do not include that, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.560 because I personally can't stand it and I definitely don't 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.480 want to listener mail about it. Yeah. No, brief brief aside. Yeah, 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:16.160 I had one my pre calculus teacher would be covered 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:20.560 from tip of finger to elbow in chalk dust. I mean, 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.320 the chalk dust in that room was pervasive. It was 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.720 it was very, very bad. I'm kind of glad to 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.320 see the chalkboard go away. Definitely, on the downside, you 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.880 can't You can no longer punish students by making the 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.760 bad ones go out and bang the erasers together to 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:36.480 get all the chalk dust out. We can make them 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.640 bang the eracers together. There's just not gonna get any 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:42.680 chalk dust test the racist racers together for no reason. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.920 But there are classrooms today that have gone beyond even 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:50.400 the white whiteboards where you can have projectors and either 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.520 project against the screen or a wall or whatever UM 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.560 and use that as a display. And I've even seen 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.080 a few now granted this isn't a very few select 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:04.200 schools because it's clearly an expensive um UH investment, but 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.800 I've seen some some using UH flat panel displays or 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.200 or even multi touch sort of surfaces to UH to 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.720 display lessons and and show concepts and UH that's something 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:19.760 that I would expect to see more in the future 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:25.080 as a combination of factors converge. One, assuming that that 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.200 we get our our priority straight and we invest in 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.400 education to the extent that that's really necessary to that 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.920 that the prices continue to drop on the technology, so 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:40.960 things like multi touch UM displays end up going down 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.520 in price because right now, like let's say you wanted 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.920 to get a Microsoft Surface, which would be a useful 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:52.199 educational tool at least potentially could be Um, that's around 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.600 ten grand. You know, that's that's a pretty expensive interracy. Yeah, 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.240 and and of course technology does break down over time, 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.480 so your make an investment that you know is not 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.880 a one time investment. It's going to be a continuing investment. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.840 You're gonna have to maintain that upgrade and things of 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.560 that nature. So um, but let's assuming we get there, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.680 that kind of of display would be something I would 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.120 expect to see in the classroom of the future. And 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.719 I can think of a dozen different ways to use 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:24.559 that technology to to help expand a lesson so that 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.920 it goes beyond the simple here's a fact and uh 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.520 and even here's the context of that fact. Um. You know, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.439 the whole skill and drill approach to teaching would not 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.920 necessarily even come into play, which is great because skill 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:41.240 and drill is really not that effective. I mean, it can, 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.520 it can teach you a very basic approach to do something, 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.800 but it's it's not the kind of thing that usually 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.679 lasts in a in a student's mind. Right. Well, you know, 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.120 it's pretty well established that people learn by doing, which 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.600 is one of the things that I think makes touch 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:03.240 screens such a good The fact that they are becoming 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.240 more affordable. It makes it such a good thing because 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.280 it will allow you know, assuming that people are you know, 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.720 have the opportunity to purchase this for their schools. It's 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.079 going to give students the opportunity to get their hands 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.800 on the project and actually dig in a little bit. Um. 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.800 And the more pervasive technology gets in the classroom, uh, 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:22.880 you know, that's that's gonna be a good thing too, 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.960 to have computers on desktops and things like that. Um. 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.640 Of course, those things can be distractions just as just 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.199 as easily, um, you know, speaking as uh. Well, actually, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.680 by the time you're listening to this, I will no 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.760 longer be a college student and only a recent graduate. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.920 But time of recording this, I have a couple of 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:44.560 days left. Um. Yeah, I mean people, I've heard stories 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.480 from professors. UM. Now this is primarily higher education, but 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.000 people bring their laptops to class and theoretically you could 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.040 be taking notes, you could be recording the lecture for 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.920 a later Um, you could be playing mind sweeper when 0:10:57.960 --> 0:10:59.839 the when the professor is not looking, and I have 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.960 ends a lot. Yeah, if you're in you're in congress. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.120 Solitaire is the game to play. Really you didn't hear 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.560 that story? No I didn't. Yeah, yeah, let's not go 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.400 into it. It's depressing. But yeah, I mean person having 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:17.559 personal technology on the desk UM can be a boon 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.800 and in a hindrance to the teacher as well. You know, 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:23.800 we have to be have to be careful about it 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.719 with regard to that as well. So really, the technology 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.520 I mainly focus on for things like that's currently in 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.439 schools and stuff that needs to be more pervasive, especially 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.760 once we're looking at things like the classroom of the future. UM. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.960 Internet connectivity is definitely way up there. And uh and 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:46.320 ideally you should have both wired and wireless connectivity. Uh. 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.720 And either you're using you know, however you're getting the 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.080 Internet access, whether it's satellite or through cable or whatever. UM, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.080 it needs to be reliable and fast so that you 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.080 can actually the access the tools that you're using to 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.720 to teach, or if you're a student, so that you 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.840 can access the tools you need to learn. Um. And 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.440 uh so that's that's pretty much a given. So we 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.640 need to make sure that that we have broadband connectivity 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.600 to the school systems so that they can take advantage 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.840 of the tools. I mean, when you think about it, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.760 once you get past that initial investment, that's something that 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:27.320 that pays for itself very quickly. Because now when again, 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.400 when I went to school, my resources were limited to 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.640 whatever was in the school building. You know, I didn't 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.839 there was no internet for me to connect to if 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.320 I were to, if I needed to, They just not 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.240 for me to connect to. Right, Um, there was an 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.800 Internet that I could not connect to, or at least 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.240 there was a network at the time when I first 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.120 going started going to school, there was Urbanette. But at 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.840 any rate, the the idea here being that that you 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.840 were limited to whatever it was in the school library 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.080 and your textbooks, that kind of thing. So if you 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.199 were doing a project, you might make a trip all 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.680 the way out to the nearest public library, which would 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.800 expand your your resources a little bit. Or if you're 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:12.720 lucky to live near a college, you might go to 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:17.600 the college library, which expanded it extensively, but it still 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.160 was you were still limited geographically by you know, how 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.760 much information you could access. Now with the Internet, that's 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.840 no longer an issue. A lot of schools have agreements 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.440 or even a database where students can use it to 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.320 research scholarly articles and uh and journals and things of 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:40.840 that nature that you physically could not store within the 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:46.720 school's building. So uh so, obviously internet connectivity is of 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.960 vital importance if if a student is to have the 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:55.880 same advantages in one district as a student and another. Now, um, 0:13:56.000 --> 0:14:00.000 we are our headquarters are in Atlanta, so we've got 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:05.640 kind of accustomed to the whole city life lifestyle, right, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.280 so we have we're used to having lots of resources 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.720 at our disposal. Now, I grew up in a more 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.880 much more rural part of Georgia where those resources were 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.640 not as close at hand. So it's also important to 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.800 make sure that the connectivity extends out to the school 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.440 districts that aren't in cities that you know. Those are 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.000 just as important. You never know where the next you know, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.760 brilliant mind's gonna come from. It's not necessarily going to 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.120 be the heart of the metropolis. It may come out 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.280 of the middle of nowhere. But unless you give that 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.680 person access to the right tools, he or she may 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.960 not be able to reach full potential. So Internet connectivity. 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.440 We're talking, so we need devices for students to to 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.720 access the Internet. We need the Internet connect connectivity or 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.960 else the devices are pretty much, you know, just a 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.440 dead weight. Um. Theoretically, you can then move to a 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:04.240 paperless school classroom, although we've seen how difficult it's been 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.360 to do that in business. But you know, you could, 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.000 in theory move to an environment where you no longer 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:15.960 needed to turn in paper assignments or hand out paper tests. 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:21.280 Everything could be done over a computer. UM, I know that. There. 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.680 I'm sorry. I was going to say that that that 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:29.520 might raise questions in some people's minds about cheating, which granted, 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.400 happens whether you're using a hard copy or soft copy 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.560 of anything. Uh. My argument is that I think I 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.520 think a lot of kids know how to use technology 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:45.400 and very specific niche ways, without really understanding how it 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:50.080 works and how to take advantage of it. No, that 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.320 doesn't mean they can't learn it, but uh, there seems 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:58.320 to be this perception, at least among adults, that kids 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:03.200 are technology iCal whizzes, and because they've grown up in 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.960 the era of the Internet, they are Internet savvy and 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.360 capable of navigating it in ways that we can't imagine, right, right, 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.480 I'm not convinced that's reality. Well no, um, I think 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.520 what Jonathan is speaking of is I sent him an 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:23.200 article that was in dirsh Bagel, the German news magazine, 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.800 about in which they had done a study on on 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.360 German kids, and they said, oh, well, you know, these 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.480 German kids, they've grown up with the Internet. They're familiar 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.160 with it, they know how to find the best information, 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.560 they know how their way around. As it turns out, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:42.560 they pretty much chat and watch video and listen to 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.520 music and really other than that, they really aren't all 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.960 that interested in it, nor are they comfortable, you know, 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.720 digging around for information. They don't they can't maximize the Internet. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.040 They just sort of use it for recreational use and 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.800 only when it's convenient for them. So it's not the 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:02.640 indispensable tool for uh that it is for people who 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.240 are you know, thirties, forties. You know, we are all going, wow, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.400 this is really neat, and the kids are like, yeah, 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.320 so it's been around, Yeah, it's it was here when 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.800 I got here, So therefore it's just normal that to us, 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.840 it's still new to them, it's what has always been 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.920 there because their their age so, so part of the 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.280 classroom of the future isn't just that you know, you 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:29.280 have all these technological advances. It's also adjusting your your 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.160 teaching methods so that you take full advantage of them. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.280 But uh, let's let's talk a little bit more about 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.200 some of the other elements we might see in the 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.160 classroom of the future. Okay. Um. One of the things 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.480 that that I was going to mention just a minute 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.680 ago was, um, the virtual classroom tools that I've been 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.600 personally that I've been using over the past two years, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.040 UM and pursuing my master's degree. And uh, you know 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.280 those are tools like uh, those of you are college 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.240 students probably may WinCE when I say the following word 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.560 blackboard or web ct Uh. Those two merged actually a 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.600 few years ago. UM. There's an open source competitor, which 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.800 I understand is really excellent called moodle. UM. Even those 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.480 those have been used in higher education for several years now. Basically, 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.400 for those of you who have been out of academia 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:21.919 for a while or aren't an academia nut Okay, maybe not, um, 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.600 you you may not necessarily be familiar with this. Um 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.840 damn man nut. Um. Basically, what what this is is. 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.680 It gives UH people an opportunity to pursue distance education. 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.760 It doesn't even necessarily have to be at a distance, 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:38.120 but it does give you an opportunity to. It's sort 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.880 of like an intra net for students because you can 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:45.879 gather together participate in a lecture where the the professor 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.560 or teacher can put up slides like a PowerPoint presentation 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.320 for example. UM, he or she can show you the 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.040 desktop on the computer so they can walk you through 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.480 what it is that they're doing. UM. You can share assignments, 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:04.120 post discussion board postings, and basically start an online discussion. UM. 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:08.040 You can see your grades. UH should the teacher UM 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.320 be willing to post them? But you know it's it's 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.400 kind of UM. I used to lose my assignment book 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.320 all the time when I was a kid. And tools 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:16.840 like this, you know, everything's posted on there. You don't 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.919 have an excuse if you're out sick. You know what 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.080 the day's assignment is, you know where you're supposed to be. 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.320 You can see what other people are doing that the 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.159 teacher can track your progress through the course. I mean, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.159 these kinds of tools there, I would I would say 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.240 they're probably still in their first maybe second generation, but 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.640 I think in the future there'll be a lot more refined. There. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.200 The reason I said people might WinCE when they hear 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.240 blackboard is um. As good as blackboard is, a lot 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:46.320 of people complain about its stability and reliability. Um. And 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.959 I think as as time goes on, it's like any 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.560 technology product, it's going to get more refined. It's going 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.080 to get more sophisticated, and there will be more technology 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:56.959 that you can more things that you can do with it, 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.679 video chat and other functions. Yeah, that's that was the 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.440 word I is looking for and trying not to look 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.280 like I was looking for a ward um. But you know, 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.359 the moodle thing actually brings up a good point because 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.000 I think open source technology is going to make a 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.879 big difference because open source, you know, may offer more 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:19.359 cost effective alternatives and get technology into classrooms. Right. Yeah. 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:21.880 Some of the things that that I looked into when 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.359 I was really looking at the classroom of the future 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.600 have very little to do with technology directly, um, and 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.920 more to do with adjusting the the whole paradigm, if 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.920 you if you will, Yeah, the paradigm of how we 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:43.159 go about educating students. So again, when I mentioned that 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.520 you know, the technology hadn't really changed much. If you 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:50.160 look at the method of teaching, the just the average 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:55.160 method of teaching in schools across the world really um, 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.080 I think more often than not, you're going to find 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:02.359 the classic teacher behind a big desk, maybe there's a 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.199 whiteboard or chalkboard or something behind him or her, and 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.560 then the students are seated at desks that are in 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.480 rows that go to the back of the room, and 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:13.960 so you have the teacher as a lecturer in front 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:18.320 of everybody presenting information. This is not necessarily the most 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:21.400 conducive environment if you're especially if you're trying to incorporate 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:27.240 things like technology, especially and particularly if you want to 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.879 try and foster a sense of collaboration among students. I mean, 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:35.639 collaborative software is becoming more and more important. Things like 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.680 you know, you just to throw out an example, Google Docs, 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.600 you know, having a program like Google Docs where you 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.320 can or service I should say, a service like Google 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.720 Docs where you can go and collaborate with other authors 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:52.200 and create a document. Um. That's becoming more and more important. 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:54.560 So clearly that's something that needs to be taught as 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:55.960 well in school. So you have to you have to 0:21:56.000 --> 0:22:00.440 teach how to collaborate. Well, that traditional teacher the front 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.760 students in rows is not really conducive to that. So 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.440 a lot of the sources I was looking at focused 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.840 not on on, you know, what technological advances should be there, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.399 although that was did play a part. It focused on 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.640 things like breaking that up a bit and changing that. 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.000 So it's no longer what we think of when you 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:22.359 think of classroom, you don't think big teacher's desk at 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.919 the front and students in rows. So one of the 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.239 suggestions was that you create little workstations, um where you 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.480 see maybe four students at a station together, and those 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.520 four become a work group, and you do you could 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.200 have a docking station for each whatever device you want 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.600 to use, whether it's a tablet kind of device or 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:46.159 a laptop, something like that, UM, and that these workstations 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:51.080 would be scattered throughout the room, uh, preferably using furniture 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.840 that's easy enough to to move if you want to 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.080 change the setup, and the teacher, instead of being behind 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.760 a big desk, would have a mobile workstation, so the 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:04.280 workstation itself would be easy enough to move throughout the room, 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.439 and the teacher would be more more like someone who 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:11.960