The Features of a Next Generation Classroom in a School?

Vinod Kakumanu
Jan. 31, 2019, 2:40 p.m.

With digital literacy on the rise and the ease of availability of information and data, it is pertinent to think about the shifts that the schools and the classrooms would undergo in the future. And though we don’t have the benefit of foresight we do have cultivated insight and that we shall use to see how and at what rate have we changed and what the future would look like for the schools given we are not stalled by traditionalism subverted.

Technology in education is already providing new vistas of global learning besides being the locus of the economy. At any rate, schools will have to contend with the technological advances and the school management will have to streamline the induction of digital technology into mainstream schooling.

Accommodating Shifts in pedagogy in the digital age

When students are being prepared to step out into a society which is transforming, assuming it has already not transformed, into a knowledge society and work for an economy which is increasingly becoming a knowledge economy, it is impractical to try to keep the classrooms conventional. The invasion of technology cannot be stopped. Moreover, the teachers in the teacher training institutes are soon, and inevitably, going to learn how to incorporate technology in teaching disciplines barring none.

Transferring information in the most efficacious and articulate manner is the academic goal of the class being planned and managed by the teacher who has a curriculum to be guided by. Usage of digital media is going to play a defining role in the classrooms. We have enough examples to cite where digitization of the classrooms has manipulated motivational levels of the students and reinvented teaching patterns.

It cannot be denied that with the existing conditions and financial limitations of the school promoters the developments leading to digitalization of the classrooms will take some time to take place, however, the examples that certain school will set by following the dictates of time and digitalizing their classrooms will help the schools that are lagging behind to find enough motivation to adopt technology as the integral part of learning in the near future. The future will also see the prices going down raising the affordability of the technical assistance for the teachers in the classroom. It depends upon on both the aptitude and attitude of teachers with respect to the technological advancements that are taking place at a pace which itself shows the relevance of the technology in conventional classroom space.

The relevance is bound to turn into indispensability eventually and we should prepare for that.

Incorporation of Digital Technological devices in the teaching culture

While digital technology seems to have permeated into the popular culture seamlessly, its introduction and practice in the classroom are not remotely effortless. As mentioned before the training of teachers in the use of digital technology be it the applications of interactive whiteboards, projectors or computer-assisted teaching has to be a planned exercise. There are recognized instances of psychological barricading that occurs due to the perception that an unnecessary way of functioning is being imposed on them in the name of advancement and for the sake of showcasing advancement when their pedagogical practice is not wanting in any way. This sort of resistance to upgrading skills is seen commonly in really good teachers who are highly experienced and have a record of producing commendable learning outcomes. While they seem to be cooperative and might not verbally challenge the management, they are capable of creating an environment which is passively hostile and infectious.

To preclude such possibility the training of teachers in technology must be customized, if possible individualized. The utility of the technology must be demonstrated by illustrating topics from the discipline and the inputs of the trainees must be invited. It must be intensely interactive and self-assuredness that comes with the acquisition of superior technology must not be exhibited in any way.

They shall be made to appreciate that Bloom’s Taxonomy of thinking, that aided teaching and learning, can find technology complimenting it. It must be remembered that the target of the training is not to elicit awe but to help teachers imbibe the applications of the given technological aid.

Conventional education is coming to terms with the communication revolution and information technology and computer applications. The introduction of Artificial Intelligence courses in middle and secondary classes in CBSE schools is a testimony of sorts to this search for compatibility.