In my last post, I explored why there exists such a lagging degree of literary proficiency in poorer nations of the world. It was determined that 68% of the countries with the lowest literacy rates could be found on the African continent, and this was due to oral traditions being the staple of learning in many parts of this area, and a general lack of funding and focus on improving it. One area that I have yet to explore in this blog are the some specific examples of technologies that emerge which serve the 21st-century learning pedagogical shift. While I am of course familiar with all of the technologies that I have integrated into my own classroom, I thought it would be interesting to see what some of the other emergent ones are that I might be able to use myself. One of these ideas is using virtual reality in the classroom through services such as Nearpod VR, which allows students to take a virtual field trip to a number of historical sites and regions around the world. The obvious benefit is the high-level of engagement and learning that could be done - rather than simply looking at photos, students have a chance to explore entire rooms and look on as the world moves around them. Of course, to afford a class set of VR glasses would be out of the question for most schools (although it is possible to use old iPhones as 3D glasses apparently). It could be done where students take turns, but to me, this would be a management nightmare, and would really hamper the experience. There is also growing popularity with the use of artificial intelligence to help manage assessment and to create more personalized learning activities for students. Instead of the teacher having to create specific activities to meet different students at their levels, "machine learning" as it has been dubbed can generate these activities on a case-by-case basis to ensure that no student is working outside of the zone of proximal development. Biometrics have also been proposed as a means to deal with some of the more traditional teaching issues that come up surrounding student behavior. This kind of technology can track eye movements, heart rate and voice patterns to determine if children are remaining on task, if they are having difficulty with a concept, or even if they are sick. I found a video of them already implementing this technology in Chinese schools; I have to say, I find it to be a little invasive for my tastes, but this may be a case where "The future is coming, so get on board!" AR (Augmented Reality), is similar to VR, but instead of wearing glasses on the face, a smartphone is used to portray other objects as being in our own reality. For example, a 3D model of the Earth could be displayed on a desk right in front of a child's eyes, and they could get a closer view of it than if they simply had a picture to look at. It's kind of like a fledgling version of what a hologram might be in the future. We might even be on the verge of moving away from paper in the classroom. They now have flexible displays - essentially, phone screens which are thin enough to be rolled like a piece of paper, while also being incredibly tough and durable. Imagine if instead of printing off a worksheet for your students, they had just one piece of paper in front of them that was used for everything, and you could just email them the assignment to that device. One idea that I had when looking through this technology was that I would create some kind of a film set which I would capture with a 3D camera (this essentially takes an image of an entire room). This could then be entered by students at a later time via virtual reality technology. The advantage of this is that I could preserve this 3D room for as long as I wanted, and I could customize it to engender educational goals of my own choosing. Plus, the room I decided to build in this way could be turned back into whatever it was before!
It's definitely a huge idea that would take me years to get around to pulling off, but these are the kinds of directions that I feel we are heading to as educators. We are no longer just teachers, but the authors of our students' educational universe!
1 Comment
Jen Proce
3/2/2021 07:03:55 pm
Hi Tim,
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AuthorTim Raposo is a teacher of grades 3 & 4 at Cawston Primary School in BC. With a firm grasp of burgeoning technologies. he seeks to introduce students to new ideas and skills to produce a passion for 21st century learning as early as possible in their educational careers. ArchivesCategories |