Voices Behind the Visions

The 2020 visions of our students clearly bring into focus the views our student have about technology and education. And I think with a little imagination we could even use their visions to create something akin to a photo mosaic of what the classroom of 2020 might look like. A classroom where where every student has a small portable computer that allows them to read text, link to media rich databases, collaborate with peers, engage in stimulating environments, and access learning at any time, place or pace. However, I think if we look beyond the visions, and listen rather to the voices of 2020, we will hear something even more significant. We will hear that our students are not really asking for technology gadgets and gizmos, they are asking for the tools, opportunities, support and change that our schools are failing to provide.

A New Tool

The visions of 2020 show us that children want devices that are small, portable, convenient, and easy to use: a single thin book-size computer, for example, that allows them to access all kinds of media formats and resources with a single device. One that can be used effortlessly to record and communicate ideas and be carried around for instant access. They are asking for a new tool that will replace the multitude of tools we currently provide such as textbooks, pencils, keyboards, PC’s, draft books, folders, crayons, paper and so on and so forth.

That is what they are showing us, but what are they really telling us? I think if we listen we will hear that they what they really desire is a tool that will remove the barriers to learning created by the multitude of tools they must currently master before they can get to the learning that matters. For instance, in order for our students to learn to efficiently communicate ideas and access information electronically, the must learn the laborious task of learning to type. Or if a student is interested in a subject and desires to learn more, they must first locate the proper book among hundreds of books, sift through its pages for the proper content, and hope that they find what they are looking for. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should look to technology to replace important literacy skills, but we should being considering how the classrooms of 2020 can use technology can remove unnecessary learning obstacles and get the learning that matters.

Access to Opportunities

Our students also show us visions of technology that will allow every student access to the information they need, when they need it, and the ability to share this information with peers all over the world. They are showing us a school in which technology is not partitioned to a separate wing of the building, or allotted to students at given times of the day in heavily filtered doses of isolated access, but rather technology that is a accessible to anyone,
anytime and anyplace.

What our students are telling us about our schools is that they are failing to provide students with opportunities to utilize a powerful tool for learning. They are telling us that the opportunities we do provide are isolating and limited. They are telling us that they are not happy with their alloted times for restricted computer access. If we are truly listening to the voices of 2020, we would hear that we need to increase access to technology by providing our every student the opportunity to frequently utilize it in ways that will allow them to easily explore, connect, and share.

Just-in-Time Support

The visions of 2020 also show us technology that will be used to support our students in ways that will meet their specific needs at the time when it is most needed. These visions, though often rather fantastical, show us numerous ways that the classrooms of the future can help students on homework, link students with the necessary resources, and provide students with immediate access to resources that will satisfy their curiosity. In the classrooms that
students envision for the year 2020, the support student will need will be available at the click of a button.

Sadly, perhaps more so than any other section of the 2020 report, is that what these voices are telling us if we are only willing to listen, is that our schools are currently failing to provide students with the support they need. They are telling us that students are eager to for feedback and are willing to ask for the help they need, but for whatever reason, overcrowded classrooms or overburdened teachers perhaps, our schools are not providing our students with the one thing that requires no knowledge of technology whatsoever: support, guidance, and feedback. If technology is able to provide this someday, I fear we may all be out of a job.

Learn Different

Apple’s popular slogan, “Think Different” could aptly apply to how students see technology changing how they learn in the future. They see games used for learning, they see virtual field trips to distant lands and distant times, they see learning that requires no physical classrooms, teachers or even books and is tailored to their personal learning styles. They see learning in a completely different way than they learn in a typical school setting. They see
change.

Our students are telling us that our schools need to begin thinking differently if they are going to remain relevant to today’s digital student. They are telling us that this is how we live, this is how we learn and with some changes you can connect learning to our lives in a powerful way we understand. If our schools can learn to adapt, learn to listen and learn to think differently, we too will begin to see the potential for technology to reach today’s students who learn different.

The student visions of 2020 are showing us more than what our students think about the schools of the future. They are telling us what they currently think about the schools of the present. And their voices are loud and clear. They are saying our schools need to remove barriers, expand opportunities, provide support and make some changes. Let us hope that we will begin to listen long before the year 2020 so that the learning students envision today, they will experience in the near future.