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Jun
27
Electronic School: Thinking about the Future
June 27, 2008 |
By Roger C. Schank
The future of education is online. The old idea that the local expert on physics (the physics teacher) should teach physics is exactly that — an old idea. The best and the brightest can now teach physics to everybody.
The old idea that teaching means standing up and talking while students take notes is another antiquated idea. All courses at all levels, from elementary school through college, can and will be converted into “learn by doing” courses that take true advantage of the simulation capacity of computers to provide life like “doing” scenarios mentored by the world’s experts.
Naturally, this will cause a big change in what goes on in the schools. We won’t want children staying home, taking courses on computers, and never having real, live contact with other people. They need to learn how to communicate with each other, how to deal with real people problems, and how to grow as people. So, while the more academic subjects are learned online, we’ll need teachers to help guide students in the more human areas. The introduction and acceptance of the new online courses will not come overnight. In five years, students may only be taking a few of their courses online, but within 20 years the change will be dramatic. Nearly all of today’s academic subjects will be taught in this way because such courses will be more interesting, more engaging, more individualized, and more diverse.
Teachers will no longer be content providers. Rather, they will be discussion leaders, advisors, tutors, field trip leaders — always helping their students build interpersonal skills while they pursue their academic subjects.
Schools will become more like summer camps, teaching kids what they need to know about functioning in society, dealing with issues like teamwork, handling stress, getting people to like you, and other subjects critical to adolescents. School will be fun and interesting.
Roger C. Schank is director of the Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and a leader in the field of artificial intelligence and multimedia-based interactive training. He is also chairman and chief technology officer of Cognitive Arts Corp. Read more ……
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