The Modern Classroom: How can technology expand student horizons?

With the coming of a new school year, the challenge to reflect on the year before and to improve is never stronger. Reflection, I’ve found, is a natural partner during the planning and lesson design process. And change is a natural element in that cycle. How are you doing with it?

Change, often, is complex, but as educators,we’ve got to consider how technology in the modern

Image courtesy of Nick Youngson

classroom can expand our students’ opportunities outside of the school walls.

You’ve heard it already, so say it with me: We're training today's students for jobs that have yet to be invented. And, bottom line, there's a tremendous amount of truth in that. But we also have to be very attentive to the fact that many of today's jobs will still exist, but they're certainly going to look different in the future.

Mechanic? Sure, if you’re willing to forego the wrench and program small computers. If you’ve had to bring a car into the shop recently, it’s just as likely the repair was electrical as it is that it was mechanical. The combustible engine isn't here to stay in the same way that the gas streetlamp was replaced by the electric one. Your neighborhood mechanic is quickly evolving into a technician.

Construction? It's in the midst of an evolution, as well, moving from the building site to the factory. Prefab is where it’s at, and homes can be built at a much faster pace when weather and travel doesn't hinder the time-frame. The nature of skilled labor is changing, and with it, so are the craftsmen and laborers doing the work. Oh.... and about those computers...... again.

Photo courtesy of University of the Fraser Valley

Okay, so maybe not a trade, how about the "educated" professional world. Let's say Designer, maybe? Dang... yep. Once again, the technology has found its way into that job, too, and robots may soon replace us. And let's be blunt. Even if it hasn't happened yet, it's going to happen. Computers will show up, something "better" than the current computers will show up, and the cycle for improvement and advancement will continue to happen, just as it has for hundreds of years.

In almost every industry and professional field, an evolution is occurring, and as educators, it’s our duty to help students prepare for success in these fields and to develop the skills that ill allow them to comfortably transfer their learning into application, especially with the increasing integration of technology. Our students must be capable of leaping the gap when the transition occurs.

We’ve all heard the comparison: Today's classroom still looks like "yesterday's classroom" - whether we go back 100 years, or further. While some aspects are true, we must challenge that premise and recognize that highly effective instruction has little to do with the teacher and everything to do with the learner. We’re better when student needs are met.

Technology allows us to do more for our students than we've ever been able to do previously. No longer do our classrooms have to be silos. No longer do our students have to live in a community limited by its borders, or its demographics, or its location. Technology allows them to go everywhere, to see everything, and to reach across the world in order to connect with peers and with experts, no matter the topic.

Image courtesy of Denise Krebs

This year, as you reflect on the successes of the past school year and design (redesign?) new lessons to help students experience greater growth in their challenge areas, consider the potential of technology and the challenges that could be designed that leverage it. Allow your students to engage deeply with your content and to get their hands dirty by transferring their learning into knowledge with meaningful and application-focused activities.

So start small. Start simple. Don't eat the entire cake.... just take a bite. And, if something goes awry, don't reject the technology, take another route. In fact, students will grow from the way we handle it!

It's not about the world that we grew up in, we've got to prepare students for the world they are growing up in, helping them develop the skills necessary to thrive. No longer should we talk about helping our students develop 21st century skills - we’re 19 years into it, we cannot wait any longer.

Today's classrooms are rapidly evolving and teachers are left only two choices, start now or catch up later.