Classrooms of the Future: How Will Technology Change Schools

With technological advances changing everyday, what does the future hold for our classrooms? What kinds of technologies will shape the minds of our children’s children?  We’ve found some future technologies that are going to completely revolutionize the classroom.

Technologies

Augmented Reality
Virtual and augmented reality will change the educational landscape. Currently, access to AR for educational purposes is mostly limited to smartphone apps.  With AR-enabled wearable devices advancing every day, students will get to explore the world. All without having to hold up a device, which could distract from the experience.  Virtual fieldtrips are also possible with AR.  Students in rural settings will be able to visit museums in big cities without riding a hundred miles on a school bus to get there.  Imagine a student opening a book to a page with a picture of the earth on it.  Then, the student puts on a pair of Virtual Reality glasses from Buydig.com. A three-dimensional images pop out at them. Allowing them to see the layers of the earth, and the different landforms.

3D Printing
The 3D printer should really be a must-have in classrooms. Engineering students and teachers are prime examples of who could directly benefit from 3D printing technology. The 3D printer produces working mini-models to test out engineering design principles. Students can perfect their design before making an actual prototype. Together with computer-aided design modeling software, 3D printing allows these students to experiment. They can experiment freely with their designs without expending considerable costs and time.

The Cloud
In the future classroom, students may just need an electronic device or laptop like the Dell Alienware Notebook PC from Buydig.com to access all their homework and all other learning resources in the Cloud. This means no more lugging heavy textbooks to school, and having constant access to your reading materials as long as you have an Internet connection.  It will provide students the freedom to work on their projects or homework anytime and anywhere. Cloud computing seeks to virtualize the classroom in the future as well. Schools can set up online learning platforms for students to log on and attend classes in a virtual environment. Assignments and tests can also be easily given to the class, minimizing the need for students to be physically present. Interaction and discussion among students and teacher is still encouraged.

Educational

Biometrics: Eye Tracking
Biometrics uses what is unique to each one of us to authenticate our identity: fingerprints, facial recognition, iris patterns, voice. In terms of education, schools are only using fingerprinting to prevent truancy. Also for borrowing books from the library. However, eye tracking can be helpful.  For instance, in providing invaluable feedback for teachers to understand how students understand the content. An analysis can be conducted to ascertain course effectiveness or individual learning styles. The data may then be integrated with interactive adaptive learning systems in a manner that adjusts the content to best suit each student’s learning style.

Multi-Touch LCD Screens
We’ve seen the transition from blackboard to whiteboard, to overhead projector, and to video projector for computers in schools. The next “board” is likely to be a giant touchscreen LCD screen, which allows a greater amount of interactivity. It is capable of generating infinite combinations of images, sounds and videos, just like your smartphones. The major difference with this new “board” and your smart devices is that it will be capable of detecting multiple touch inputs from many students at the same time.

The classrooms of the future probably won’t be led by robots, but you can be certain they will be full of modern technology.