As a result, our classrooms have evolved little by little over the ages. I wanted to know how different classrooms looked in the past compared to what we have now, so I googled "ancient classroom" and this image popped up.
"Parthenopaeus! Sit down, this is not drama class."
Ok, perhaps this is a little too far back. But this is probably what the first classrooms looked like- messy, overcrowded, cramped, but filled with dozens of students eager to learn from great teachers. However, there were no women or slaves in the classroom- most of the students were males of higher social class.
They used the good old paper and pencil style, though at that time it would have probably been scrolls and quills.
In the 1900s, we've got a more structured classroom system. Students used paper and pencils, and like before, education was mostly one-way. You sat at a classroom, listened to the teacher and shut up unless you had an important question.
Fast forward to 2013, the developed world has been inching towards digital media for our learning. We're using computers, iPads and laptops for homework, discussions and note taking. We are now more interactive with the help of digital media.
Just 20 years ago, our learning style was closer to what we see in the 1900s than what we have now in 2013. There were hardly any powerpoint presentations, video making or typed assignments. Students most certainly didn't blog for 15% of their grade, like what we are doing now.
"Maybe if I look serious enough they won't realize that I'm playing Angry Birds."
But we are also getting increasingly lazy. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen classmates take notes like this:
"Go back to that slide! I was too busy slapping a filter on the previous one."
My first group discussion involved arguing over which WordArt was nicer- the purple one or the rainbow one.
My first taste of e-learning was in secondary school. My parents thought it would make me more tech savvy if I joined the new system where students bought tablet PCs for learning. We were supposed to use the tablet PCs in class in online classrooms.
The exact model of my first laptop- the Fujitsu tablet PC. Ah, the memories.
Here is where I think that digital media also has its disadvantages. Come to think of it, the period of time I had to use my tablet PC for classes in secondary one and two were not particularly beneficial for many reasons.
1) It all boils down to self-discipline and control. Even in my university days, it's common for me (and everyone else- admit it) to drift and occasionally check Facebook or Tumblr during lessons. What about a 13-year-old who has never had a personal computer in his or her life? During class, when we were supposed to be doing an assignment, the boys would play Gunbound or Warcraft and the girls would go on Photobucket to look at pictures of 5566 and SHE. There were 40 kids in a single class- it was nearly impossible for the teacher to control everyone.
2) We weren't given much tech support and we were pretty much tech noobs back then. Within 6 months of purchase, my own tablet PC was so infected with viruses and Trojans and worms that it took me half an hour just for the PC to boot up.
3) As we used the tablet PC for only a few subjects, we still had to bring lots of other material for the other lessons. The laptop charger, stationery, textbooks, exercise books, notebooks and workbooks... It was like lugging a sack of rocks to and from school.
4) There were many other more severe disciplinary matters that came with the misuse of the educational tool. Although we had strict rules not to play games on our tablet PC, many boys had so many games on their tablet that it was overly distracting for them. The boy who sat next to me was even caught for having pornography on his PC and his parents had to be called down to school.
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But then again, e-learning is definitely beneficial if students are guided properly. Here's my list of what could have been done at my secondary school instead:
1) Let the teacher hook up everybody's tablet PCs to the teacher's so that he or she knows what is going on behind that screen. Should someone be interacting with monsters instead of math, the teacher could put that screen up in front for everyone to point at the offender and laugh.
2) This wasn't an option back then, but I guess using Macs should probably cause a little less problems with viruses and games as Macs support very little games. The tablet part isn't a worry- we didn't really use much of the tablet function, except to write nonsense on our screens and flash it across class to our friends. -_-
3) Save our spines by leaving the laptops in school. Have a mix of traditional teaching methods, so the students can take back hard copies of homework instead. It's less distracting as well.
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Now that digital media has already invaded the classroom space, what do you think we can do for the future?
Right now, there's a fairly new mode of teaching- virtual classrooms. The students don't even need to be physically there, and instead, have an avatar substitute their presence.
I think it looks like The Sims. we can probably even drown class bullies or annoying project group mates in the ladderless swimming pool like in that game.
"I told you to send me the powerpoint by 12 pm."
That aside, I think that the virtual classroom, too, has both merits and disadvantages. It's convenient and we can even interact with students from all over the world. But there is also the lack of human contact and the fact that not everyone will be engaged in learning. The professor could be teaching but students could just "appear" to be there virtually.
As such, I think that our future digital classroom should still have students appear physically in a classroom. I would hope that laptops be replaced with holographic images, not unlike what we've seen in Tony Stark's lab (we can dream, right?)
We can have more transparency this way, too. Pun marginally intended.
Teachers would look like this:
Classrooms are starting to look like this in High Spen Primary School in the UK:
According to Daily Mail, the desks "act like multi-touch whiteboards and several students can use any one desk at once", which allows "all students to take part rather than one individual dominating." The open concept allows teachers to see what students are up to.
The concept is nicknamed the 'Star Trek' classroom as it resembles the movie's conceptualization of the Vulcans' classrooms (except theirs is a lot cooler):
With technology being this advanced, perhaps our days of holographic classrooms and touch screen whiteboards are not that far from reality.
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