8 - C - 1

A classroom in the future around 2020 – will we still have them?  Will it be more online classes and less brick and mortar or more of a flipped classroom? I believe as I look ahead, many of the tendency we're seeing today will continue to develop learning beyond the classroom walls by connecting with educators, students and making real-world experiences. This development continues to be motivated by teachers and their students, and is driven by technology - especially with the Internet and the cloud. Since many schools seem to be adopting the Common Core and it has increased the focus on deeper learning and developing creativity. I feel that there is going to be more personalized and collaborative learning in education. With the combination of the different technology devices such as, smart phones, tablets, laptops, the Internet and the cloud teachers and students will have unique access to tools for innovative expression, and will find it even easier to share, to create and to experiment with new ideas.

Teachers and students are continuing to build online global communities by using the variety of technologies and digital media that is available.  Teachers and students keep taking advantage of the Internet with Skype, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the cloud.  With the online environment growing and expanding to all parts of the world teachers, students, colleagues and many other creative individuals have the opportunity to collaborate.  With apps like Twitter or Skype, are affordable for many schools and offer the opportunity to display, share, discuss, promote, and receive constructive feedback on your work.  Having a teacher who is showing the students on how to create their digital network/community it is going to encourage the students to expand their community beyond the classroom walls.  With the Internet and all of its gadgets makes accessing this valuable information, creative ideas, or learning material easy to access.  All these different types of technologies influences how the students learn, network themselves and share their life experiences with others from around the world. More personalized online learning resources will be available to the students, to use in their classroom (where ever that might be), at home and on one of their many devices.  Students will become more of the creators of the content being taught and the many technologies with help facilitate the communication/collaboration beyond the classroom walls. 

Students will start to express their creativeness, skills and knowledge in ways that start to take advantage of the technological tools available to them.  I believe that there will be a bigger push for student portfolios as a way of assessing the students.  Students will start to create digital portfolios that showcase their skills and understanding of core curriculum as they apply to college and for future jobs.  Students can share these digital portfolios with others as a form of collaboration as well as get feedback from teachers, as well as students from around the globe.  Since it is becoming more accessible to access work from a variety of devices (iPads, iPhones, laptops, etc) it will make it uch easier for students to exhibit their skills and will be used as a stepping stone from high school, to college to their future profession. 

I also believe that by the year 2020 there will be more of a push for futuristic teaching methods, such as: game-based learning, mobile learning, 3D printing, and some sort of virtual laboratories.  Using these new types of teaching methods will inspire the students to become more creative, innovative and more of a leader in their own learning.  This type of learning will help students develop the skills needed to be active members in a global society.  The innovative technologies and mobile (remote) learning techniques will permit the educators to better connect the students inside and outside the classroom, with or without walls. 

I believe that all the advances in technology are great for education and will benefit everyone that is involved.  Nevertheless, teaching, not just mediocre I mean excellent teaching is the consistent and is at the heart of student success.  For education to continue to move in the right direction it is imperative teachers continue to discover new technologies and implement them in the classroom.  Teachers need to collaborate with other teachers and discover what is successful in the classroom.  Teachers will be able to share the best practices and support optimistic education outcomes that will drive the students into 2020 and way beyond.