In the modern world we live in, technology is completely at our fingertips. In less than one second, we are able to obtain millions of resources of information. The internet is a very powerful tool. We did not have this sort of luxury in the past, in order to take full advantage of the power of the internet today, it is crucial that we give this power to the adults of tomorrow; Our children.
Teachers and adults tend to push away technology. It is now time to surrender, older generations must embrace technology. In their eyes, it is seen as a negative and complicated tool. But yet, they hardly give themselves a chance to learn from it. Don Tapscott believes that the older generations should listen to young people by embracing their culture and adopting their tools, the tools being technology in this case. I believe that computers give children and adults new tools to learn, and I believe that the classroom of tomorrow needs to have these essential tools.
Nicolas Negroponte, is the founder of the foundation "One Laptop, One Child". This foundation is meant to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. Nicolas has said that these laptops have completely transformed the lives of children and their families in a remote Cambodian village. Why is that? Why are these simple laptops changing lives? The answer to this is simple. When children have access to this type of powerful tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future. In other words, they are indirectly and directly building their own education.
A Computer isn't just a box of wires and aluminum, it is pretty much the ideal image of an education. A computer contains so much information it is almost ridiculous. Classrooms of the future should definitely be equipped with laptops. Children will be able to access millions of gigabytes of information, that would simply not be possible without the use of a computer. Class notes would be distributed by using an online "Wiki", which will be available at any given time. These notes will be accessible even when the child misses a class. Recordings of the class will be available online as well. Missing school will not have as many consequences, because the child will be able to catch up quickly and efficiently using the recordings.
Technology clearly isn't the only aspect of our education. Teachers play a huge role in enforcing an education on students. If a professor isn't motivating, a student would tend to mirror this lack of motivation. I believe that a teacher needs to have the perfect balance of many different ingredients. When a teacher is excited to be in that classroom at 8am, it really takes a positive toll on the students, and it really does make them excited about learning. This is definitely what I would like to see in a classroom 2.0. In my experience, I've had many teachers through out the years, and I find that the most motivational teachers were the ones who took the time to make their classes a little bit more different, and a little less conventional. Those were the teachers who I wanted to learn from and listen to, and these are the type of teachers we need in a classroom 2.0.
The future holds quite an interesting change in our classrooms. At the rate that technology is advancing, there is no doubt about it that computers and other technological devices will definitely be a huge part of our children's education. Instead of a teacher saying: "Kids, take out your textbook to page 85", they will be saying "Kids, take out your laptop and go to this website". Technology will change our classrooms, and only for the better.
