Technology and Curriculum: The Schools of Tomorrow

The students of today are changing and relying more on technology at an amazing rate. Our students are surrounded all the time everyday by technology; iPhones, laptops, Kindles, iPads, iPods….technology is their life. It’s all they have ever known. Some kids of today will never even know what a CD is, or a home phone for that matter. Often, they know more about technology than we, as educators, do. Said best, “Technology is affecting education in revolutionary ways, and the momentum toward these changes is irreversible” (Hardin 1998). Just a small example came when my eighteen month old Goddaughter, Ella, taught me how to turn off her iPad just the other day. Yes, I said “her iPad.” As you can see, calling the modern Internet an “information superhighway” is “the equivalent of someone in 1896 declaring that the airplane will be the canal system of the 20th century” (Dede, 1995).

Although our students are living in this fast paced technological world, educators are often left in the dust using outdated equipment. On the rare occasion that an educator’s school is updated with new equipment, sometimes the teachers don’t know how to use it, or the equipment is broken and awaiting repairs. But in a “perfect world” all educators would be well equipped with the newest technology that never breaks and they would have been fully trained in the proper use of it all.
If we want to truly engage our students in an environment that is really preparing them for the real world’s workforce we must have that “perfect world” scenario. The schools of tomorrow should be filled with curriculum that supports mostly technology-enabled project learning. This is the learning that prepares our nation’s future for their global competition best.

Furthermore, one of the most fundamental changes that I believe will, and should, occur in our curriculum of tomorrow is that the students will go from being the ones taught to being the ones who are teaching. The students should be teaching themselves, their peers and, as I am sure will happen, their educators new ways of utilizing the technology in our classrooms and our world in general. It is only through this student centered technology based project learning that our students will be able to keep up with other countries in the global economy.

Also, in our new curriculum of the future the use of technology must be absolutely routine for both students and educators. The effective use of technology in classrooms not only prepares students for the real world but it also contributes to more active student learning, more frequent feedback and interaction from the teacher and student peers, better connection to real-world experts, and it leads to largely decreased student behavior problems (Edutopia, 2008).

Overall, the world is changing and so too are our students. Technology will not wait for our curriculum and so our curriculum must change vastly and quickly to enable our students to keep up in with the global economy and competition. Technology and its use in the classroom should be one of the future educational leader’s top priorities.

References

Dede, C. (1995). Testimony to the U.S. Congress, House of Representatives. Joint Hearing on Educational Technology in the 21st Century, Committee on Science and Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, October 12, 1995. Retrieved from http://www.virtual.gmu.edu/SS_research/cdpapers/congrpdf.htm

Edutopia. (2008). There’s a Place for Tech in Every Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

Hardin, G. (1998). "ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: Extensions of "The Tragedy of the Commons"”. Science