William E. Halal on chapter ten of his book “Technology’s Promise” is trying to forecast technology through time. Halal in his virtual trip through time presents four scenarios:
Technology is changing all aspects of human beings’ lives. Education has been convenient by improvement of technology. How education will be in 20 years?
Scenario One
|
2010
|
The world online
|
world became smarter and faster but still fully wired
|
Scenario Two
|
2020
|
High-Tech world
|
alternative energy, green business, and ecological practices will be existed
|
Scenario Three
|
2030
|
Crisis of Maturity
|
The most developed industrialization world. Technological powers will be vast, environmental collapse, and intercultural conflict
|
Scenario Four
|
2040-2050
|
Global order
|
The challenges facing civilization are likely to be resolved to form a modernized, fairly harmonious globe
|
I believe one of biggest changes’ of virtual education is peoples’ believe on virtual education. There a lot of people who still don’t believe virtual education have several advantages which is best fit for new future’s educational systems. Being 24/7 is one advantage of virtual classes where as traditional classes are not. This makes online classes more convenient and increase people interest to online classes
Educational system on 2020: Virtual educational system instead of traditional system.
The demand for online or non-traditional classes is increasing. It does not matter if we want or we do not want, usage of a virtual world is becoming pervasive. Virtual classes are becoming more popular. And on 2020, most classes will be virtual classes. Like the other aspect of humans’ lives, education is taking advantage of technology. Education is going to use a virtual world to make education convenient for people. People will have access to fully virtual classes anytime from anywhere. We need to be ready and start shifting to using those virtual tools. Technology is providing more tools in which schools can enhance performance of their learning model. Virtual classes are challenging to take advantage of technology in order to exchange information and ideas between instructors and their students by using as many of the senses as possible.
Educational system on 2030: Collaborative educational system.
It is very important to know how it can help to have active students in a virtual world. The traditional method of learning is focused on presenting content of courses by the instructor and memorizing them by the students. Increasing students’ participation in team work is what will happen in virtual classes. Team work is one of the most important challenges which human beings are dealing with. People have different characteristics, different needs, different thoughts, etc in the real world. It’s too hard to get a few people to participate in team work. It is even worse in virtual world, because in virtual world, they get together from all over the world. In addition of stated differences; they have different culture, different language, and different religions. These make challenges more difficult.
The quality of products by a team is higher than the quality of individual effort. One of the advantages of on campus classes is team productivity which is not in the same level as online classes. In online classes, students are incorporating from different places with different cultures and interests. Not all students do their homework in the same manner. For example, students from sub-cultures don’t communicate as well as the other students.
Traditional courses involve reading a textbook then remembering the facts. In online classes, the course information is experienced by students, and then conclusions will be drawn about it to store, process and learn from it. Students incorporate the concepts of the course and use these concepts to complete their assignment (case study, projects, role play, labs, discussions, simulations, interactive games, and if any other learning techniques).
In future, online educational system will shifting students to learners. This step is to get students involved in real world solutions and using instructors as mentors and coaches to guide students by providing feedback, using synchronous and asynchronous interaction. Information will be explored by students and then be structured to form analogies that will be applied.
Teamwork will be encouraged and students will collaborate with each other. Having strong online collaboration skills and communication will display professionalism. The requirements for a computer supported cooperative project are; understanding of objectives, guidance, good communication, and feedback.
References:
Halal, W. (2008). Technology's promise: Expert knowledge on the transformation of business and society. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire England New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Straus, S.G. (1996). Getting a clue: The effects of communication media and information distribution on participation and performance in computer-mediated and face-to-face groups. Small Group Research, (27:1), pp. 115-142.
Stricker, Andrew G., & Clemons, Larry, (2009). Simulation Gaming for Education in MyBase: The Future of Air Force Education and Training with virtual World Learning. Military Modeling and simulation Symposium
Stricker, Andrew G., & Clemons, Larry, (2009). Simulation Gaming for Education in MyBase: The Future of Air Force Education and Training with virtual World Learning. Military Modeling and simulation Symposium. Retrieved From http://www.au.af.mil/au/a46i/documents/Simulation-Gaming-for-Education(white-paper).pdf
Stuart T. Eccleston (2010). Successful Collaboration: Four Essential Traits of Effective Special Education Specialists. The journal of International Association of Special education. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
Thomas, K.W., & Kilmann, R.H. (1974). Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Tuxedo, NY: Xicom.
