• Pens and papers
• Tables and chairs
• Heavy and cumbersome textbooks and laptops
• Four walls or the ceiling
• Having to pay attention to the teacher throughout the lesson
• Having to think what to wear to school (Yes ladies, I’m referring to you)
• Being distracted by inconsiderate and chatty classmates
I bring to you the classroom of tomorrow………
The Digital Classroom
Instead of having to wake up early in the morning and having to squeeze for space on the bus for your 830am class, one will be able to “reach” his or her classroom within a form of “turning on”. Yes, I mean turning on the laptop. One will be able to sit in for a class without having to groom or brush his or her teeth. Think about this, you can even go to class NAKED.
This form of learning will replace teachers with education facilitators, altering the formulaic teach-and-learn method with a revolutionary facilitate-in-learning method. Virtual learning allows the student to take charge of his or her own learning journey thus allowing him an endless array of information on the internet while looking at lecture material or attending a lecture online.
While many may claim that virtual education hampers human interaction and the development of social relationships, these can still be strongly encouraged and supported via online discussions and even forums.
With that, I move on to a platform that is used by many colleges and universities to educate their student via the digital route; Second Life. One can create a representation of himself or herself in a form of an avatar. More interestingly, avatars can be customized by changing their clothes, gender and even physical proportion.
Subsequently, one controls his or her graphic representation (the avatar) by attending lectures and being physically present in the virtual classroom. Thinking about it, this actually allows people who are more introverted to facilitate discussions by speaking to the lecturer through the monitor or a chat window. Additionally, students will not be distracted by others in the classroom and will not have to worry about rushing to class to be on time.
A video about education in Second Life
Perhaps the greatest benefit of the virtual classroom is that it allows an individual to be at two separate places at the same time. Imagine how efficient and time savvy that is.
One can babysit, or even be on holiday and yet attend a lecture! The ill or handicapped student will not have to worry about the hassles of attending class either.
Take a look at the time used on an a average weekday for a full-time university or college students below. Note the amount of hours and spend on grooming, taking transport, sleeping and working. With the digital classroom, less time will be spent on the first two and more on the latter two.
Time spent by on average by a university student
On the other hand, there are some drawbacks of digital learning such as:
• Inability to develop concrete social relationships with classmates
• Isolates us from reality
• Difficult to clarify with the lecturer regarding abstract material
• The possibility of the couch-potato syndrome
• Lecturers have to make a separate curricula for their online students
• Examination dishonesty.
• Unable to access non-verbal cues
However, the world is developing and moving at an increasingly fast pace. In this rat-race society, individuals are on the constant move and information is available anywhere and everywhere.
The question is, are human beings becoming victim to technology? In other words, are we losing the simplistic nature of life such as human bonding and face to face interaction? I can’t help but agree.
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