In the last 100 years, classrooms have been transformed. From the single file, single desk, white walls and brown furniture, to something a lot more child friendly. Colour comes through in everything from tables, to doors, to the stationery used.
We can only imagine what the classrooms will be like in another 100 years from now; but the films have shown us what to expect. Military-like precision, clean white rooms and technology that does everything for you. While this seems very far-fetched, we’d assume that technology will play an even bigger role in the classrooms as time goes by.
In the early 2000’s, interactive whiteboards were introduced into schools. These allowed teachers to run more engaging lessons and, just as importantly, quicker lessons. There was no need to copy out the lesson onto the board; they could just load up the sheet for everyone to see. This also allowed the students to get involved with the technology on a regular basis.
Interactive whiteboards have been used in schools for the last 10-15 years, but they haven’t taken the education sector by storm. There has been limited usage and higher than needed costs to maintain the equipment.
In the last year, the UK and USA have been rolling out the initiative of using tablets in schools. This usually comes through either government, school or parent funded programs. These are still in progress and it’ll be a few years yet before we can make an informed judgement over the success of this plan.
But what’s next for classrooms?
Could we see desks replaced with a communal workstation where no child has their own desk? Or would we go back to the single desk situation but factoring in docking stations and ports? Could the classrooms use projection technology to decorate the rooms rather than using blue-tack and paper, the ultimate in paperless classrooms, where student can click on the wall and upload their work to that virtual space?
A classroom of the future might even go as far as being an outdated principle; could we see an education system where children remotely connect into a classroom from anywhere, using computers and tablets in the same way that Remote Working is for the business sectors?
Maybe the classrooms of the future are long gone…