newly ancient

The future of learning lies in the starfish, instead of the spider. Instead of there being central schools and educators teaching many subjects, everyone will teach something they know very well. This is already coming into effect with blogs about specific topics and social media, but it can become even more powerful with more easy-of-use. Instead of just technology students taking e-courses, everyone will have that option. This is where my next project, gogeni.us steps in. I plan to offer an intuitive interface that even my technologically inept English teacher can use and understand. It will allow you to study a topic by using information from thousands of teachers around the country instead of just your one. Maybe someone in Georgia knows a lot about the civil war, someone in California understands the dot-com boom, and someone in Illinois understands rural development. By tapping into all of these sources, I, as a a student in Vermont, would be able to learn about stuff from the best and brightest on each topic. In my future, I see decentralized learning with educators speaking upon the topics they know best.

Yet, I do not want to replace the traditional classroom. I have a very strong relationship with many of my teachers and can trust them to help me with lots of issues. Instead, I see a hybrid mix of eLearning and traditional learning. In this way, students may sit at a desk and have a classroom teacher talk about the lesson. Then, screens may switch on in students desks allowing them to learn from the “distance expert,” who will teach the advanced lesson. Meanwhile, the classroom teacher will circulate and help students who may require additional help. The distance expert would also help. The entire operation would have seamless visual and audio communications. Then, later in the day, the classroom teacher could become the “distance expert” and teach on a subject they know especially well while the other “distance expert” goes back to being a classroom teacher. Imagine, the wealth of knowledge which could be tapped into with distance experts and classroom teachers. The future of learning involves a partnership of distance and traditional learning.

Finally, I think the future of learning will include students as teachers. Of all my ideas, this one is already happening. That’s what I and thousands of other students are doing on their blogs. We are taking the lessons learned in school, thinking about it, and sharing our twist of it with the world. Students can then learn about a topic from the viewpoints of many different people. For instance, I could learn about the Cold War from a poor Ukrainian and a wealthy New Yorker. Obviously, they would have very different ideas about it. By using technology, students from many different backgrounds can become the teachers.

I am not the only person thinking about the future of learning. In fact, I am only one of many to be thinking about the future of learning. I highly recommend that you read Ethan Bodnar’s response to Christian Long’s challenge. It has some ideas that are similar to mine and also took the challenge in a completely different direction. What can you do to help bring the future of learning? What is your expertise? What will you be able to share with the world? Is it your civil war knowledge or web2.0 programming? We can all contribute to the future of learning.