Teacher Dani Lyra´s students production at Maristão. Read what they have to say about education, technology and change.

1. Major Changes in Education
What the Future Holds
Casa Thomas Jefferson
Class 555 – Marista
Teacher Dani Lyra
December 2011

2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mortsan/5145386791
A group of teenagers were asked to write
about how technology will impact the way
people learn in a near future.
Here’s what they have to say.

3. The School of Tomorrow
“The importance of the reform of education systems is pointed out by international
organizations as a priority in preparing the public for this post-modern society. No
wonder that the introduction of new digital technologies in educations introduced
changes to the social, cultural and technological world. With the increase of the
technology because of the globalization, many sectors of the society are being
influenced by it. I believe there will be several changes in education in the next twenty
years because of technology.
In a near future, there won’t be textbooks. Students would have access to the texts
in the internet, using tablets and computers in class. This could happen also because
of the environmental concern, which many people would be thinking of ending the
excessive waste of paper. For some specialists, support education in schools needs to
follow the changes in society. If we can preserve nature and also have access to
information on the internet, why won’t we do it?
Another point that we have to think about is the subjects studied. In my opinion, we
will have more because people will have to be more prepared to the labor market.
Students would have to know how to use technology, create strategies to improve it
and know a little bit of everything. This probably will be a fact as a consequence of the
glut of information from all sides, basically from the media.
Although classrooms will continue to exist, people will have a second place to learn:
the internet. Conversations, e-mails and videos could be more frequent and become a
way to study and have fun at the same time. In the past years, students have used
youtube.com not only to see cool videos, but also classes and lectures. Carly Fiorina’s
sentence expresses it, “Technologies evolve in four basic areas - from analog to digital
(scan), from physical to virtual (virtualization), from fixed to mobile (mobility), from the
massive to the individual (personality)”.
No books, more subjects to study and other ways to learn will enable people to
have an effective and expanded education. If all these predictions become true,
mankind will have a better and more integrated future.
Manuela Braga

4. Education in the Future
We can see nowadays how the educational system has really excelled in terms of
technology. In the past few years, human kind has developed a lot of technology that
could be implemented in schools all over the world. It’s almost sure that schools with
this new technological equipment will motivate students and make them become more
attentive and participatory.
But what technology am I talking about? Well, textbooks and notebooks should be
replaced by tablets. With tablets you carry less weight and you pay less for the pages
of the textbook or notebook. Also, you foster ecological awareness. By using gadgets
like tablets at schools, students will use the internet a lot more. This would be really
good because on the internet you can find a lot of information that can be used in the
academic environment. There would be benefits to teachers too since they can interact
a lot more with information and with the students through the internet.
In the future, classrooms will be really nice. Tables you get today will be screens
with touch capacity for a more interactive way of learning. The board we use today
will be replaced by a touchscreen, as well, which will help the teacher explain the
subjects even better. Since I’ve mentioned the subjects, I think there will be more of
them because the world today requires a gigantic amount of knowledge from the
students. People will study things related to technology, for example, to help them
deal with all the gadgets we will probably have in the future. Furthermore,
information speed will result in even more years of required education for students. I
think we will never stop studying. Studying will be part of our work. We will become
life-long learners.
Teachers will need to be updated with reality since they work with students that are
already updated and they will need to be capable of dealing with all the technology
implemented in the classroom. Since we have more and more technology over the
time, homework will be assigned with a lot of technological procedures and will be
based on a large number of pieces of information, since we can easily find it.
Therefore, schools will be updated and more efficient than they are today. Now,
we just need to wait until people decide to put school to work side by side with
technology. There is no doubt this will be a perfect combination.
Felipe Pavoni

5. We are currently experiencing growth in information and communication
technology, as it is entering our homes. New electronic devices are constantly
presented to the public, but as an economic issue; these new devices have
changed our way of life, just as the spread of the Internet as a source of
worldwide search. So everything has become more dynamic, faster and easier.
That's why I believe there will be many major changes in education in the next
twenty years.
First, we may notice that the creation of tablets and lighter notebooks
contribute for the mobility of people. They are able to go anywhere with these
devices. Over the next twenty years, the Internet will be present even in the most
isolated places in the world. Joining these two factors, it is clear that today the use
of computers in schools and the Internet connection is scarce, but in the future, it
will be widespread. Wi-fi will be available to all without distinction, including in
schools.
Another point to be considered is the possibility of extinction of the
textbooks. With all the facilities that the new gadgets have, we can say that in
future all students in public and private schools will possess their own tablet, or a
newer technology. The point is that yes, the books will be replaced. If today the
big problem would be the cost, in the future with the popularity of these devices,
it’s going to be easier to buy a tablet instead of twelve books from different
subjects. In addition, the use of paper will be drastically reduced; after all,
ecological awareness will also improve in the near future.
However, how will the teachers educate these children surrounded by
technology? Certainly, the current class model has to be changed. Teachers will
not just teach a subject, they will have to adapt their way of teaching with the
influence of technology. Realizing that the students have access to all the
theoretical information they need on the Internet, the role of teachers will be to
teach how to filter this information and promote digital literacy. In addition, lessons
have to be more dynamic, involving greater interaction between students and
teachers and not simply lectures.
Therefore, the learning process of students of the future will be completely
different than it is today. I also hope that the technology is embedded in schools in
order to optimize learning. For this, there should be greater cooperation between
school, family and government.
Júlia de Noronha 5B

6. -Changes in Education
In a near future, education will be very different from what it is today.
For many years the educational system has had the same old-fashioned
structure where students just sit quietly taking in information. But major
changes will happen in the next few years.
Although some believe that the educational system shouldn’t change,
the advances in technology will inevitably be more and more present in the
classrooms. Interactive boards are already present in many schools and new
gadgets that will improve the process of teaching are coming up every day.
Another aspect is that the use of internet will be allowed in the
classroom as a tool to facilitate research and improve the access to
information. One example of the increase in the usage of internet in class is in
South Korea. The country has announced that they plan to replace textbooks
and all paper in schools with tablets by 2015, which will result in a more
interactive way of learning.
Textbooks will become less and less needed as they are replaced by
the use of computers and tablets. This is an advantage because it will reduce
the amount of paper, and also gather all the in information in one place for an
easier access.
I think that with this changes the process of learning will become less
laborious and more interactive, and students will feel more motivated and
inspired to do better at school.
-Bruno Milhomem