The Future Classroom

While watching the "classroom of the future" videos on GameLab, I noticed a few differences between the 1987 version of "future technology" and what we actually have today.

A few things they got right:
Well, we do really have video calls, and we can video "conference" like they do in the videos - though we just call it "Skyping". We did develop wireless keyboards, and computers really are a multi-functional tool for us (internet, television, music, etc). We can use voice commands for our computers, and even cell phones.

Some things they didn't:
We don't have computer-like screens on the walls of classrooms (which is what it looked like in the video), and kids still have desks - not fluffy chairs. Our computers don't talk back to us - they understand some voice commands, but don't process them like people do. Not yet, anyway. And laptops are quickly being replaced with tablets - which are touch screen, which was also not in the video.

I think that eventually our whiteboards will be smartboards, and able to process information that is written or projected onto them. I think kids will have tablets and/or phones that can be connected with the smartboards, and the classroom will have an inherently technological part to it. Communication will be spread out over sites like Blackboard, Facebook, Twitter, and others, that will allow students and teachers to communicate online. We have barely scratched the surface of what technology could look like in the classroom - and I think we'll start to see more in the next 5-10 years!