Future teacher

Last week I attended a discussion with other educators on what secondary education would look like in 2027. This discussion was part of the Secondary Futures project.

When asked to describe what the inspired teacher would look like in 2007, I drew a computer. At present the dominant practice in schools is still around knowledge development and information retrieval. I have seen nothing over the last twenty years that tends to suggest a change to this dominant practice.

Sometime in the next twenty years with the advances in technology and the lowering costs it may become economic to replace the teacher with a computer if the expected outcomes are as low level as they are at present.

Are we like the Blacksmiths were at the end of the 1900s.

"These new car things won't ever take off. You can't pat a car."

I do wonder if the only people listening to the importance of teachers are us educators as the world rapidly develops forward and leaves us behind. The reasons that people gave for teachers are for the social needs, the human contact, the collaboration, etc

And these people did not use Bebo, myspace, Web 2.0 and so on.