What will the role of content knowledge be for students in the year 2025? I have struggled trying to answer this question. Obviously there will be changes not only in physical schools and communities but also in the way that educators view their role and pedagogical philosophy. Reflecting back on my days in high school, more than two decades ago, the only instructional method that I recall vividly in history/social studies was the drill and rote method. While this method is still in practice by instructors at all ages it is falling out of favor.
While the basic core knowledge required of students will not change dramatically I between 2011 and 2025 I believe there will be a dramatic shift in how students are allowed to crate their work products. To clarify, I define core knowledge as dates, places, figures, philosophies or other material currently tested on Virginia’s SOL tests. As stated above, how students work in the classroom and create their work product(s) will see the biggest shifts from the current paradigm.
The student as a lone individual in the classroom will not dominate as it has in the past. Pairs or teams of students will work together or collaborate in creating a single work product and discovering core knowledge along the way. Each individual in the team will enhance the other’s grasp and comprehension by offering their perspective and ethnic/cultural views. The collaboration of teammates will occur both in the classroom but also via other methods such as text messaging, webcam chat, conference chats, etc. Technology will allow students to work practically anywhere at any time without the need for face to face interaction.
I see the increased roll of technology in the classroom as a positive development. More resources – textbooks, research materials (primary and secondary source documents), presentation applications, productivity software (word processing, spreadsheets, database applications, etc.) – will be available to groups and individuals as needed to complete a discussion or assignment. The advances in technology will allow more resources to be available in smaller packages with the only limitation being the intellectual property of textbook producers and their willingness to provide material in a portable format.
The skills required by students in 2025 are being honed now by the current generation of students. They are multitasking to a degree that I would have never thought possible while I was in high school (when listening to the radio or music was viewed as too much of a distraction by my parents) much less now that I am in graduate school. Students in the future will be able to perform collaborative duties (research, writing, programming, etc.) while talking to one another via phone, chat, or text. They will have to be able to process multiple inputs (audio, text, images, and/or video) almost simultaneously.
Students by 2025 will also have a technological comfort level (using and implementing) that will allow them to seamlessly adopt and adapt new hardware and software than students and educators currently. This comfort level will be required because of the pace of technological improvements that are on the cusp of being introduced.
I also believe that students in 2025 will also have a greater cultural/ethnic sensitivity related to specific events and occurrences. By that I mean they will not be so insulated that they accept a single report or viewpoint as the “truth” either in a textbook, web posting, newspaper, magazine article, etc. They will be critical of single sources and based on their multitasking abilities will seek out corroborating or opposing reports. The statements above are more a desire than belief and that will be one of my tasks as an educator – to equip my students to access multiple sources during their educational and discovery process.
