Introduction
Education has been perceived as the most precious wealth for mankind, and we the human beings always feel pride in claiming that we are educated. Being in a country which has the legacy of having imparted the best of education from the ages of gurukula to the modern day education there has been a humungous growth and transformation in the field of education.
Technology has been changing and there have been a lot of advances and the demands are also increasing. There may be people who say education is not all, it is not really necessary to be a graduate to grow greater heights in a career, this would also mean we are redefining the word education. Gone are the days when the educational qualification one possessed was directly linked to the career he or she possessed. Today being educated is a mark of defining oneself. When we start contemplating on the point if education would continue to exist as it has been? Would there still be the conventional education as before? Would the old classical universities with a legacy of hundreds of years still continue to create a spark? Would the teachers still have the same demand and can command the same respect and love from students? Would it still be a pride to be called a teacher?
How would the generation of the future perceive education? The answer to all of these is – YES, education will still continue to rule, it will never disappear, but the only difference is we are at phase of a great transformation, a great change and which is truly very welcoming. One of the most important emphasis of this change is that every step towards imparting education is learner centric and the learner (student) is the prime factor. Everything else -the teacher, the university, curriculum all of it would revolve around the needs and likes of the student. Education in the future would give more independence to a student and make them more responsible in choosing what exactly they want.
Education in Future
Learner centric is the word. Student is the boss. Education in future is going to be personalized, customised, and on demand. It is about giving students more opportunities. Education is going to be more available and giving students the option to learn at different times, there are more options of personalized learning.
Education is going to be more of project based, problem solving and would start involving a lot of field work. This is a realization to the fact that students who move out of an educational institution seldom are abreast with the nuances of the outside world. Education of the future is aimed at giving the right exposure to a student and aims at making them industry ready.
The option to study anytime anywhere is going to be a boon. Students are not going to be bounded in the classrooms.
Students would have the choice of framing their own curriculum. It is going to be all about “Education is my choice at my pace at my time”.
The Role of a Teacher
The role of a teacher in future is going to be more demanding and challenging. With the advances in technological tools it is already a challenging situation for teachers today who have to prove to be exceptionally good to be addressing a class. The common question from the student what is the benefit of attending a classroom session has already put teachers in to a questioning mode. It is very true that a teacher who is not well informed and not technologically advanced will be easily replaced. Gone are the days when a teacher could stand in front of a class show their power by demanding respect students in future are looking for more. The future role of a teacher is much more bigger. A teacher of the future has a larger picture than the classroom teacher. A future teacher plays the role of a guide, facilitator, mentor. The students would not connect with a teacher just because he is delivering knowledge content. Students would connect for better advices, for helping with a direction. Mentoring is going to be the primary role of a teacher in the future. The Guru, the teacher, the Professor is getting transformed in to a Mentor, a facilitator.
Classrooms of the Future
It is going to be an age of technological advances and digital learning is going to create a strong bench mark. Access to online technology, concept of study whenever and where ever, availability and accessibility of resources, blending of online and classroom teaching. Flipped classrooms have been gaining popularity. Classrooms of the future are going to slowly find its place due to all the advantages.
Distance learning has been there for years now, but the online educational tools have taken education to the next level. Massive Online Open Courses are MOOCs are gaining great popularity. Every other software company has started to promote their concept of digital learning. We already have robots replacing teachers in classrooms. Online learning platforms integrated with all Artificial Intelligence are going to be the classrooms of the future.
Pedagogical tools
The new advances in educational technology, mode of education and delivery demands the advent of new pedagogical tools. The classical methods of teaching would fade away. Teachers would resort to more of video or demo based sessions. Learning by doing and seeing would be most preferred. Simulations would take over. More of project based studies would be introduced to improve the thinking ability of students. It is going to be more of a project driven than a process driven education in future.
Examinations in future
The examinations will stop being the one step to determine the future of a student. The classical concept of one term end examination which is decisive will fade. Students will be assessed at every step. Every session, every class will assess their performance. The word examinations would be slowly replaced with assessments. So giving due credit for all the hard work put in by a student during the entire course of study one examination will stop being the decisive factor. An examination is not going to be all about the scores, it would be about the level knowledge gained by a student and how it has been applied.
Students will start having options of multiple exit routes, they can start earning short degrees before they complete graduation. All of which will be certified and valued.
Future Universities
Future Universities are going to be a global hub. Collaborations is the key word for the future. Collaborations with universities overseas, a flexibility in the curriculum to choose between the native university and an international university. Study abroad programmes, choice of taking up internships in foreign universities. Collaboration of Universities with industries, wherein there would be a perfect link between the corporate demands and the academic curriculum. Future universities are going to be a blend of digital learning and on campus learning. Universities would be transformed in to discussion centres.
Conclusion
The future is thus a complete revolution in education. Traditional education is surely going to be replaced with a much more innovative model. A model that is student oriented, a model that is flexible, a model that is available for all, a model that can be tailor made, a model that defines education in totality. Every factor that has been associated with traditional education shall continue to stay but will be redefined. Students become the centric point. Teachers evolve as mentors and facilitators, classrooms get transformed in to digital eLearning centres, examinations redefined as assessments, Universities which would become collaborative centres. This is how we would perceive education and the future is all about of exchange of knowledge and all the factors associated are redefined and here to stay.