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Let's face it, schools aren't what they used to be. Today's high schoolers are learning how to fly drones and 3D print their artwork. It's really cool, but also kind of scary. So what crazy new technologies will replace number two pencils and good old graph paper in the classrooms of the future?
Virtual reality has been around since the '90s, but now Facebook and Google are no longer in your face, but on your face. Google's Expeditions program turns smartphones into virtual reality viewers using simple, inexpensive cardboard. And now that Facebook's bought Oculus Rift, they're planning on getting into classroom gaming as early as next year. This is the first kind of headgear that might get you into the popular crowd.
3D printing in schools is revolutionizing the art of show and tell. These printers can make machine parts, jewelry, even guns. Yesterday's arts and crafts is now modern-day engineering. Elementary-age children are already using 3D printing to design prosthetic hands.
Remember how you had to lug around heavy books and then swap them out for other heavy books from your locker? Well, now there's the cloud, saving students from back problems everywhere. But the cloud could also give teachers direct access to data on student study habits. By doing all their homework online, students provide engagement data on how long they've spent on their assignments and whether or not they're taking notes. There's a bonus, though: major publishers could use that data to judge how effective and engaging certain textbooks are. So you could be recycling that boring algebra book.
With biometrics technology, you've got fingerprint scanning to borrow library books and iris scanning instead of ID cards. Teachers will even be able to tell if you're concentrating or not during online courses using eye-tracking technologies. Yikes!
It's like old-school projectors, but in 3D. Remember Michael Jackson's back-from-the-dead moonwalk performance? Well, hologram technology in classrooms is still just a dream for now, because it's too expensive. But in the future, it would allow teachers to give lessons to students across the world. Imagine taking a tour of a historic 3D model of the Coliseum right from your desk.
The potential for new technology in the classroom is pretty amazing, but will it cause students who are plugged in all the time to forget what it's like to live in the real world?