Beyond the Screen of a New-Age Classroom

Beyond the screen is a common theme of new-age educational classrooms. Rather than staring at screens for the duration or part of the duration of the class, students will be immersed in interactive technological devices including the Internet of Things (IoT). Devices will be able to deliver salient and up-to-date information, provide interactive elements to the learning process and store and record information delivering results back to the students. Cloud technologies will be increasingly utilized for uploading work and data for educators to check and technologies will be firmly integrated within the classroom for enhancing the educational experience. Even using wearable technologies is common in modern societies which gives rise to input and output of data analytics.

Digital Coding For Students

Utilization of technologies has increasingly become common practice within the educational system of Western societies and students will graduate with digital literacy which will assist them in their working lives. Learning how to code is an increasing aspect of education and in 2013, former President Barack Obama of the United States endorsed the potential for learning computer language in secondary schooling. Learning how to code is part of the attributes of a digitized world and instead of storytelling and writing in notebooks, students can program stories and games utilizing code which can be assessed by educators. The use of smartphones, tablets, computers, apps and social media is common practice among the students of today but what about the coding behind these devices and technological platforms? Learning what is behind them is almost as important as the use of them and when learning code, students are then learning the premises of technologies, what they achieve with technology and how to control and master the art of digital platforms. It also prepares them for a future of utilizing digital literacies in workplaces and can transform ideas into reality where people can create new solutions to societal matters and new visions turned into reality for business and organizational practices. Coding enables students to master technologies beyond simply utilizing them and coding delivers immediate feedback as it shows whether the code accomplished the correct mechanism which the student wanted or whether it achieved something else and needs to be altered.

Mixed Reality and the Phygital Wave

Mixed reality involves traditional educational practices with virtuality; digitization of education can be highly-impactful on students’ learning experiences as well as that of the educators. Using a computer is a common practice method of exploring new information and gaining knowledge and skills, one from the IoT and two, from obtaining skills in digital literacy. Phygital occurs when the physical environment in which students are placed in an educational setting meets virtual world technologies such as head-mounted displays and motion controllers.

Students Interacting with Objects in Class

It is a new way of interactivity and students can touch and manipulate objects as well as immersing themselves in data and analytics and learn about new concepts for educational purposes. These assist in enhancing the learning experience and carry on into the employment roles which one may adopt. In Science, students can interact with dimensional objects, explore the human body for Biology and interact with the animal kingdom and natural environments. In Social Studies, mixed reality can assist to interactively explore historical and natural sites, to navigate different geographical locations such as countries and to gather knowledge on diverse cultures. Spatial-temporal boundaries can be traversed with mixed reality approaches in education and the students can feel as though they are immersed in a foreign culture or navigate history through virtuality. Mixed reality offers a myriad of attributes and advantages to quality enhanced learning for students in schools today. 

References:

Why Coding should be a compulsory subject for students: https://www.thetechedvocate.org/why-coding-should-be-a-compulsory-subject-for-students/

The Internet of Things: https://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/innovative-technologies/coding-and-internet-of-things-acers-answer-to-code-make-and-learn/

Mixed Reality in Education: https://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/innovative-technologies/mixed-reality-in-education-boosting-students-learning-experience/

Coding schools learning skills and jobs for the future: https://www.isdi.education/es/isdigital-now/blog/actualidad-digital/coding-schools-learning-skills-jobs-future