I don`t know how it started, but at the end, we had a plan. We had devised a seemingly infallible method of revising the modern education system. We were going to change the world, and get rich besides.
Imagine, if you will, classrooms equipped with terminals linked to the school`s intranet.
Basheera Khan, Journalist, ITWeb
Using a combination of VPNs, WANs, intranets and extranets, and of course, the Internet, we would implement technology in the classroom and home to ensure that children of the foreseeable future could be more disciplined in their approach to homework and self study than I or any of my peers ever were.
Imagine, if you will, classrooms equipped with terminals linked to the school`s intranet, which in turn provided access to the regional education department`s extranet, which would all be accessible via the Internet to those with the need to know.
Each terminal would have an array of input devices to encourage various types of thought processes and logic exercises among the children; keyboards for generic exercises, touch-sensitive pads which could be used for art lessons, or technical drawing exercises, microphones and speakers to aid in languages, and a variety of other applications.
Educational utopia
It would add an entirely new dimension to the education value chain; through collaboration, schools in different regions could standardise their syllabi, scholars could form communities to indulge and explore their interests - academic, athletic, extracurricular, you name it - teachers could share methodologies and inspectors could have an electronic benchmark of any school`s overall standing before conducting the inspection.
In the educational utopia envisaged, all scholars would have Internet access from home as well, from which they could complete the more demanding projects. Of course, other appliances in the home would be networked, and those with admin rights (typically parents, or au pairs) could ensure that little Jenny would have to complete the day`s work before gaining access to the home entertainment centre.
But of course, pragmatism reared its oddly shaped head in the end. Such a complex organisation of effort, infrastructure and cultural paradigm shift will probably not happen soon.
The earliest efforts in this regard will in all likelihood be evolutions of projects run by the likes of SchoolNet (www.school.co.za), and unfortunately, one must give serious regard to the prospect of networks and services being disrupted by script kiddies or crackers flexing their muscles, regular streams of virus attacks, and all sorts of security and privacy issues that will have to be catered for in terms of tele-education policy.
Perhaps the greatest challenge in getting even to that point will be in laying down the necessary infrastructure for those schools without access yet. Considering the scale of the project, it might be just the right time now for the stakeholders in this arena - primarily the government departments of communication, education, arts, science, culture and technology and the like, to formulate a strategy taking all these factors into consideration. With any luck, we`ll start raising entire generations of frighteningly tech-savvy kids before the decade is out.
Share
