In The.. Not So Distant...Future?

I have recently come across videos and articles about various technologies. Some of them are already in the prototype stage, and others still an idea, but a freakishly feasible idea. I think of what technologies were available when I was in elementary schools and compare it to today and become overwhelmed. Now there are things that could be coming up that are even more…unbelievable.

The first technology is one being produced by the ever expanding Google. Something called Project Glass. This refers to a pair of augmented reality glasses. In other words, it puts images that you would normally view on a computer screen, right in front of your eyes. Scary, right? Or incredibly cool, take your pick. Part of me worries that this could be one step in the wrong direction. We already have some concerns about children and teens not being able to socialize face to face. (Sadly I’ve seen this in action. A room full of teenagers supposedly hanging out, all glued to their cell phones hardly interacting) Wouldn’t it make it harder to talk to the person next to you when you essentially have the internet attached to your eyes? Perhaps we need to be better about how we use (not abuse!) technology to begin with. Either way, these may not be the ideas of the future envisions by out past (I’m still waiting for my mass produced hover board, Back to the Future… you’ve got three years), but they are amazing nonetheless.

The second and final technology I have heard about is perhaps a little more farfetched than the augmented reality glasses (augmented reality is something that already exists today in things like Nintendo 3DS), but it doesn’t make it more innovative. In my opinion, it’s something that would actually be a step forward in terms of the possibilities. I honestly cannot find the words to describe this idea for a greener world in the future, other than amazing. But to help me, I have the video right here. It’s over five minutes long, but it’s worth it. When I first watched it, I was in so much awe that I wrote off the entire concept. However, watching it a second time, I caught all of the benefits for education. Kids interacting with children from other countries, learning languages, sharing ideas. Parents checking on what their kids were learning, as they learned it in school. It’s like interactive whiteboards, but at a whole new level. Do you think this is a technology you’d want in your classroom if it were available now? Is it something you think we should devote some of our resources towards achieving? In my opinion? I say yes. Yes yes yes. It makes me think about how we as teachers may be preparing our students for jobs that don’t exist yet. In a way, we are also preparing them for creating innovative technologies that are simply ideas or dreams at the moment. It is our job to make sure our students are digitally literate, so they can take what we have now, and make it better. So perhaps I’ll be accessing the internet on a simple sheet of glass…in the not so distant future.