College Education and Technology
A satire of the future college classroom
Nov 12, 2006 Naomi Rockler-Gladen
Fort Collins, Colo., November 12, 2056. Colorado State University college students were treated to a sneak peek at the new Museum of College Education, scheduled to open next month. Students were delighted and amazed by the display of obsolete technology.
"What's this?" one student asked, picking up a bulky, square device.
"That's a blackboard eraser," answered Gwen Rockler-Gladen, tour guide for the museum. "It was used to erase chalk markings from a blackboard." To demonstrate, Rockler-Gladen wrote a few words on an archaic wall hanging called a "blackboard" with a strange white substance called "chalk." She then made the writing vanish with the eraser.
The students laughed. "What a waste of time!" one exclaimed. "They could have just pressed the delete key."
The Museum of College Education offers a fascinating display of obsolete educational technology from the early 21st century. Visitors can sit in bizarre sitting devices called "desks" and experience first hand what it felt like to listen to a professor and write down comments in a "notebook." Other archaic equipment on display include a public speaking device called a "podium" and a shockingly inefficient data collection device called a 'textbook."
The museum focuses on the early 21th century because of the dramatic educational changes that began in this era. Online education was brand new, and educators with vision knew it would soon replace the ancient classroom model. Many educators were reluctant to let go of the teaching model that included a professor actually standing in front of a room full of students and verbally providing them with information. As technology developed, however, educators quickly realized the inefficiency of this information system, and by 2020 almost all classrooms in the United States were no longer in use.
The museum displays some of the early technology that led to today's online model, such as an online program called WebCT that allowed students to check grades online and participate in discussions about the course material. In 2010, Microsoft initially released its revolutionary KnowledgeMaker software, which allowed entire academic departments to move their classes online. And after Wikipedia published its trillionth article in 2012, it was clear that lists of Wikipedia articles would replace textbook readings forever.
Despite the students' giggles at the archaic technology, there may have been some advantages to the old system. "There's an interpersonal quality to education that has been lost," said Rockler-Gladen, whose mother was a professor at Colorado State University fifty years ago. "Sure, classroom teaching was an inefficient information model, but the relationships built between professors and students were special. Nowadays students can access their professors during online IM office hours and chat with students on their class discussion boards, but the dynamics of a face-to-face class discussion cannot fully be replicated online."
This point, however, may have been lost on the students visiting the museum, who could not contain their laughter. Students were especially amused by an interactive display of an obsolete communication device called a cell phone, which predated the palm tattoo telephones so popular among students today.
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Chalk.
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