International conferences are a great
opportunity to learn new things, debate controversial ideas, and check if you
are doing a good job at your school. The IATEFL annual conference is especially
exciting because you have teachers from all over the world sharing information
on teaching English as a foreign language. So there I was, ready to take part
in this international exchange of ideas.
Being a tech-savvy teacher who blogs and
reasonably up-to-date on technological advances, I was quite curious by the
title of this presentation by Peter Davidson (Zayed University, United Arab
Emirates) on Thursday, April 11th 2013. After all, he was asking
questions such as, “What will classrooms look like in the 21st
century?”, “Will there be classrooms?”, “Will there be schools?”, “Will there
be teachers?”. Looking for answers and for new ideas, in I went.
Peter Davidson
started talking about the factors shaping education at the moment, some of
which are economics, globalization, research, and technology. Going on to the
topic of curriculum and tools, He mentioned blended learning, online learning
(MOOC), laptops, tablets, and phones. After cruising through web tools, he got
the audience to discuss the role of the teacher in the future. Will we be
facilitators, enablers, guides, mentors, gurus, or just bystanders?
Finally, the session went onto the
future of education. Whether education will be challenging, frustrating,
chaotic, fun and exciting, Peter Davidson concluded that teachers need to not
only be aware of the changing face of education, but they need to embrace this
change and help to shape it. This change needs to lead to more effective
learning. According to him, and I fully agree, teachers and educators need to
shape the future of education – not Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
The important
question here is, “Did I learn anything new by watching this presentation?” The
answer is no. However, what I would like to emphasize is how rewarding it is to
know that Casa Thomas Jefferson is one of the frontrunners embracing this
change. We, as teachers, have been using web tools for several years. Online
and blended learning are already part of our reality. Computers and tablets in
class are our daily routine. Even living in a developing country facing a
never-ending economic crisis, we are not bystanders. Into the future we boldly
stride.
