Computer Educators by Vista

Computer Educators by Vista - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

The rate at which new innovations are changing technology makes it hard to predict what education will look like in the next 50 years. However, I believe that as technology improves it will become more integrated into the educational system.

Currently, we live in a world that is surrounded by technology, such as computers and phones, that didn’t exist when the previous generation was going through primary and secondary schooling. Technology develops at an exponential rate and as a result it is hard to say what technological developments will be around when the next generation will be entering school. One could imagine that computers using Artificial Intelligence (AI) are educating students as a supplement to traditional human educators or even in their stead. Even though there is some debate if AI will have this ability by then, it isn’t too much of a stretch to see that educational software and computer games could be equipped with AI to better tailor the learning experience to each student within that time frame. This would help prevent students from “falling through the cracks” and help students that are behind catch up. It could also reduce the burden on teachers who have class sizes of 30-40 students by allowing the AI programs to do the basic teaching while they spend their time working directly with individual students or small groups to ensure that their students are learning effectively. Better technology will become a great asset for educators at all grade levels and will help them provide a higher quality education to more students.

Besides technology being a great assistant for learning, I can see more computer science, computer engineering, and other digital technology related courses being taught at all educational levels. This will be due to an increasing demand for people with the skills required to design, build, and program computers and other electronic devices. In primary schooling, children could be required to learn all about computer components and take introductory coding courses using beginner friendly “drag-and-drop” coding environments such as Scratch.

Besides this, the technology will be all around us. Currently, AI is being used for a very wide range of applications. It has even found its way into areas that might not be expected, such as music composition by the AIVA composition program. As technology integrates more into everyday life the more the next generation will be familiar with technology growing up and will thus be more likely to gravitate towards work in technology related fields. This increased interest in technology related employment will further encourage the educational system to support the growing demand and will lead to even more focus on, and implementation of, technology in the classroom.

The final impact that technology could have on education that I would like to discuss is how technology will change scientific research, which is usually conducted in a college setting. In college, students have the opportunity to expand their knowledge about a specific topic through research. Research takes many years to gather and analyze information about a topic to successfully test a hypothesis, or even several. However, with the right AI program the amount of time it takes to gather or analyze information could be reduced significantly. Consequently, research on any topic could be conducted in a shorter period of time and thereby make more knowledge available to students, scientists, and other professionals.
There is no doubt that in 50 years that the educational system will have changed significantly. But in which direction, no one can be fully sure. My bet is that more technology will be incorporated at all levels of education to better tailor education to each student’s individual needs. I am also confident that AI will be used increasingly to accelerate research. Students, and people in general, will rely more and more on technology for the information they need, so I wouldn’t be surprised if in the far future humans will be learning solely through education provided by computers.