GabyRapid technological progress will transform education, making it unrecognizable within 15 years.
Renowned futurist Tracy Follows (UK), who has collaborated with leading technology companies around the world, has predicted the near future of education. In her forecast, teachers, classrooms, and textbooks will become obsolete. Using students’ DNA, artificial intelligence will create personalized learning paths. Lessons will take place in virtual reality.
Who is Tracy Follows — and what does she predict?
These predictions might seem far-fetched if they didn’t come from Tracy Follows, a well-known futurist Forbes named one of the world’s top futurists. So let’s look at her predictions, which she says are not science fiction.
By around 2050, students will interact with neural networks on their computers that act as teachers. Artificial intelligence will guide students through the world of knowledge while human teachers will no longer take part in the day-to-day educational process.
Follows noted that China already uses neurotechnology that reads brainwave data. It is built into the helmets of miners, construction workers, train drivers, and others. Leading scientists worldwide are working on further developing these technologies.
The Daily Mail reported that virtual reality will play a central role in future education. With VR, schoolchildren and students will be able to immerse themselves in the era of the dinosaurs or study human anatomy from the inside. Follows pointed out that virtual reality is already being used to train nurses and paramedics.
Which subjects will take priority?
Follows predicts that in 10 to 15 years educational priorities will shift. Language, literature, and traditional math will be less central. Instead, schools will focus on understanding artificial intelligence and learning to collaborate with it. Students will also concentrate more on space exploration and biotechnology — after all, humans are seriously intent on becoming a “multiplanetary species,” Follows said.
Personalization of learning
Lessons of the future will be personalized. In particular, curricula will be shaped around students’ DNA.
Parents will have their children take DNA tests to find out which subjects come more easily and which are more challenging. That information will be incorporated into a personalized learning plan.
Follows says that once parents know which subjects a child has a genetic predisposition for, they can structure the educational plan so the student can develop productively in their strongest areas.
By mid-century, many schoolchildren and students will learn primarily with the help of artificial intelligence at home. The world will move toward self-directed learning, and the traditional model of schools with classrooms, blackboards, and desks will become an anachronism. “Education of the future will be viewed more as a network activity rather than a physical place,” Follows said.
But what about socializing, playground antics, and spending time with friends at school? Child psychologists and other specialists will have important perspectives on those questions.
