staff are brought to the same level. Online teacher communities and support networks (e.g. Edmodo) are and will be a vital part of this.
From a technology perspective the rise of mobile devices and apps has led to a rapid shift away from large one-program-does-everything model towards Playlist Learning and Teaching. With this approach, students and teachers are building and using their own highly personalised collection of apps to learn and teach both inside and outside the classroom. In the short term this has led to a huge demand for curated libraries of content. Long term this shift allows for the development of Diamond Age Primers – artificial intelligences that work with a student or teacher to build a flexible curriculum for learning in response to the interests, intellectual development, skills and needs of the individual.
One student-one device teaching is currently problematic and, without standardisation, will continue to be so. There is still a demand for physically and technically robust student devices that can be controlled by the teacher and administration and which are handed out as and when the lesson demands. Beyond that we are seeing a reluctance to provide students with expensive tablets which they then use continually in and outside the classroom – mainly because of the expense and technical support issues. BYOD also raises a number of issues that are making teachers and administrators reluctant to adopt it – lack of standardisation, the need for device management software to be installed on pupils’ private devices which raises ethical issues. We are also seeing a backlash against phones in school full stop – as demonstrated in France last year. Their banning of phones in schools has widespread support as concerns about children’s exposure to screen time is fuelled by the media and some experts in the field of Neuroscience.
In summary – for de-centralised education systems the next three to five years will see:
1. A continuing move towards self-aware students and teachers who understand their own approach to learning, and who will plan and develop their own personalised curricula.
2. A move from large all-encompassing teaching systems towards Playli