How would you like to teach yourself, rather than have teachers? According to the UK’s Department of Education and Skills, students will teach themselves in the schools of the future. This means that there will be no more problems such as finding enough teachers. Estelle Morris, the UK Education Secretary, opened the 2002 Education Technology Conference in London recently. To start the conference, she presented a video showing a computer—generated model of the school of tomorrow. Greater use of computer technology and classroom assistants will help students develop their own way of learning, Morris said. She added that this is a more exciting as well as a more interesting way of learning. At the same time, teachers will be “freed from their traditional role as the source of all knowledge”. Children of all abilities will “form the curriculum(课程)around their individual needs.” They will “learn in their own time, at their own speed and in their own environment”. At home or at school, they will follow their learning programmes by looking at online libraries and watching lessons by world-class teachers and subject experts. Instead of going on field trips, students will use virtual reality. If they don’t understand something, they can ask other students—“take part in virtual communities with learners with similar needs”—or e-mail their teachers. They will hand in their work electronically to be “auto-marked”. The classroom of the future is fast becoming a reality. And the Department of Education will soon produce a guide to help schools adapt buildings for new technology, Morris said. These ideas are based on the UK government’s plan to create an education system that provides students with a strong grounding of knowledge and skills at primary school level. And provides the chance for students to develop their individual skills at secondary school level. 小题1:According to the UK’s Department of Education and Skills, the school of the future will ______.
|