Le Prof Le Prof - TEACH Magazine

F U T U R E
the math, and gives him greater motivation in a subject
he would otherwise find tedious. None of his friends are
studying trig through navigation; they don’t share his
interests. He rarely interacts with a human math tutor,
and when he does, the tutor works one-on-one with
Jamal, either in person at Northern, or by videophone.
Jamal’s workstation is typical for a high school student.
It consists of what turn-of-the-century educators
would have considered a supercomputer, memory rod
readers, a three-dimensional monitor, and a high-speed
communications link. Jamal can also borrow telepresence
equipment from the school when he needs to go
on virtual field trips. In this way, Jamal has attended performances
at the New Globe Theatre in London, sat in
on lectures around the world, consulted books stored at
the British Museum, visited the Louvre in Paris and
Hemingway’s home in Key West, and held discussions
with people all over the world. The workstation would
have cost less than $1,000 to buy, but it is actually leased
by the school on a full-maintenance contract.
In addition to supplying information and resources,
Jamal’s workstation collects quite a bit of personal information
about Jamal. His eye movements and body language
are observed by the computer to gauge his interest
and comprehension in any given material. His physical
well-being is also gauged - there have been times
when the school called Jamal to suggest he knock off
work and call his family physician, because his workstation
indicated that he seemed to be coming down with
an illness. This two-way communication has allowed his
computer to help Jamal find his interests, and explore
them in much greater depth. In a way that earlier generations
would not have imagined, this communication
has also helped Jamal keep the learning experience interesting
and enjoyable without degenerating into trivial
game-playing.
To get to this point, there have been many major battles
over the role of teachers, the allocation of budgets
between personnel and technology, and the privacy of
the student. Jamal is peripherally aware of all this, but as
it doesn’t affect him, he ignores it. All he knows is that
he looks forward to his school work, and is eager to
embark on his post-secondary education. His enthusiasm
for learning is as high as it was when he was in
kindergarten - which is probably the highest possible
accolade for the fine blend of human teaching and IT
support that emerged over the last 20 years.
Jamal will graduate when he finishes enough dispersion
credits and the Toronto District’s computers decide
he has attained the academic and emotional maturity to
14 teach
move on to post-secondary education. But far more
valuable than his diploma is the fact that Jamal will
leave with a passion for learning which will stand him in
good stead throughout his career.
Richard Worzel is a Toronto futurist who volunteers his
time to speak to high school students as his schedule permits.
Contact him care of this magazine, or at
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