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Curriculum has numerous definitions, which can be slightly confusing. In its broadest sense a curriculum may refer to all courses offered at a school. This is particularly true of schools at the university level, where the diversity of a curriculum might be an attractive point to a potential student. A curriculum may also refer to a defined and prescribed course of studies, which students must fulfill in order to pass a certain level of education.
For example, an elementary school might discuss how its curriculum, or its entire sum of lessons and teachings, is designed to improve national testing scores or help students learn the basics. An individual teacher might also refer to his or her curriculum, meaning all the subjects that will be taught during a school year. On the other hand, a high school might refer to a curriculum as the courses required in order to receive one’s diploma.
They might also refer to curriculum in exactly the same way as the elementary school, and use curriculum to mean both individual courses needed to pass, and the overall offering of courses, which help prepare a student for life after high school. Usually, students in high school and colleges have some degree of choice in pursuing their education. They often have an individual curriculum which helps them attain a degree or to specialize in a certain field. Even at the high school level, curriculum may be separated into courses that make one eligible to attend certain colleges, and courses that will merely earn students a diploma.
Some high schools have curriculum specially designed for students who plan to work in a trade after finishing high school. In those cases, a high school may offer certification in secretarial or construction skills when a student follows a specific curriculum. In colleges, specific courses make up the individual’s curriculum, allowing one to obtain a degree or certification in a certain field. Usually an individual will have to complete a certain amount of general education courses, and then specialized courses within a chosen field.
In this way, the curriculum is individualized to the person’s desire for a certain type of expertise. Not following the prescribed curriculum may mean not obtaining a degree. Curricular Changes and Content I believe that there will be a number of curricular changes in the next 10 years. These changes will primarily take place because of the changing world that we live in today. Our educational system must keep up with the world around us; therefore the changes that take place in curriculum will be based on and due to what is taking place in our world.
The introduction of the personal computer and the Internet has made huge strides in how school children learn independently at home. According to David Thornburg, because the Internet is “doubling in size every year, and the web is doubling in size every 90 days there is need for a complete rethinking of education” (2006). Learners will have “technological fluency to sit down at a computer and use it as easily as they can pick up and read a book in their native language” (2006). The curriculum will include technological literacy as its core subject from a very early age.
I believe the computer will develop in ways that will enhance learning. Learners will continue be exposed to information from both television and the Internet through moving images. More attention will be given to learning strategies in the curriculum ten years from now. The curriculum will include brain based learning ideas and the steps required to reach learners so that learning is meaningful. This will include their feelings. There will be a great deal of team discussions and personal reflections by parents, students, teachers and students. “Brain-based” learning will be more than an idea.
The learning process has been changing for the past years. This change will be more evident in the future. According to David Sousa, “yesterday’s methods worked well for yesterday’s students. But the student brain of today is quite different from the one of 15 years ago” (Sousa, 2008). It will be necessary to study how students’ brains work to enhance learning. “Today’s children spend much more time with television and other electronic media than with their parents” (Sousa, 2008). Technology can cater to these neuroscience brain-based findings in the computer lab as well as for online learning courses.
Productive tools such as PowerPoint presentations, Excel, Word processor, FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash with their multimedia functions will be used by both teachers and students instead of using conventional outdated class tools. Since today’s brain needs a TV like environment, both sound and animations will be used in tomorrow’s curriculum. Lessons will be prepared by utilizing the information that is readily available on the internet. Learning will be exciting, relevant and meaningful. People will no longer limit their learning to an educational setting such as a school or university.
Learners find themselves staying awake longer because of the media. Most youngsters are attracted to its visual and auditory aspect. The Internet and other means of educational entertainment are keeping youngsters up late at night. The new curriculum ten years from now will balance things so that students get an opportunity to work online at school during the day and sleep at night. Homework and project based tasks will also be done at home. Learning will be accepted as on ongoing process both at home and at school. The Internet is making learning faster and more effective for many students in the comfort of their homes.
Learning will take place at home by online distance learning. I believe many subjects will be learned at home. There are many benefits to using online distance learning environments. Online education is available “anyplace, anytime for global communities of learners based on shared interests (McDonald, 2007). Thornburg sees more home schooling and more web-enabled courses as future trends in rethinking education (Thornburg, 2006). He predicts “new roles for teachers as facilitators who will concentrate on the teaching of social skills rather than on academic or technical expertise”.
Thornburg also predicts that there will be an increase in online courses “offered through the Internet”. He suggests that “the only way to go with the fast increase in population and the physical constraint of the existing colleges and universities is in cyberspace”. He focuses on the Internet and “distance education” as a trend that will become even more popular in the future. The future of technology will enable people to be life-long learners. Learning will continue into the work place “to keep up with current information and transcend the barriers of physical distance” (Thornburg, 2006).
I believe that “schools will cease to become like a mill where students undergo academic processing but will evolve into becoming community centers where students engage in a variety of activities and projects” (2006). Technology can improve student learning and make teachers’ work much easier. Educational technology will become “powerful low-cost, off the shelf tools that can make learning more engaging and knowledge more accessible. Educators must work in partnership to break down the barriers of time, space, content and form so learners can collaborate, communicate, and share ideas. According to McDonald, school curriculum will shift from what used to be extra-curricular activities and become the main curriculum” (2007). The subjects will be specified in the curriculum. Schools will concentrate on social, art, sports and character education. School subjects will be learned in teams by means of project based tasks utilizing visual displays and multimedia presentations. Influences on Curriculum The environment from which students of our nation will graduate, is essentially different from the one many of us grew up in. America is increasingly living in a multicultural society that brings a new complete set of challenges.
The significance of educators studying regional and national population distribution is crucial for betterment of these changing communities. In order to keep up with changing communities school administrators should investigate ways to furnish the social, physical and educational needs of their distinct population. Responding to these needs, the National Association of State Boards of Education recommends interjecting classroom instruction with a strong multicultural point of view, and including debates of contemporary local, national and international events.
Our students live in a globalized world and our schools must adapt instruction to harmonize learning in today’s environment. Globalization and rapid technology changes have impacted the educational system; thus, the necessity for a constant curriculum improvement on language training, technology based education and instruction in cultural awareness. The needed information that students will have to acquire goes farther than the current knowledge that American schools offer; basic knowledge of math, science and technology are not enough to compete in the new globalized world.
Students must be educated about the world and capable of communicating with others in different languages. In the United States, educational institutions are teaching about the rest of the world in a superficial manner. For the present and the future, students need a deeper knowledge on global trends in science and technology, how cultures have developed and how international trade and the world economy function. When teaching students about the world, it should be integrated in all subjects they are learning. Educators must motivate their students to discover knowledge beyond their national limits.
Furthermore, educational institutions must engage partnerships with other schools around the world. By providing student exchanges they will produce world class students. The internet is facilitating the process of globalization and providing virtual interaction with others. Moreover, the internet is encouraging students to engage in meaningful cross cultural dialogue and mutual learning about how issues of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, social class, and age might influence the interaction of different cultures living together. Globalization has accelerated intercontinental migration.
Immigrants from Latin America and Asia are increasing the diversity of American communities, which reflects the entire world. As this ethnic diversity increases in the United States, we (educational institutions) must develop ways to create multicultural classrooms with a globalized curriculum. A multicultural classroom possesses a pedagogical and social challenge to educational institutions. Languages play a key role in multicultural integration. Therefore, students must learn languages that are influencing the economy of the world. In the United States, only about one half of high school students are learning a foreign language.
In the present, languages such as Arabic and Chinese should be learned in American schools because they are crucial to the prosperity and security of the nation. Countries in Europe and Asia are offering foreign languages in elementary levels where findings have shown that learning languages is more effective. Students in those countries learned foreign languages until they became proficient (Stewart, 2007). The interjection of bilingual elementary schools can help to solve the rising issue of globalization and can help ESL students to succeed in generous America.
Stewart (2007) mentions that Seattle public schools created the John Stanford International School, a public elementary bilingual immersion school. Students spend half the day studying math, science, culture, and literacy in either Japanese or Spanish; they spend the other half of the day learning reading, writing, and social studies in English. The school also offers English as a second language course for immigrant students and after-school courses for their parents. These internationally oriented schools should be expanded throughout the nation because of its effectiveness.
The future of education depends on social and environmental factors. Learners are part of society. The new curriculum of the future will cater to the needs of the community and the business world. The concept of knowledge has changed from having information in the brain, to “having access to information about a particular topic and knowing how to use it” (Castro, 2007). Problem solving skills need to be part of the curriculum. The curriculum will consist of skills necessary for “educational problems that need to be addressed” (Newhouse et al, 2005). Teachers’ roles will ultimately change since they will no longer be providers of information.
They will be facilitators who concentrate “on the teaching of social skills rather than academic or technical expertise” (Castro, 2007). However, “teacher-mediated classrooms do not foster computer-mediated learning” (Snyder, 2008). “Technology requires changes in the way humans work” (Mulcahy, 2006). The school curriculum will reflect how learners learn and feel as well as society’s life style. Learning can reach greater heights if “the rate of change inside an institution is less than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight” Welch (as cited in Thornburg, 2007).
Our students live in a globalized world and our schools must adapt instruction to harmonize learning in today’s environment. Globalization and rapid technology changes have impacted the educational system; thus, the necessity for a constant curriculum improvement on language training, technology based education and instruction in cultural awareness. The needed information that students will have to acquire goes farther than the current knowledge that American schools offer; basic knowledge of math, science and technology are not enough to compete in the new globalized world.
Students must be educated about the world and capable of communicating with others in different languages. In the United States, educational institutions are teaching about the rest of the world in a superficial manner. For the present and the future, students need a deeper knowledge on global trends in science and technology, how cultures have developed and how international trade and the world economy function. When teaching students about the world, it should be integrated in all subjects they are learning. Educators must motivate their students to discover knowledge beyond their national limits.
Furthermore, educational institutions must engage partnerships with other schools around the world. By providing student exchanges they will produce world class students. The internet is facilitating the process of globalization and providing virtual interaction with others. Moreover, the internet is encouraging students to engage in meaningful cross cultural dialogue and mutual learning about how issues of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, social class, and age might influence the interaction of different cultures living together.
The school curriculum will reflect the work force and the business world of the day. I firmly believe that the curriculum will create an educational system that prepares students to work in fields that do not even exist and I think that lifelong learning is a survival skill. Schools will find ways of making learning meaningful and “relevant in the lives of their students. Development and Design The government has a main role to play in the development of legislations that will incorporate a global dimension into American schools.
Nevertheless, school officials, educators, community members, parents and students must be part of all school changes, especially curriculum development. There have been numerous suggestions made on how policy makers can prepare schools and curriculums for the present and future. These suggestions include: – Redesign high schools and create new graduation requirements to motivate higher achievement and promote important international knowledge and key skills. – Expand teacher training to deliver rigorous study in world history and cultures, economics, world regions, and global challenges. Develop world language pipelines from primary school to college that focus on crucial languages, such as Chinese, and that address the acute shortage of language teachers. – Use technology in innovative ways to expand the availability of international courses and ensure that they ever increase both the competitive edge and security of the United States. In the near future, teachers will gradually lose the student management aspect of the job and they will become the guides of students learning. The internet will become the most prominent avenue of learning.
The students will not be limited by age or location to learning opportunities; instead, they will form virtual groups over the internet with individuals who share same interests or needs. Nonetheless, within the next decade K-12 education will be provided in schools with all technological devices that improve education (Lord & Lomicka, 2007). Learners who are taking advanced courses might not attend a physical classroom at all; they will study online and the teachers will be the providers of assignments and guidance. These students will do the actual research on resources provided by their teachers.
The educators will be knowledgeable on information technology matters that will allow them to integrate instructional technology into the curriculum. Individuals can speculate about the future of the educational system of America; nevertheless, those speculations might become reality depending on how fast instructional technology is assimilated by educational institutions. My Part I will play an important part in the curriculum trends and changes that will take place over the next ten years. I love teaching and I know that I would prefer to be in a classroom rather than in administration.
Therefore, the part that I play will be in implementing the changes that have been put in place. I will stay open and positive to the changes and make sure that they are delivered to the students as best as possible. Although I don’t think that I will be in top level decision making position, I will be voicing my opinion when it is time to change the curriculum. I believe that as a teacher, I know what works and what doesn’t work in regards to the students, and I will make sure that those who are in those top level decision making positions will know these things as well.
I cannot honestly say how these changes will affect me personally. I know that they will affect me personally because the way that my students perform and their success and failures affect me. I just hope that the changes that are made in the education field are for the best and that all students are successful. The curriculum will be an ongoing work in progress with many stakeholders from within and outside the school setting. Administrators, businessmen, community representative, parents, students and teachers will develop and design the curriculum.
I hope to be one of the leaders in the planning of the process. References Snyder, D. P. (2008, January). A look at the future: Is technology the answer to education’s long-term staffing problems? American School Journal. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://www. asbj. com/2004/01/0104technologyfocus. html Sousa, D. A. (2007, December 16). Is the fuss about brain research justified? Education week, 18 (16), 52, 35. Retrieved April 25, 2008, from http://www. edweek. org/ew/1998/16sousa. h18 Thornburg, D. D. (2006, June). Reading the future: Here’s what’s on hand for technology and education.
Electronic School. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://www. electronic-school. com/0698f1. html McDonald, 7 (2007). Educating leaders for a global society. New York: Goldman Sachs Foundation. Lord, G. , & Lomicka, L. (2007). Foreign language teacher preparation and asynchronous CMC: Promoting reflective teaching. Journal of Technology & Teacher Education. 15(20), 513-532. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from EBCSOhost database. Stewart, V. (2007, April). Becoming Citizens of the World. Educational Leadership. 64(7), 8-14. Retrieved April 25, 2008 from EBCSOhost datebase