MSTU 4020: Think ahead to the year 2045...

 What could happen in the year 2045?

Based on Facer & Sandford (2010) "World 3, only connect":

No one can be 100% sure about where the future stands. Neither can I, but why don't we try to follow the current footprint and see where it is leading us to.

    I do not think "world 1: trust yourself" will be viable at any time as long as human beings cannot escape death. I am not trying to be cynical here, but a highly individualized world also sounded like a selfish world without taking responsibilities or obligations. Moreover, I was worried about the parents' reaction and responsibilities when the first world scenario was introduced. For example, you simply cannot expect a seven-year-old student to know exactly what type of personalized learning experience he or she would like to participate in. 

    "Wolrd 2: loyalty points" sounds like a fascinating concept, one that I never encountered before. On one hand, categorizing and setting up contracts between the social and professional relationships sounds logical and intriguing. On the other hand, I think the concept of "Diagnosis" is unrealistic. Projected future economic roles will take away the factor of individual interest. For instance, what if a student was projected to be an investment banker, and then found out that his or her true passion was in astrophysics?

    The main reason behind my support of "world 3, only connect" is the unstoppable globalization. Scholars and media had projected that globalization took a major step back during the pandemic because of the technical and political issues. However, with the increasing need for online/remote learning, I saw a Chinese AI class advertisement this morning on YouTube. I believe education and instructional roles are unstoppable in many ways.

Two additional predictions:

    First, I believe the only major way that education will progress is towards connections. On the surface, the higher education system in the United States was always widely accepted as the best educational system in the world. I would like to agree with this finding, but I also found that the K-12 system in the United States worrisome. Earlier this semester, I had a meeting with the administrators I knew from my high school. I went to a British international high school where the school was the forerunner of deploying British education in China. At the same time, my high school needed to fight for its survival which depended on expanding the capitals instead of relying on the government's support and funding. 

    

During the meeting, they introduced popular concept educators have been envisioning in China, "future schools." They believed the future of education will rely heavily on advanced technology. However, the core concept is still going to be about education itself. For example, the students in the future will use tablets and even 3D printers more but only for the full understanding of the academic problems. In future schools, the boundaries between different schools will be more blurry so that the schools will have the opportunities to share resources.

    

    The second vision I have is based on the technicality of the broadband Internet system Elon Musk designed, Starlink. 

Since the goal of Starlink is to connect the world/making sure human beings can access the Internet everywhere, I thought it may also be an excellent carrier of educational technology. If we get rid of the political barrier for a minute, this is probably the best way to put education in motion. In this way, Starlink guarantees access around the world, and students and instructors can also use this link to connect with each other.