NOTABLE FEATURES OF THE SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE

An imaginary school in a city in the future

(Click on the photo to open a window with a short mpg movie)

Imagine a "holograph blackboard" able to show 3D images connected to the "net" or a computer.

Many futurist, scholars and experts have formulated the hypothesis of how a school could be in the not too distant future. Some of them are definitely science fiction, like those that we see to the left or in famous films, reports or just curiosities. Others, however, are based on the evolutionary tendencies already in progress.

In the following points, we will try to summarize the reoccurring hypotheses that have a good chance to influence the scholastic architecture of the future.

As some experts affirm, school users and operators have adventured into an area that had not been developed until recently. It will determine the characteristics of new schools and influence the choice of the equipment to use. The courses and study plans could be constantly discussed and defined. Teaching and learning will become more flexible and spontaneous.

Some scholars summarize the problems of change underway, expressing conflicting concepts about traditional schools, more precisely: traditional and modernity, long term and short term, competition and fairness, global and local, universal and individual, spiritual and material. They believe that learning will qualify in itself as "academic", "professional" and "experience". We will pass from an initial education that is valid for life to flexible learning to develop during life.

Multimedia classroom example

It is evident how this concept, if you accept it, will bring radical renovation to the idea of school that we are used to and take for granted. There will also be radical change in the equipment and space used at schools.

The fundamental instruments that will inevitably contribute to determining this evolution are information technology and multimedia; elements that already have deeply changed our way to work, communicate gather information and relax.

This innovative and continuously evolving case has opened and fueled the debate about teaching methods.

Some educators, for example, think that the model school is based on frontal lessons, memorization of books read at school or home, repetition or recitation during oral or written testing is destine to end. Even if this does not mean that "traditional" methods, consolidated for some time, will not be a source of ideas and models that should be preserved. It would be a mistake to replace the teachers with a series of pre-constructed and automated gadgets. The didactic unit, the autonomous work, but following direct procedure to pursue a determined learning task, is certainly very useful, but, during preparation, the teacher remains fundamental.

According to these educators, space must be given to articulate the classes in small groups. The most reoccurring situation, in the immediate future, could be the classroom where groups of students work together while the teacher moves from one group to the next to give suggestions. (Also see the "Cooperative learning" page.)

Another area of development and application for teaching in the future is, without a doubt, is bound to the new telecommunications services, learning at a distance. The various telecommunication systems allow the progressive reduction of space-time barriers and the possibility to create a flexible learning environment for the study site, time and course.

Depending on the requirements, it is possible to create varied configurations of virtual classrooms. From the most simple, based on electronic post to more complex, based on a multimedia system that would allow the teacher and student to communicate in real time with the help of sound, images and text.

Naturally, this idea, if taken to an extreme, could eliminate the school as a physical place. This is not the desired result for two reasons: psychological reasons, teachers as a reference point for student, and the need for a place to meet and socialize. We believe that the idea of a virtual classroom is valid, especially for particular situations like adult education, professional seminars and educational support for particular students: adult ed., handicapped, elderly, disadvantaged students, etc.

The possibility, purely theoretical, to partially eliminate space in schools brings us already to the rethink the distribution and use of some areas in the school. For example: the library, which will increasingly become a multimedia hall, could be connected to the network of classrooms where a student could virtually attend the lesson without being physically present. We can think of this type of structure for outside the school being easier to reach by the citizens who could use it as a neighborhood service. The possibility to give the communal area of the school to the community is another subject the more innovative school-building designers are heading.

In addition, the concept of the "class" could change. Some believe that the rigidity of the number of students per class, the hours, and the program could not exist in the future. Students will change class according to the subject. The introduction of technology is fundamental to execute this tendency, because it allows students to interact with didactic aids and technology that permits the teacher to perform a function different for the traditional role.

The problem with the new school is for many to find a balance between the predefined curriculum, through objectives and non-programs, and the ability to go past widening information sources.

Towards this end, it is important that there are extra-curricular activities for socializing and the students have more time at school to organize part of their school day, as they wish. To this aspect, we attach the possibility to take advantage of technology for all the opportunities it gives us. The diffusion of Internet, within the school, will also be an instrument against marginalization that exists in within schools towards students that do not have a family to help them or the income necessary to afford new technology.

At the based of these considerations is the need to perceive the school building as a service container that works full time. In some countries, schools are kept open after normal school hours, both to supply lacking services and to make limited information technology equipment available.

It is thought that the changes that will be introduced with new teaching technologies will be very important. Presently, teachers transmit knowledge to the student a little at a time; passing from the first phase to the second, then the third and so on. Now, students can learn much more by doing research alone with modern information technology. The role of the teacher will no longer be to supply all the knowledge but to guide, stimulate, advise and to be a reference and comparison point for the students.

Many experts have the opinion that all learning that comes through multimedia is learning that that benefits from the resources, participation and pleasure. It is an education form that is opposite from traditional methods.

To better understand the dimensions of the phenomenon caused by the coming of new technologies in schools, we can cite some numbers. In the USA, in 1997, approximately 100 trillion lira was spend to equip schools for IT equipment, twice as much as five years before. Schools connected to Internet went from 35% in 1994 to 70% in 1997; the high school category reached 89%.

According to European Union estimates, to reach the average of one Internet connected computer per class, an investment of almost 8 trillion lira is needed.

Apart from the fact that this goal is possible or not, this tendency must be remembered when designing new schools.

Another aspect that future schools should non undervalue is architectural quality.

There is a firm belief that the situation in many countries that belong to OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - Paris) is improving. The quality of the of the building is essential for learning. It plays a primary role in forming and modeling students behavior through the atmosphere; beauty instills respect. Therefore, it becomes fundamental that all the elements necessary to reach optimal conditions of safety, health, comfort, energy savings and quality architecture are inserted in school design.

Of all the considerations made, we need to keep in mind the objectives of quality, that always include the use of new teaching technologies that are needed to reach space flexibility. Therefore, we must conclude that the necessity to create a completely new building product that we can identify with an intelligent building. This choice must be included within a completely new design approach.

There is always the risk that new technology is introduced into a design as an element to add to the other existing elements. The intelligent buildings of today are just old buildings that stand out due to their use of advanced technology not supported by truly innovative design methods.

Therefore, we must elaborate a "re-design" of the functions and typology based on the possibilities given by the progress of science and technology. Technical innovations can contribute to restart design through formal "intelligent" designs. As some leaders in modern architecture have surmised, we need to be careful to the contribution that production, technological, social and economic factors, apparently outside the design environment, can give to architecture and urban planning.

In addition, in the school construction field, new outside input must lead to a new design product that is the synthesis of quality, advanced technology and communal functions in continuous transformation and evolution.