A digital education system

Last year I decided to work on the D&AD Pearson brief, which asked us to find a specific present or future problem within education, and consider how this may change with the use of technology in thirty years time. The broad nature of this brief left me sprawling slightly, but I eventually decided to focus it on an issue I had experienced during my secondary school education; the education of chronically ill students.

For a student who is too unwell to attend school in the UK, there are a few options that the local council will provide, and I am relatively sure I managed to get through each of them.

1. The student's timetable can be reduced. Days can be shortened, or the student can go to school say 3/5 says a week.

2. If this is not possible the local council is required to provide a home tutor, however these tutors are not always appropriately trained in the subjects they are teaching.

3. The student may be able to go to a specialised hospital school if they are fortunate enough to have one in their local area. These schools are often inundated with applicants with all manner of conditions, so it can be difficult to get in. In addition to this, there may only be Math, English and Science teachers at these schools, so it can be difficult learning/maintaining other subjects.

While we are fortunate to have these options, given the broad range of different symptoms and needs people experience with chronic illnesses, these options are often not suitable. Additionally, the fact that the government only truly supplies tuition in the core subjects Maths, English and Science for students unable to attend mainstream school, many of these students are missing out on the opportunity to experience different subjects that could have an impact on their choice of future career. I experienced this first hand, and as a result had to teach myself 2 out of my 5 GCSEs (which had been dropped from my initial 11 options). One of these GCSEs has directly led me to studying design and aiming for a career in this sector.

The solution?

In short, I decided to create an online platform called Class Cast (not officially running), that would provide cameras to the schools these chronically ill students would be otherwise attending if it weren't for their illness. The camera would be set up in each class and it would be streamed to the Class Cast website for the student to watch. All classes would also be saved onto the website, so if they are unable to catch the lesson, they can catch up. Class Cast would be a cheap and simple way for the student to have access to all subjects, whether they are in hospital or at home.

Reflection/development

The concept of streaming classes is something that is already becoming a reality. There are already some schools that are purely available online, and there is even the Open University, where people can study degrees remotely.

But what if in 30 years time all education were to be digitalised?

Perhaps there would a select amount of centralised "schools" that would merely contain the teachers, who stream their classes. There may not even be schools as we know it, the teachers could broadcast from wherever they are. Lessons could be shared around the world, you could learn different languages from native speakers all digitally. While the idea of the education system being fully digitalised may seem like a unrealistic concept, the idea of it being far more digitalised seems probable. Schools are already using different softwares to provide homework, communication from teachers to pupils, timetables etc. How could this progress?

Video cameras and safeguarding

One issue that I had considered when thinking about the idea of a specifically video-streamed future of education was safeguarding. Would teachers want to be recorded? How would we control who watches and who submits the videos? Would the student be recorded? Other wise how would the student be able to ask questions.

A digital education system could provide equal opportunities

In have a digitally based education system, everyone could have access to the same educational resources and classes. Education would be far more accessible, in a world where even impoverished countries are having an increased access to technology. This doesn't necessarily mean that there wouldn't be "private" digital schools, but surely it would help improve the current situation.

Can you learn social interaction digitally?

Perhaps one of the most important things about schools is the fact they can teach children social and communication skills. Time spent making friends and playing in the playground could be considered very valuable.

Research conducted by the Psychologist Edward Fisher has shown that playtime can help enhance a Childs development by 33% - 67% - by improving their communication and language skills, and by improving their ability to cope with social and emotional problems.

How would we compensate for this if education were digitalised?