A video titled "I just sued the school system" has gone viral, with more than 159 million views in just over three weeks. In the video, the author asks if the modern day school system is preparing students for the future. While it took some time, I believe we are making that change. At Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, we are transforming the traditional classroom into a mobile-first learning environment.
Learning is Transforming. Before we talk about How Tomorrow Learns, let's look at how education began. Not too long ago, children were educated in the home; either by their parents or if they were fortunate enough, by tutors. The classroom at the time matched the environment that they would later go to work in. In those days, as an Agrarian Society, the classroom in larger towns was often a farm house, led by a single instructor, with students of various ages, spanning across what we would now call multiple grade levels.
We then experienced the industrial revolution. We saw the workplace transform from a farm to a factory. Shortly thereafter, our classrooms would transform from a single farm house to a large building with multiple rooms, and students separated by grade levels. In fact, our classrooms tended to look like assembly lines, with rows of students and an instructor at the front of the room providing direction.
Starting around the 1890s, the first piece of education technology was introduced into the classroom, the chalkboard. Then about every 30 years, we would see a new piece of technology that promised to revolutionize the way we teach our children. From radio in the 20s and television in the 50s to the PC in the 80s. Each new technology with a promise to transform education. But, even with all of the new technology, classrooms have remained eerily stagnant for more than 100 years.
Today, we see a new technology emerging that is supposed transform the way we educate our children: Mobile Devices. So will we finally see the transformation of education with this latest technology? Will this be how Tomorrow Learns?
Yes! But the future of learning isn't just about the latest technology. Rather, it's about using the latest technology to enable new ways of learning. Tomorrows learning provides students with anytime/anywhere personalized learning, collaboration between peers and devices, and access to online resources.
To allow this transformation, the classroom must change, and they are starting to. Classrooms are shifting away from rows of individual desks to an environment that promotes collaboration between students, teachers and other devices; it's what we call the mobile-first learning environment. It's a classroom that supports 21st Century Learning, with 1:1 & BYOT initiatives, and Project Based Learning. It provides anytime/anywhere access to Cloud-based Apps like Google Apps For Education and Office 365e. It's a classroom that easily provides Guest Access and student collaboration, while also being able to prioritize critical learning apps such as Online Assessments.
As you prepare the classroom for this new way of learning, you must remember that the foundation of this mobile-first learning environment is the Wi-Fi Network. When building this critical infrastructure, schools choose Aruba because we offer a truly complete end-to-end solution that supports tomorrow's learning. Aruba provides a range of access solutions, from the data center to the edge. We deliver the broadest portfolio of 802.11ac WLAN products, core, and edge multi-gig SDN- capable switches, and an industry-leading limited lifetime warranty. And that's just the start. To learn more about all of the Aruba Solutions for How Tomorrow Learns, please visit our Primary Education Webpage.
