Next Generation Classroom, is it really? - "A"

The Next-Generation Classroom, what does that sound like to you? To me it sounds like a peek into what our classrooms may look like when we become teachers. This article was published in 2004, so we are seeing more technological classrooms already. It talks about a $50 million classroom building at Central Michigan University, which was changing the way of teaching there. One teacher there considered himself as ‘old school’, he said that all he needed was a piece of chalk and a group of students. However, before he retired he decided to embrace the technology so he would have experienced it. It mentions a lecture he gave where he used PowerPoints, videos, and he was recording himself to form DVDs. It also said that he could have easily streamed his lecture on the web or accessed professors thousands of miles away on the videocam. While he said that it takes more preparation to use technology in a lesson, he also has become closer with his students.
I chose this article because I wanted to know what the ‘Next-Generation Classroom’ was and what was inside it. In 2007 we are in the next generation classroom at FGCU, because compared to the classroom in the article we have all the same equipment. Maybe everything is brand new in CMU, but it all works the same. It answers even more my question of how to integrate technology in the classroom. I thought it was interesting that the professor said there was no difference in his student’s grades with or without using technology. I enjoyed the article and appreciated FGCU a little more for being up to date on technology.

Carlson, S. (2004). The Next-Generation Classroom. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(25), 26-28. Retrieved April 2, 2007, from Education Full Text database.

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