“21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020,” a post by Tina Barseghian for KQED.org, describes predictions for the state of the modern classroom. Not surprisingly, the list includes the decreasing use of paper and books and the increasing adoption of the internet as a source of research and learning, all nicely following society’s increasing availability and use of technology. The traditional computer will be replaced by individual, handheld devices. No more computer labs filled with Commodore 64s, just students and their iPads and iPhones, or whatever will take shape in 2020.
Perhaps a little more surprising is the predicted falling away of some of the mainstays of measuring performance and potential in our educational system. For instance, standardized tests for college admissions. As the post predicts, “Over the next ten years, we will see digital portfolios replace test scores as the #1 factor in college admissions.”