It is thought by many people that, by 2050, the traditional method of teaching in a classroom will be substituted for with other options. In my opinion, physical classrooms will become less important as technology evolves, but will not completely stop being used as a means of education due to the need of in-person teaching environment.
On the one hand, emerging technological developments have made it increasingly irrelevant to have teachers and students meet in a classroom. While students were required to go to school for education in the past, now they have the alternatives of taking online lessons thanks to the ubiquitous internet use. This has allowed teachers to do their classes using a virtual classroom software tool. For example, internet is being used by more than 80% of the world population according to a recent study, and 60% of schools worldwide have already incorporated some forms of online classrooms to assist with classroom-based teaching.
On the other hand, in-person teaching will not be entirely done away with in the near future because of restrictions presented by computing technologies. In online classes, teachers will not be able to monitor their students’ behaviour as what they can see from the side of the students is only by way of a web camera. As a result, some students secretly checking their phones while pretending to be attentive in class would not be easily caught by their teachers. In fact, research suggests that 3 in 5 teachers have reported that online teaching is not as effective as in a classroom.
In conclusion, although having classes within the confines of a classroom is no longer a necessity due to the widespread use of technology, it is crucial to have classroom-based teaching available for the overall education experience to be sound and fulfilling.