This paper looks into the future (2042) and how teaching and the outlook on jobs for future generations will be different than current trends. It discuss how teaching may have to change to better prepare students for life after school.

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The Virtual World 2042
Western Oregon University
James Leach V
LIB 686

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The Future of Education
Technology is rapidly advancing, every day there is something new that is released, or a
new thought is put into action. Technology has come a long way in a short amount of time. I can
recall from when I was growing up, my educational experience had very limited technology
implemented into it. Either you had to reserve a computer lab, or you had to reserve a cart with
laptops on it. In elementary school we only used computers if we went to the computer lab and
my elementary school only had one computer lab that had to be shared with the rest of the
school. In middle school there were wheeled carts that had laptops for classrooms to use along
with a school computer lab that could be reserved for use, or some classes where actually held in
the computer lab. These classes that were held in the lab were my first experience with an actual
class that was dealing with computers and the use of technology in an appropriate manner. In
high school it was very similar to middle school, the only difference was that there were more
computer labs and there were more wheeled carts with laptops, increasing the availability for
students to use them.
In a lot of schools today each individual classroom has their own set of laptops for
students to use daily. There is no worry of trying to reserve a computer lab or cart to allow
students to work on computers or have access to gain information from the internet. I have been
out of high school for seven years, in the real world that may not be that long but in the world of
technology that is a very long time. The use of technology in education has come a long way
since I have been out of primary school. Students in today's world grow up with technology in all
their houses and it is readily at their fingertips. (Trafton, 2009).

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Education in 2042 being very much based around the use of technology and
implementing it into every single lesson plan that is created. With how the trend of today’s
educational systems are heading it takes a lot of stress away from the teacher when it comes to
gathering papers and keeping everything organized in folders. If everything is online, it would be
much easier for students to turn assignments in and get feedback from their teacher in an
efficient manner. Looking at a college course set up, often nothing is turned in while in class,
everything form resources, recorded lectures, assignments, syllabus, and other information about
the class is found online; all in class courses are basically set up in a hybrid form. I could see this
quickly working its way down into the levels of high school and even middle school. Where the
teacher lectures on the material that is being covered for that day or week while in class and then
everything else is held online.
An article that I came across was discussing a new trend called Flipped Learning. Flipped
Learning is a form of learning where students learn their lessons at home using video lectures,
podcasts, YouTube, and other material that can be studied online. The students are then required
to bring that knowledge that they have acquired outside of class into the classroom where they do
their homework assignments and discuss any questions that may have arisen with their teachers.
Another aspect of flipped learning is that the teacher never really lectures or leads the class.
Instead most all the discussion is done through small groups that requires critical thinking skills
about the topic on hand (Trafton, 2009). I like the sounds of this, for a couple of reasons: first off
it requires students to do their work outside of the classroom to be able to participate while in the
classroom. Second, it helps students build accountability, they cannot rely on the teacher
providing all the information for them. The students must take some of the teaching into their

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own hands and gather reliable information from resources that the teacher has given them to
bring back and share with the class.
Careers in 2042
In 2042 the job outlook will be drastically different than they are now. I believe that
students will be preparing for jobs that are solely based around the use of technology. A lot of
the jobs may not have any human interaction at all and could easily be done from the comfort of
your own home (Cep, 2017). We are seeing some of this in the job world today, and I see it
rapidly growing in the future. Students will be preparing for jobs that are solely based online, and
if there needs to be face-to-face interaction that can be done using skype or some other form of
streaming technology that allows individuals to virtually communicate with each other. Students
will need to be prepared with skills such as keyboarding, basic word processing, excel,
PowerPoint, web-design, and other forms of internet safety.
Students will need to be able to have a much better understanding of how to tell if
something is reliable or not. With how much information there is right now on the internet by
2042 there is going to be vastly more. Meaning that for future generation it is going to be crucial
that they gain these skills throughout their educational experience (Wade, 2006). If most
individuals are going to be earning a living online then internet safety, how to determine what is
creditable and what is not, internet professionalism, and overall technology skills are going to be
crucial for a successful career online (Wade, 2006).
Leisure Time in 2042
When it comes to leisure time in 2042 most all of it will be consumed by technology.
Virtual reality has become something that is growing in popularity in recent years. Virtual reality

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gives an individual a life like experience of a situation, game, event, movie, or anything else that
the creator can come up with (McDonald, 2017). For example, a person using virtual reality
goggles could have the experience of riding a roller coaster right form their living room. Leisure
time will be spent in similar ways also, such as relaxing watching TV, but the major difference
will be that TV in 2042 will be very interactive and somewhat realistic. Realistic in the sense that
the experience you are getting from watching a sporting event will be much more lifelike, again
using virtual reality. To accommodate these advances in technology homes will be much more
technology based and futuristic. All homes will have home-theatres that are aquept with virtual
reality experiences that will take the user outside of the theatre to give them the best first person
point of view that is possible.
Assistive Homes
When it comes to what tools will be available for gathering information or conducting
activities, I do not believe it will be anything terribly different than we have right now in 2019.
What I do think will be drastically different is the use of assistive technologies such as Alexa’s
or Google devices. All homes will be running off these assistive devices to better ensure security
purposes, energy conservation, and quick and easy access to information or entertainment
(Weise, 2018). From reading some information on these assistive devices I believe that they can
be very helpful to use in homes. It allows individuals to be more productive, throughout the day
and if something is forgot, for example turning the lights off, that can be done from using your
phone and an assistive device. Not only will our lives be seriously influenced by assistive
devices, our homes will have assistive devices built into them. Making our houses an assistive
piece of technology themselves. According to the nation’s largest home builder voice-activated
digital assistants will become as expected in a new homes just as garages are now (Weise, 2018).

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This is not something that is too far off in the future. Which means that by 2042 homes and about
any living space will be set up with some form of voice-activated assistive technology to help
individuals around their homes.
Global Communication and Information
On a global scale the community is already very much online and thriving. There are chat
rooms and blogs all over the internet that are discussing about anything that you could image and
want to gain information on. The biggest change from now to 2042 is going to be the video
streaming and video access to gathering information. For example, if you have an issue with
your sink and would like to get it looked at; instead of calling the local plumber all you will have
to do is go online and schedule an appointment. From there everything that needs to be answered
can be done through video streaming. Anything that we may not be able to research and gather
the information ourselves is going to be answered through the internet and via video streaming.
As far as informative tools go, as mentioned above assistive technology is going to be a large
piece of our lives. Currently we can google anything that we want and find hundreds of resources
that are available online. This requires us to most often type something into our phones or ipads,
no longer will we have to type, anything that we want will be controlled by voice command.
Want to search for something on your phone, just say it out loud, want to learn how to cook
something just say it into an assistive device that is sitting on your kitchen counter and you will
have written instructions pulled up and videos to help you cook anything that you want.

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References
2018 NMC Horizon Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/8/2018-nmc-horizon-report
Cep, C., & Cep, C. (2017, June 18). The Pointlessness of Unplugging. Retrieved from
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-pointlessness-of-unplugging
McDonald, G. (2017, July 14). Computerized Fabric Could Transform Any Piece of Clothing
Into a Fitness Tracker. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/59799-
computerized-fabric-turns-clothing-into-fitness-tracker.html
Trafton, A. (2009, January 13). Putting heads (and computers) together to solve global problems.
Retrieved from http://news.mit.edu/2009/cci-0113
Weise, E. (2018, May 09). Amazon's Alexa will be built into all new homes from Lennar.
Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/05/09/amazons-alexa-
built-into-all-new-homes-lennar/584004002/
Wade, N. (2006, January 24). It May Look Authentic; Here's How to Tell It Isn't. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/it-may-look-authentic-heres-how-to-tell-it-
isnt.html