Teaching in one form or another has been around for thousands of years. Formal teaching has traditionally relied on some form of classroom, a teacher to impart knowledge and learning and some form of board and writing materials. Students will have traditionally been issued or lent some form of course text book and have writing materials such as tablets and chisels, slates and chalk, or more recently pencils and pens to make notes with and some way of storing written materials such as papyrus or paper.

The technological revolution and in particular the rapid development of information technology in recent years has been phenomenal and has, indeed revolutionised the way people are taught. The first affordable and easily accessible technology was introduced into the classroom in the late 1970’s in the form of calculators and basic computers such as the SX spectrum. Since then new technology has rapidly become part of main stream education.

Video is now common place in most classroom environments and is an invaluable tool for bringing reality to numerous taught subjects. In recent years DVD’s and VCD’s are being used as interactive learning tools and have now practically replaced video tape. The benefits of this new technology are invaluable to both teachers and pupils alike. It is said that a picture paints a thousand words and this is undoubtedly true of video.

With DVD and VCD there is no longer a need to manually search for a particular part of a video as the new technology is easily indexed and searched. This has greatly increased the benefit of video as part of classroom lessons.

Audio has been used in the classroom traditionally as spoken by the teacher and more latterly in the form of audio tapes and cassettes. Compact discs have now largely replaced traditional tape and again have improved the usability and convenience of this medium.

New audio and visual technology has now made it easy for students to takeaway stored materials and lessons and to work away from the traditional classroom. This allows for classroom time to be utilised more effectively by allowing the teacher to only focus on areas of the lesson that cannot be taught outside the traditional teacher and pupil classroom setting.

One of the greatest revolutions in academic teaching in recent times has been what is now commonly known as on-line learning. A virtual classroom where teachers and pupils interact over the internet is now a reality. All course materials, examinations, lessons and communication can take place in cyberspace. Video-conferencing, on-line forums etc. allow students and teachers from different locations around the globe to meet and learn in real time over the internet.

Whilst all of these technological advances have in no doubt enhanced the pupils learning experience and made the role of the teacher more effective. It can be argued that there is still a vital need for the traditional classroom setting. People all learn in different ways. Some respond better to audio/visual input whilst others benefit more from the written or spoken word. Some people work well in isolation whilst others benefit from group work. The pupil teacher relationship is a vital ingredient of the education process. The teacher can assess and facilitate the best learning technique for their pupils. All students are looking to their teacher to help them learn. They need to interact with their teacher and have the ability to ask for help and direction. Whilst this is possible on-line most people would still prefer a face to face interaction. There is also the social element of the traditional classroom setting. Pupils can interact and learn from and with their peers. This does just not just relate to the set curriculum but to a wide ranging education.

In conclusion new technology has and is continuing to revolutionise the classroom environment. New technology can be used to enhance and develop the learning experience; however teacher pupil interaction and peer to peer interaction cannot be underestimated. The good teacher will use modern technology to enhance the pupils’ education and make lessons more interactive and fun. The classrooms of the future will no doubt change and develop but there will always be the need for teacher and pupil interaction.

Alun Bidmead May