In Five Years’ Time

On the schools-it forum:

I would be interested in your views on IT infrastructure etc that would be appropriate in 5 years time. In particular, what technologies should we be looking at for seriously getting computers into students’ hands for the
whole school day?

By today’s standards, this is a long range forecast.

In five years time wireless internet access will be everywhere whether
you provide it or not. Students will arrive already equiped with their
own online identity, a large network of peers and their own individual
preferences for devices, media and platforms. The most important thing
you can do for their education will be to make sure they have access to
good food and that nobody gets in the way of their interactions with
each other and the whole wide world.
So make sure the plans include a proper kitchen, plenty of smaller
private areas, and points for recharging batteries. Try to keep the
teachers well out of harm’s way by distracting them with plenty of
video conferencing suites, coffee machines and suchlike.