Group 1

H.E.L.P Teaching in 2040: The Evolving Role of Educators in Toronto's Future Classrooms

Abstract

In 2040, the primary mode of schooling follows a remote-learning format with heavy screen based learning from the comfort of the students home. This poses the question: what is the role of the teacher if students are receiving their knowledge from technology? This paper examines four key topics: evaluation methods, Indigenous knowledge and relationships, hybrid learning, and mental health challenges for teachers. It concludes that by the year 2040, the role of educators in Toronto will evolve into that of 'technology facilitators' rather than the holistic teachers we see today.

Diary Entries

Diary Entry 1

6 September 2022

Dear Diary,

Today is my first day of teachers college at Waterdown University! I am so excited! I am looking forward to making many new friends who share the same passion as me, teaching the children of the future! Can’t wait to see what the next two years have in store for me.

Wish me luck!

Gemma

Diary Entry 2

2 May 2024

Dear Diary,

Despite the job postings being released over a month ago, I have now come around to finally applying to my first real “big girl" job! After sitting at my computer for countless hours and almost a hundred applications later, I am hopeful that I will have the opportunity to uplift my students in my own classroom this upcoming September.

Talk to you when I hopefully have a full-time job! Wish me luck!

Gemma

Diary Entry 3

7 September 2024

Dear Diary,

I found journal entries from my grandmother and mother today. Wow, times have changed! For them, teachers were so strict and students were so disciplined! They never stepped a toe out of line, and they definitely didn't have phones in the classroom! No technology at all, unlike today.

Today, if I asked my students to take out a pen and paper, they would stare at me with blank faces! They all use their chrome books, and with many of the kids needing technology for individual education plans, it just works out that way - students need technology in the classroom. They have a hard time differentiating between classroom technology and personal technology like phones…I swear if I hear one more Tik Tok while I'm speaking I'm going to lose it! I can definitely see technology becoming a problem for youth in schools and society today..I mean they walk into class and instead of greeting their classmates face-to-face, they text each other “hi” on Snapchat instead! Crazy! I don’t get it… If we don’t put a stop to this, I can only imagine it getting worse. Students won’t even be able to speak confidently in-person to one another, or generate their own ideas without ChatGPT guiding them. They won’t even want to come to school if they’re learning more from their computers than from us teachers…Wow, that's scary! I really hope technology in the classroom does not continue to become a problem and I sure hope we can stop this trend. I imagine that in the future, students will be able to put their phones aside and responsibly use their technology in the classroom for educational purposes only.

Anyway, today is my first day as a full-time teacher. I've done long-term contracts before, but this is my first real job! Don’t get me wrong, my placements helped prepare me for this moment, however, having my own classroom sure is scary! I hope kids show up! I’m excited to meet them and inspire them to shape their lives for the better and make a difference!

Off I go! Wish me luck!

Gemma

Diary Entry 4

10 October 2024

Dear Diary,

I am writing to update you on my classroom experience so far! I am teaching grades 9 and 10 History and have been really enjoying it! My students are very actively engaged, building their soft skills in the classroom and making connections, it's a wonderful thing to see! It was hard getting them to put their phones down and chromebooks away, but I am so happy to be fostering such a safe, welcoming and lovely learning environment. Through my first couple of months of teaching, I have felt very empowered and hopeful for the future of teaching and learning. I’m still working on technology-time in the classroom. I’m trying to find a way to continue to use technological tools like Twine, Kahoot, and Padlet in world-building and classroom learning to give students autonomy and creativity. I hope I am back at Red Rose Public School again next year!

Wish me luck!

Gemma

Diary Entry 5

8 December 2024

Dear Diary,

Today, the strangest thing happened to me. If I’m being honest, I had a gut feeling something was wrong, it was too quiet at school today, too still, but I chose to ignore it. I thought I must be out of my mind.

I was sitting at my desk after school grading papers when a hooded figure dressed in black appeared right before my eyes. He wasn't scary, but his energy was strong and determined. Yet for some reason, I knew he was on my side. As I reached my arm out to touch him, he disappeared into black dust. I ran out to see if anyone else saw him when at the corner of my eye I noticed something left on my desk. It was an envelope, with the letter E on it…

I’ll read the letter later tonight. I’m trying not to think about it right now…got to go back to work now!

Wish me luck!

Gemma

Diary Entry 6

Toronto, 2040

Dear Gemma,

We live in a world where every aspect of our lives is dominated by technology, constantly surrounded by the relentless hum of devices and pings of phones. Silence is drowned by the frequency waves of technology. The doom is that we are constantly connected, but have never been so isolated.

This may seem like a far and distant land from you, but we are not so different, you and I. In fact, we are very much alike. Both determined to make a change, dreaming of creating a world filled with human connection. Both taking the path less travelled to inspire youth, shape their love for learning, and help them build the confidence they need to navigate the world and discover their potential. For me, this dream has been swept away like ashes in the wind. You, however, can alter the course of history.

You might be wondering why you received this letter, who I am, and why you. In time, all your questions shall be answered, but I need something from you in the meantime. Pay close attention to what is about to be revealed to you, it shall become your guiding post.

Between 2024 and 2040, the role of technology continues to shape our economy as challenges continue to unfold. As AI advanced, so did remote-working, plummeting the economy, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. The job market crashed, housing prices increased, and people grew anxious. They turned to the young generations for hope, but even they were stuck to their screens. Where diversity was once a main priority for a safe, inclusive and accessible learning environment, all identities have been reduced and blurred onto a virtual screen. Equity became hard to track, and with it came the downfall of accessible opportunities for growth.

In my world, educators have been reduced to nothing. We seek connection like it is a magical being from our imagination. A myth only to be spoken about in fond memory. Education, once a place for face-to-face learning has transformed into virtual worlds easily accessible from the bedroom. Lessons are streamed from various online platforms, assignments are submitted online with the click of a button, and social interaction is condensed into pixelated 5x5 boxes on a flat screen. Teachers have been reduced to nothing but technology facilitators rather than holistic educators, destroying the profession as we know it…

If you do not heed these warnings, this will be your future. If you do not put a stop to this now, if you dismiss addressing the uprising of technology in the classroom, this is how your role as an educator will look…

You have been warned. Over and out.

Messenger #346

Individual Narratives

Kimia - 3.1 The End of Meaningful Evaluation

Gemma,

The information I bring for you must be dealt with in haste. I have told you about the downfall of in-person learning and the role of educators being reduced, but I did not tell you how. This letter will reveal to you the first way technology has taken over our once beautiful and intricate educational system, through the destruction of educational evaluations.

Evaluations, once a tool to assess student learning, provide feedback for improvement, and guide students to meet their educational goals, are now met with hollow data.

In 2024, evaluation is shaped by the blend of traditional assessment methods and holistic, personalized approaches such as self-assessment, peer feedback, and exams based on the individual learning needs of students. Educators were able to make evaluations an interactive and inclusive process by emphasizing the personal goals of each student, helping them keep track of their own development, and using evaluation as an extension of the learning journey. Students were actively participating in self-reflection and progress awareness. A holistic and personalized assessment system inspired students to apply the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom and independently towards their final evaluations, creating a safe learning environment for all.

Today, in the year 2040, things are not so simple. Evaluation is now an empty and soulless machine, deprived of any humanity or understanding. What was once a dynamic, personalized and holistic process is now an algorithm-driven nightmare. In my world, evaluation is haunted by three complex ideas: algorithmic traps on automated grading, self-assessment as counterproductive tools for autonomous learning, and the death of empathetic human connection in grading.

In 2040, online learning has initiated the rise of digital assessments such as quizzes, multiple-choice tests, and auto-graded assignments. These assessments were designed as efficient automated tools to be used for personalized grading, not for checking sincere understanding. It is clear an alternate agenda is hidden deep within this system, as cheating and algorithms take over. These new systems of evaluation encourage students to memorize, rather than to think critically, reducing their learning and assessments to data points, checkboxes and scores generated by algorithms. Here, grades no longer reflect a student’s true knowledge. With no supervision or accountability, students have become masters at cheating their way through evaluations from the comfort of their own homes. Regardless of effort, because of this new system, grades and evaluations become meaningless, and teachers are unable to distinguish between students who understand the material and students who simply know how to play the system. Today, a perfect score on a test does not mean understanding, rather it means the student has found a way to manipulate the digital system well enough to pass the algorithm's surveillance. With this advanced virtual method of learning and assessing, an algorithm spits out numbers while teachers have been reduced to evaluation organizers and cheating enablers, a shallow erosion of what once was a holistic, personalized, and fair drive for meaningful evaluation. For both students and teachers, nothing is truly earned.

What was once an opportunity for students to engage with teachers to reflect on their own learning and find ways for personal growth has vanished completely from this dystopian world. Today, without human interaction and in-person learning, students must complete self-assessments without any real guidance or true feedback from educators. Because of this, students are not able to effectively assess their learning or personal growth but rather must grade themselves blindly by checking boxes while filled with self-doubt. The advanced systems of 2040 do not prepare students with sustainable assessment skills (David Boud) to develop their ability to assess their learning. David Boud claims that “assessment that meets the needs of the present and prepares students to meet their own future learning needs” (Boud, 2000) is key to fostering lifelong learning, and teachers have a critical role in doing so (Boud, 2000). Effective self-assessment requires supportive feedback from teachers, which students are simply not receiving. Without feedback from an experienced educator, students are being misled by a new system that does not care for their learning. Evaluation at the institutional level has been completely abandoned, replaced by a counterproductive system that places educators far from the core of what education means. Teachers wait behind screens, biting their tongues from giving feedback, monitoring students as they falsely assess themselves.

Today - unlike in your time - teachers are avatars on a digital screen, never truly getting to know their students or building real relationships with them. Personal connection, the cornerstone of impactful education, is now a distant memory, lost among a sea of screens. In the past, teachers would roam around the classroom, whisper words of encouragement to their students, and even pat them on the shoulder. This new technological world has brought with it the death of empathy and compassion in learning and evaluation. Online, a teacher's feedback is often overlooked, comes too late, or is unseen, meanwhile, students feel isolated and alienated in their learning. The teacher’s role in the classroom is reduced to mere administrators of automated feedback and mechanically produced grades that lack personalized student connections or compassion. The meaningful connection once praised in education and evaluation is now forgotten and replaced by machines and empty bots.

In today’s dystopian world, what once was an inclusive and holistic approach to evaluation has become a lifeless system of control. The humanity and creativity that once nourished educational institutions are now replaced by a student's ability to comply with digital instructions and algorithms. Now, evaluations are a representation of artificially produced grades and lack the human compassion needed for fair assessment. 2040 is a year of isolation and disconnection, a future where evaluation is a tool for dishonesty and injustice rather than a means for fostering educational growth. As technology facilitators, teachers have been stripped of their autonomy and forced into rigid and hollow systems devoid of meaning, forced to give students grades that fail to reflect true knowledge.

Gemma, so long as virtual learning continues to dictate education, the end of meaningful evaluation will continue. You must figure out a way to stop this. The future is in your hands…

Over and out.

Messenger #346

Jessica - 3.2 Connection is Key for Learning in Indigenous Communities

Vanessa - 3.3 Hybrid learning

Chantel - 3.4 Challenges for Teachers

References

Agyapong, B., Obuobi-Donkor, G., Burback, L., & Wei, Y. (2022). Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression among Teachers: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710706

Boud, D. (2000). "Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking Assessment for the Learning Society"

Brayboy & Maughan (2009). Indigenous Knowledge and the Story of the Bean, Harvard Educational Review, 79(1).

Harris. S. Kara. Rogers. E. George., “Soft skills in the technology education classroom: What do students need?” The Technology Teacher (2008).