How Should Chemistry Educators Respond to the Next Generation of Technology Change?

Abstract

Chemical educators are facing a new generation of instructional technologies that impact classroom teaching. New technologies, like smartphones, cloud computing and artificial intelligence take learning beyond the classroom; 3D printing, virtual reality, and augmented reality provide new ways to teach the virtualization skills that are important for chemists. These technologies cause students to become more isolated, so students may not develop the social skills that they will need for today’s workplace. Individualized learning may be beneficial to many students, but it will create challenges for faculty. Although this article focuses on chemistry education, it should be apparent that a similar argument could be made for other sciences, like physics and biology.