Pedagogy, authenticity and technology are the three pillars of the classroom of the future, according to Alex More -Lead Teacher of Innovation in Teaching and Learning at Shaftesbury school- and Marc Hermans -head of the education department at PXL University College in Belgium. Sharing the same vision, they created the "future classroom", where future teachers are being trained.¹

For the first pillar, a combination of Didactic and Authentic Pedagogy has been chosen. Students are being taught using flipped classroom model, with direct instruction for 27 minutes (as 27 minutes is the time students are actively, successfully, and productively engaged in learning relevant academic content) and the last 27 minutes go to testing what they’ve learned in the first 27 minutes. The purpose is to embed knowledge into their long term memory. This is closer to the Didactic Pedagogy and supported by modern reasearch on long and short term memory.²

On the other hand students also practice in collaborative working teams, which places the teacher in the “mentor” role as they experiment with ideas, fail, recover, find the solution and grow, that follows the philosophy of Authentic Pedagogy. In the pedadogy pillar, architecture is also closer to the Authentic Pedagogy, as the classroom space is disigned for collaborative work: all the way around, students have whiteboards at their disposal and learning is inquiry based, as it follows the idea of constructivism. Not just one whiteboard only the teacher uses, but 360° writing surface. As Herman mentions "A classroom space should enable different pedagogical formats. The classroom of the future is a flexible classroom." So, if the lesson is being more guided, the architecture of the classroom changes to a Didactic one, with the teacher being in the centre. Both Pedadogies are essential.³

As Benjamin Franklin said, Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. That leads us to the second pillar, which is authenticity, as they try to connect real life experience with the lesson. Students play different parts within their teams: there’s a team leader, assistant team leader, scribe, speaker, and research analyst, which resemble to a real life job. They also have the chance to excercise in schools and experience true working conditions or work with vitrual reality, with the help of technology. That is an approach closer to Authentic Pedagogy, as students have an active role and are being prepared to be citizens who actively engage and participate in their own role as citizens. 

As their third pillar, technology has an important role, but through a pedagogical prism, they do not choose technology just because it's technology, but because it is appropriate for that specific space and it helps to achieve learning objectives. 

I believe that this future classroom example based on both Pedagogies, reinforces the view that there is no need to choose between the Didactic and Authentic, but to combine them successfully to achieve the best possible result. 

1. https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2021/01/build-the-classroom-of-the-future-with-these-3-key-pillars

2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27699659_Why_Minimal_Guidance_During_Instruction_Does_Not_Work_An_Analysis_of_the_Failure_of_Constructivist_Discovery_Problem-Based_Experiential_and_Inquiry-Based_Teaching

3. https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2/supporting-material-1/a-critique-of-progressive-education