That is the last real change because nothing much has happened since then. Certainly the environment for education has changed dramatically. But we still operate largely in rows in front of blackboards (that are sometimes white and even electronic). The slide show, the television, the video, the computer, all were expected to radically change education. But none of them has. Remember the Commodore 64s back in 1981? They looked good and were expensive paper weights. Yes, education stayed the same even as we went to the moon and simulated the Big Bang in a massive 2.5 mile tunnel.
But now the tables have turned. Education is no longer the province of the educator or the monopoly of the few. Consider, Web 2.0, Curriki.org, where numerous of the world's best universities, libraries, and home schooling experts (among many others) are making education truly democratic with no state, national, or international boundaries. And the technology of smart phones, video games, and on-line communities tells us that we are in the middle of a revolution. The best the formal education community seems to be able to do is put together lists of 21st Century skills that don't look new at all, and fail to address the realities that technology has brought us. Yes, 21st Century schooling is about to make our 20th Century schools obsolete.
Our kids have countless choices—and the world is at their fingertips thanks to the Internet. It is fascinating to listen to a teenager on a XBox, not only vocally giving instructions to a game character, but also talking to others playing the same game via the Web. The teen is totally engrossed, part of the game. This is only one example, of how kids want to being engaged now. This is what educators need to harness.
In the 21st Century classroom, the classroom moves beyond four walls … and includes the community. The curriculum is interdisciplinary, project-based, and research driven, and students are encouraged to work collaboratively as well as independently. Assessment is not in the form of exam as we know it. Rather, self assessment, peer assessment, and review by a larger audience gets to the root of the student's understanding.
The current economic situation offers us an opportunity to reconsider what school "is" and where it is going. The old paradigm where students could only be educated in a particular subject at a particular time by a particular person in a particular place at a particular rate is under challenge from educational currents that already exist. A student can now download an entire life's education from departments of education, from prestigious universities, from schools, and even their peers. Open source software is blowing open the prescribed world of publishers and curriculum. Home scholars are being accepted to Yale and Harvard routinely and by invitation. A laptop for less than $500.00 provides access to more information from every major library in the world than our finest schools can provide in their multitudinous stacks. Does this make our schools ultimately obsolete?
Want to explore this further? Download ISM's new special collection on The 21st Century School? (This will be available to download for free until May 8, 2010.) We are also annoucing a new ISM workshop/presentation about: The 21st Century School: What Will It Take to Be Relevant Ten Years From Now? This workshop will provide insight into the changes that are happening, encourage discussion and sharing about our own experiences of those changes, and provide some clear ideas about how we stay relevant and attractive to parents and students. Can you use this and make it fit your needs? Contact Helen Foster, ISM Consulting Coordinator, at 302-656-4944.
For a more in-depth look at 21st century education, click here for Possibilities for 21st Century Education from 21st Century Schools. You can learn more about engaging students in the 21st century model here.
