The Daily Riff - BE SMARTER. ABOUT EDUCATION.

I agree with all but #15. As teachers we will know who to have in for our PD sessions and we will choose. We will not do it ourselves, because we know that with the internet, we are not the smartest person in the room and we will not try to be all things to all people. Instead, we will be the connectors who bring in the very best PD providers - folks from our own PLNs from across the globe, via twitter, skype, whatever tool works.

YES! YES! YES! It is time to stop teaching as we have since the one room school house. Let's use all the resources we have to develop the 21st century learner. We have cell phones, yet we can't use them. We have information at our fingertips, yet we expect our students to continue to memorize useless facts. We cannot continue to teach as we were taught. Who is ready to break down the status quo barriers of education and move beyond the traditional classroom walls?

I'd like to think there are mentors or tutors or "experienced sources" (no one ever can be an expert when there are always improvements / updates evolving) that can and should be sought for assistance by groups of teachers in PLCs deciding they need support.

Collectively, this list seems to me very consistent with self-controlled learning based upon standards or frameworks - very compatible with the best versions of informal education.

Thanks for your efforts in compiling the very believable list!

I'm all for employing current technology to better reach our students, and for re-thinking and disposing of old methods that don't achieve the changing dynamic of the world BUT (you knew it was coming) I'd like to see more attention and discussion of what and why we are teaching our students.

Should we strive for some common cultural touchstones that will unite them? Does DI mean we are creating individuals that will not be able to communicate to one another? Does our infatuation with all things digital mean that we have forgotten self-reliance and knowledge for knowledge's sake? Is there virtue in being unplugged and still - should this be the focus of some of the learning that we are promoting?

I'm interested in exploring questions such as these - but too often fear that I will be branded a luddite. I also fear that by not engaging in these, or similar discussions, the School of Web 2.0 is guilty of empty materialism.

Wishful thinking for the most part, many of the ideas will blossom here and there; most will remain wishes.

Culturally and rationally our nation is not ready for government schools that aren't glorified day care centers. There are powerful political and business interests that are invested heavily in the current system. They do not want change unless it is profitable to them. If you want this visionary school then go out raise the money and build it.

You can't teach Algebra I in junior high until you have good junior high Algebra I teachers.
Good luck.

Concerning 8 & 21- This is wishful thinking. They've said this10-15 years ago, and today we're using 4x the amount of paper we used to use . We haven't even gotten rid of vinyl records, so how is it paper books are going to vanish in just 10 years? Try 50-60 years at the earliest. It's going to take two generations of individuals never picking up a paper book (first being exposed to digital reading only, then passing along that experience to the next generation) for that to become reality because of those pesky, quaint five senses.

Yea Right... After World War Two we were going to have flying cars and smart houses that did everything for us. You still have to get students to show up (on time) ready and willing to learn. By the way, I've sat through too many in services on differentiated learning in the past 21 years. Guess how they have all been presented.... That's right, by lecture and lecture only. Books have lasting value. Your digital readers are great until someone figures out how to hack them. Technology is not God nor will it be the savior of education.

Is this list geared more towards high school?

I would love to be able to go out into the community with students more and learn from our surroundings, however from the elementary school teacher perspective, there are several things currently that are preventing us from doing that. The first one is funding. With the economy the way it is, schools are cutting funding for many field trips and various educational services. How could we do this if there is no money available for it? The second one is more legal. Trust given by the parents is needed in order to do this. We live in a day now that parents sue over the silliest little things. In thinking of parents, one also has to realize that in order to do these community outings and turn learning institutions into homebases, you have to have parents willing to give up some of their time in order to volunteer for these things. Why do we think they can do that? In an age where many parents have kids that they hardly spend time with (i.e. sending them to daycares, hiring full/part-time nannies, working early and leaving late) one sees that unless parents are willing to sacrifice some of their time in order to help their child(ren), it is not going to happen.

In terms of parent-teacher communication, you actually have to have people checking their email more frequently than they are now. I also prefer talking with parents face to face over email. Instead of worrying how my emails are going to sound (Is the tone of my email polite? Could a parent take this the wrong way?), I can have a more meaningful conversation with them sitting right in front of me.
I would be more than happy to Skype with parents as well, but they need to have the technology, time, and willingness to do so.

I really sound like a Debbie Downer with the above statements. There is one thing that I hope will happen and that is being able to supply every student with a laptop. There have been so many times that I could have saved paper and given students activities that could all have been done on the laptop and sent to me via email. Also, instead of having to worry about whole-class transitions and whole-group instruction for a large part of the day, I would able to give each student learning materials for where they are at academically.

If you are able to find enough money to do these sorts of things and have the support and trust of the parents, then by all means, let's start now! Until then I will continue along, doing my best at giving each student the tools they need in order to succeed.

I agree with some, but not all of these listings. Paper? - in book form as well.....I don't see that going away. There are many who cannot read off of a computer or Kindle, etc. IT Departments? Who will fix all of those problems that teachers have no clue about? There are more, but this may be so in more city schools, not rural.

Not to be rude, but this sounds more like a wish list than actual predictions. I'm not sure how much time you've spent in actual schools, especially in impoverished areas. There are schools (more than you might think) that can't even afford copy machines, books, aides, pencils, etc... and they're going to jump into some into some of the areas that you listed? Please...

I'm sure you've gotten lots of clicks with your intriguing title and posting, but it's just not realistic. I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, as a matter of fact I think a lot of your wishlist sounds great, but it just doesn't match reality.

Well I'm glad to see that someone actually put down in words the thoughts we have all had as we have had to sit through these lectures. Guess what type of instruction most colleges use? You've got it! Lecture. Our children are not prepared for college because their college classes are boring and not as creative as those they had in high school, We are pushing for DI and kids can not focus or sit still in a collge class.

See Craig Grannell, "Is the iPad too cool for school," in MacFormat, Dec 2010, pp. 70-75,
"At a school in Scotland, iPads have transformed the classroom, unleashing creative potential and removing barriers. But it hasn't always been plain sailing... "

The author paints a picture of students learning on their own time and held accountable for what they do outside of school. Many just don't want to do school work on their own time. So we need to make classroom time more productive rather than find alternatives.

The author also assumes school districts are ready, willing, and able to embrace technology to point of allowing administrators to assume learning is taking place outside traditional venues. How are they supposed to check up on that? Students all too often use computers to play games and phones for texting friends. They will continue to associate the hardware with leisure time if left to their own devices (literally) as they are children, not mature adults.

And while instruction may very well be individualized, what about the students who choose the easier path rather than the more difficult tracks? That's not going to help the United States. Remember, China has more honor students than we have total students....

We cannot turn education into a series of webquests for information. That does not raise the bar. It just moves the bar to the computer lab or into the home where learning may or may not be taking place in some sort of cyber-academy.

What's lost on the author is the importance of developing one very important skill. Employers want workers who either know something or have the discipline to be able able to learn something. Let's work together on developing students who are capable of being taught new skills or acquiring new information.

This, rather than molding students into some sort of soft-sided creature who feels good about themselves just because they were given the freedom to choose their own on-line reading passage and just good enough to pass an on-line quiz that did not require the teacher to make it or score it themselves. Where is the rigor in that?

This is a wonderful vision for the future of education, and one that I personally share. However, a vision will never become reality without buy in from all stakeholders. Parents need to understand the need for this kind of change and embrace it, because it will have a huge impact on them. If they have to work away from home, and there is no school to send their children too because the expectation is that their kids will learn via technology at home, what will they do? So businesses have to buy in to this too, and allow more flexibility in work schedules or working from home. And for those in service jobs like nurses, mechanics, even store clerks, that may not even be an option.

Additionally, universities would need to buy in to this, and be willing to change how they admit students to their schools, not to mention their 20th century teaching styles.

Most importantly, students will have to buy in to this, and for that to happen teachers will have to have bought in to it and be willing to change, to create meaningful, relevant learning experiences that is standards based rather than dictated by textbooks.

And while you're at it, why don't you wish for world peace.

There were no comments about Unions. NEA (National Education Association) and AFT (American Federation of Teachers) are stifling educational reform by resisting Parental choice in selecting schools. School vouchers work everywhere they have been tried. North Carolina may remove the cap on Charter Schools, forcing competition with the traditional public schools. One additional thing that should be obsolete by 2020 should be Teacher Unions.

Remember that WIRED article back in the late 90s that predicted decades of unending prosperity, just before the bubble burst? This article reminds me of that one.

I couldn't have explained the topic better myself.

I look forward to looking at more of your work.

Yes!!!

The timeline for some of these predictions, 10 years is way too early for the changes to be broad based. Education has always been behind the times so to speak. These are good ideas.

Getting rid of paper books won't be hard. Kids never pick them up anyway. I am glad we have at least one anti-union post. Everyone knows the reason a kid fails is because of unions. As you know, no student in a school with a union ever goes onto anything. They only graduate because the school graduates everyone. Where is the private schools are better than public schools? Are the instructional models different? No, they select who goes to that school. They don't have to take everyone. Somehow European schools that are union succeed. Oh wait, they actually realize not every kid is extremely smart. Sorry to tell you but some kids lack intelligence. In Europe they go to trade school. If you take out poor/inner-city students, American's best is competing. what happens when these changes occur and things aren't any different because of apathetic students and worse parents. And to the person who says youneed to get good Algebra teachers first. hate to tell you, they have them. Maybe your kid isn't smart. The fundamentals of algebra aren't hard. How did I learn it and some in my class not? I guess he was only a good teacher to those of us who pass. I guess nobody wants to fault their own genetics.

A bit lofty, don't you think. Regarding individualized instruction and peer grouped learning, gifted education has been fighting for this for years, and not had any luck. And let us not forget that not everyone has money for hand held devices. It sure seems like they do, but they don't.

In ten years, most of the teachers now in the profession (given demographics) will have retired, so of course the only constant in the profession is change.

Will good teaching principals change? The buzzwords do (differentiating, UBD, etc.) but none of these concepts are really new, just re-badged. People make careers out of this relabeling.

The essence of good teaching is obvious but too-often missed.....we teachers need mastery of our subject (how often does that happen?), to have some education pedagogy, and above all genuine care for our students.

Technology is simply a tool. It may or may not be better than prior tools depending on need and situation. Some of my best moments are still with pencil and paper, and I have all the modern toys.

The digital revolution gives us more tools, but nothing is more important than the former three requirements.

I lament the comments that we don't need to teach students "facts" because all info is available at their fingertips. I already have classes of kids who do not participate in any learning activity because "if I need to know this stuff, I can look it up". Apparently, their minds must be kept uncluttered of grammar and the lessons of history, so that they can skim idly and non-committedly along the surface of the vast bsea of knowledge, dipping in only when they have a need to drink. Education is not about meeting a memontary need, it is about learning how to survive -and you can't survive on sips alone.

Great point. Students can skim by only as long as all the technology works. Has anyone imagined what would happen to our society if some how the technology grid gets hacked. What happens if a couple of vital satellites get knocked out of service.

I already know what happens when the computer on a cash register go's down at a McDonalds... " I'm sorry sir, but I can't make change for you" even though the cash drawer will open and close. Oh well, I suppose I'm barking at the moon. In 10 years you probably won't have to read because all the kindles will have audio loaded on them. Five more years to retirement and my new "Dream Job" at the paint dept. in a Lowes near you!!

Great article. I think this paradigm shift will be incredible, and I look forward to helping lead it.

Biometrics?! Shelley Blake-Plock, are you implying this is a good thing? I hope not. It's tyrranical. Readers and author, please educate yourselves on this 4th amendment issue.

We should incorporate technology with old fashioned learning. While the students today are able to multitask much better than students of the past, there is often little in the way of deep analytical thought produced by this ability. Students are not able to draw conclusions and think critically if all they have known is where and how to find information. These later abilities come from old fashioned sitting down and writing out ideas and discussing, with others, thoughts, opinions, etc. Having knowledge of the facts is only the start. Proving one’s ideas logically and coherently is the goal.

Although I do understand the application of technology in schools and the benefits of such, some of this stuff really makes me laugh!!! I mean god for bid we actually talk face to face with someone. This current age has gotten so ridiculous with the abscence of human beings being unable to communicate. What ever happened to face to face communication??? Now I get emails from co-workers who are across from my room three feet away!! Get up and talk to me! Now, I am a young educator, I am not trying to bash the technological age, I get it. However, our students have no communication skills anymore and it is due in part to not having to talk to people face to face but rather with a computer. Also, computers and other tech have nothing to do with the social-emotional standards. These kids today need to be able to stop looking at a screen and communicate with words, face to face. In my opinion, it is a sad state of affairs.

I agree totally with #20 - Algebra I as a high school course will disappear. Every other country in the world teaches algebra in "middle school" - and with more success than we in the U.S. have.
The difference is, we teach algebra as a one-year course - and that's why we fail at it.
I teach algebra at the middle school level and we have been tremendously successful - our students succeed wildly in high school and college - and our success is in greatest part due to the fact that it is a two-year course. Algebra is the foundation of all higher mathematics and if it's not done right, students will struggle with all subsequent courses. ALL of our students take a challenging "high school level" Algebra I course. They can do it because we don't hurry through the material. We teach for deep conceptual understanding and algorithmic fluency. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right. In this case, NOT HURRYING is the right way.
Previous comment-er David said we need good algebra teachers at the middle school level. I say we need middle school algebra teachers who aren't required to rush through material but who are allowed to allow student understanding to determine instructional pace.

I think that the author of this is completely ridiculous.

my major issue is that they put so much onus on the school for changing and adapting to student and society pressures without realizing that this model of education has pretty much worked for the past thousand odd years. I'm sorry, to get rid of homework? getting rid of the fear of wikipedia? with the "Democritization of knowledge" comes idiotic knowledge - my friend was prime minister of burundi for an hour on Wiki because he made it so.

Stop trying to make the schools change and address the heart of the issue - that the vast majority of students are lazy, dont want to learn, and nothing that the teachers can do can change that

You've said it better than I could. Fads will not be the answer. We lost control in the late 70's with no corporal punishment and the gutting of the dress codes. We in public school will never get those things back. Private schools however, can and do what they know works. Combined with parents who have paid cash money, is it any wonder that they continue to achieve?

When I read the title I thought the article would be more than just a wish list. Maybe I am missing something...is the article about education or about advancements in technology. It might be possible for all these things to happen with technology but does that mean education will improve. Will the students really embrace education and learn more just because the can read from a tablet? 10 years might be enough time for the technological advances to physically take place, but if it is to have a meaningful impact then the value (or lack there of) that is attached to education in America would have to be addressed first. Just because you have expensive shoes and shorts, does that make you a better athlete? Does a Maybach make you a better driver?
There is a lot more that needs to be addressed if this article is really about education.

#5 is way off. How are AP exams on their last legs? They are booming and digital innovation is helping make them every more popular and more accessible.

How will a college admissions office evaluate a "digital portfolio"?

As another commenter mentioned, this sounds more like a "wish list" than a real set of predictions.

Some of these are already "obsolete" in public schools in my area -- desks and single-grade classrooms, for example. And that's great.

But does being glued to an iPhone 24/7 really constitute more learning? I shudder at the thought.

I find the ideas in this article far less surprising than the reaction that many had to it. I believe all of these predictions have already moved substantially along an implementation continuum, it seems more in some educational institutions than others though judging by the comments. Every year there is less and less use of paper in schools and although it was difficult to adjust to at first, last year our school made huge headways into becoming a paperless environment! It also took away many desks, introduce e-books and moved towards many of the other trends mentioned in the list. The one I am most sceptical about is the one to do typical cafeteria food!

I don't have time to go through these one by one, but Maria Montessori rendered most of these obsolete decades ago.

See this animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcgN0lEh5IA

and this article

http://un-schooled.net/?p=488

Those who are getting a great education, like homeschoolers, already implement most of these. The government schools will be held in the past by teachers unions and regulations.

Two words: home school.

We're already doing most of this.

I agree with some of this -- but, try for one or two generations before this happens, if it happens at all. I teach Latin and it has been taught for hundreds of years with great results coming from clay tablents and sand pictures. AP Latin is going strong and my kids who take it, like it. I'm all for using tech. as tools. IT is a tool, not a panacea or a replacement. Many of my students like books over readers. So, I see many compromises in the future. Old and new ways of learning will exist side by side for a very long time. Depending on what you teach and who you teach, you should be able to choose what technology fits your style, subject and students.

#12 will never happen. Parents love their baby-sitting too much.

Only idiots wait til high school to take Algebra I, anyway.

I totally agree with number 15 as this is already happening in my school. The best PDs that I have attended are those presented by my colleagues at my school. They know our clientel very well and they tend to address it head on with very specific application.