Digital Delights - Digital Tribes

"We are seeing rapid and radical changes in our information, economic, and learning landscapes, yet educators and educational institutions have been fairly slow to adapt to the upheavals that are happening in other societal sectors. That said, we are seeing some promising initiatives begin to take root, including:

1. Competency-based education and standards-based grading efforts that shift the focus from seat time to learning mastery.

2. 1:1 computing initiatives (and concurrent Internet bandwidth upgrades) that give students powerful digital learning devices and access to the world's information, individuals, and organizations.

3. Problem- and inquiry-based learning environments that emphasize greater student agency and more cognitively complex, applied thinking, communication, and collaboration skills.

4. The expansion of digital and online (and often open access) information resources that increase the availability of higher and deeper learning opportunities.

5. Adaptive software and data systems (and accompanying organizational models) that can facilitate greater individualization of learning content and pace.

6. Online communities of interest that supplement and augment more-traditional learning communities that are limited by geography and time.

7. Alternative credentialing mechanisms that enable individuals to quickly reskill for and adapt to rapidly-evolving workforce needs and economic demands.

I think all of these, both separately and in concert, are going to have tremendous impacts on learning, teaching, and schooling."