Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology

Allan Collins

Fri., June 11, 9:00–10:30, Great Hall

All around us people are learning with the aid of new technologies: Children are playing complex videogames, workers are taking online courses to get advanced degrees, students are taking courses at commercial learning centers to prepare for tests, adults are consulting Wikipedia, etc. These new learning niches enable people of all ages to pursue learning on their own terms. People around the world are taking their education out-of-school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces, where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn. These developments create learning opportunities that challenge traditional schools and colleges. They are changing how people think about education. This rethinking will take many years to fully penetrate our understanding of the world and society. These changes demand a new kind of educational leadership and changing roles for government. New leaders will need to understand the affordances of the new technologies, and have a vision for education that will bring the new resources to everyone.