What's Next 2008:
Special Report
Table of Contents
- What's Next: Ten Predictions for the Future of Public Education
- 1. Full-Service Schools: Where Success Is More Than Academic
- Video: Stealth Mental Health: Student Support Without the Stigma
- 2. In the Trenches: Community Activism Plays a Starring Role in Education Reform
- Posting Protests: Email Becomes Active in Education
- 3. Moral Aptitude: Schools Cultivate the Character Development of their Students
- Video: Talking Heads and Hearts: Intellectual and Emotional Education Make a Potent Pairing
- 4. Serious Gaming: Computer Games Become Potent Student Motivators and Evaluators
- Video: Grading with Games: An Interview with James Paul Gee
- 5. Behaveyourself.com: Online Manners Matter
- Beyond Emily: Post-ing Etiquette
- 6. The Media Is the Message: Invasive Messages Require Defensive Teaching
- Savvy Sites: Online Resources on Media Literacy
- 7. The Way of the Wiki: Building Online Creativity and Cooperation
- Wiki Woman: How a Web Tool Saved My Career
- Wiki Wisdom: How to Use an Online Classroom Clearinghouse
- 8. A Match Made in Cyberspace: The Next Generation of Teachers Will Seek Virtual Support
- Poll: Would you use online mentoring?
- 9. Hail to the New Chief: A Guide to the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Education Agenda
- Poll: Which candidate will be better for K-12 public education?
- 10. Rise of the Robots: Human-Machine Interaction Enhances Tech Teaching
- Poll: Do robots have a place in the classroom?
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What's Next 2008: Ten Predictions for the Future of Public Education
Edutopia predicts: What's in store for the coming school year.
by Jennifer Foote Sweeney
Heading into the wild blue yonder of a new school year, we know that some things are inevitable. There will be more to do than last year, and less time to get it done. But what further developments lay ahead? Let's take a look at the predictions for the future of public education. Use the table of contents to the right to navigate your way through our 2008 predictions. Please tell us in the comments field at the end of every article, poll, and video what you think.
Free(d) Education
Submitted by Steve (not verified) on October 3, 2008 - 20:01.
One thing I think is missing in the predictions is more free education. Math texts are a good example. The internet makes possible collaboratively developed texts and workbooks with online components similar to current textbooks, but with material that is continuously audited for errors and can guide students through different paths appropriate for the skill level of each. While there are calls for differential teaching, a fixed textbook can not readily meet this requirement. Students can work ahead, but they can not work deeper. Think of the difference between a module on geometry that covers the Pythagorean theorem and sticks mostly to 3-4-5 triangles in the plane to one that covers right triangles in the plane and in space and proves facts about triangles inscribed in circles, etc. While the first may cover the grade level requirements, the latter may be more appropriate for some students. Hardcopy is invariable targeted toward the minimum for there is virtually no limit to how deep on can pursue a topic. Online collaborative texts have the potential to be that limitless well.
Internet lock-down
Submitted by Jim Zaborowski (not verified) on August 22, 2008 - 11:45.
If things continue as is, we will mimic China in that the majority of the internet will be blocked at school. They (our administration and internet providers) have filtered/blocked more and more sites each year at my school to the point that I can't even go to a news site like the New York Times while at school. I am writing this from home because I can't access all areas of edutopia from school either (because comments can be made on the site I am told); what a load of manure. Instead of keeping things open and teaching students how to discern the good from the bad, we assume that all students lack judgement and are going to make the worst possible decision. So we automatically block anything with the remotest possibility of having "questionable" content. We become a smaller version of China who doesn't trust its citizens enough to let them exercise choice. The "powers that be" need to either quit tying our hands with this idiotic, restrictive filtering, or just get rid of the internet in schools completely because the "slimmed-down" internet we can currently access isn't worth the cost.
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