Education is passing through a transition to a completely different way of thinking about learning and teaching. It's kind of like passing through a nebula...it takes time and happens in stages. The paradigm shift we are seeing now has been underway for some time. At first it involved embracing technology as a tool - as better equipment. But where we are headed now goes beyond using updated physical tools to teach pretty much in the same way we always have. We are entering a realm where our whole paradigm of teaching is changing.
It's like putting on those fun rainbow glasses you get at Christmas time. Kids love to see rainbows that some how change ordinary lights into something unusual (and cool). Teachers are having to shift their vision, too. As we engage technology in the classroom, we have to see the learner and the learning experience in a way that is truly different from what has been the standard. It isn't always easy to maintain this new way of seeing learning, but it's essential if we are to do right by our students.
Years ago in a 2005 issue of Wired an article called "Revenge of the Right Brain" pointed to trends that have brought us to this place. If we are to prepare the kids of the 21st century, we have to think beyond just using technology for information and emphasize developing the higher-level, creative thinking skills of an era dubbed by some as the Conceptual Age.
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