Book Review: 'Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology'

"Our fear is that social cohesion and equity inherent in the promise of public schooling will be undermined by (the Knowledge Revolution)." Allan Collins and Richard Halverson make this statement early on in their fascinating, but ultimately somewhat short-sighted book, Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America (2008). This fear comprises the lynchpin of the authors' thesis: that new media technologies are changing how, where, and why learning happens as well as what role schools play in that learning. The results of this shift, according to the authors, aren't good.

Enhancing K-12 Academic Integrity

Cheating has dramatically increased, at all levels, in the past few years. How cheating and false identity issues are addressed by individual online education programs will determine the collective futures of everyone working in e-learning.

Teaching Teachers to Use Blended Learning

Blended learning focuses on what students do and how teachers support the learning process. At Charles Sturt University, Australia, first-year undergraduate preservice teachers use blended learning in their own education as they become more familiar with the physical, emotional, social, and cultural aspects of the early adolescents they will soon teach.

IT Training On-Demand

In thinking about technical professionals, such as IT staff, under what conditions does online training work best? As we've seen at GoGogh.com and Dashcourses, the way many companies are shifting to e-learning is by streaming live instruction via webinars and other digital delivery systems, which doesn't always meet the needs of the professionals on the other end. Technical professionals are recognizing that the quick progression of technology, combined with handling more work as businesses try to cut costs, means they need training that is better designed for their specific needs. And just what are those specific needs?

Learning Business Through Scenarios

In his latest column, Roger Schank explains how a new series of soon-to-launch, story-based business courses came to be, and outlines the content and scenarios of the seven storylines that make up the curriculum. In future columns, after the course launches, he will comment on whether they are working as planned.