Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard University and the author of The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution, has a new book out focused on education. It’s called Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns [amazon].

The book predicts that by 2019, half of all high school classes will be taught online. This change will occur because new public and private organizations that start by adopting new technologies and methods to serve “nonconsumers” - people that the current system does not serve well - will eventually gain more market share in the Learning Economy.

For more information, check out this review from Education Week (sorry, you’ll need to create a free login to view the complete article).

This blog post from Will Richardson is quite interesting and sums up how I’ve been feeling lately:

I’ve always maintained, and still do, that the bulk of my learning these days comes in the conversation, that the publishing piece, the putting myself out there in a blog post (or video, or stream or whatever) is only the first step and, in reality, is not where I learn the most. I learn when my thoughts get pushed, when I read what others have written about other ideas on their own blogs, when I engage in the conversations about those ideas. And these “conversations” are different; they are not synchronous (though they are getting moreso), they are not linear, and as just the short sampling of link above conveys, there is a lot of complexity in the distributed nature of how we “talk” in this realm. In fact I think that might be the biggest frustration that newcomers to these tools experience. It’s random, seemingly aimless, and requires a whole bunch of other skills to navigate effectively.

Is the conversation moving from more centralized platforms, such as blogs and forums, to a decentralized pseudo-realtime mode? Are we losing the quality of thought that goes into a paper or a blog post in favor of less contextual snippets and links?

The Map of Future Forces Affecting Education suggests that Long-Tail economics, in the form of consolidation and commoditization, will likely reduce and refine the social networking media and tools into more mature and accessible platforms. It also suggests that Extreme Diversity will require networks to allow Deep Personalization to be truly topical and useful.

The immature precursors to whatever comes next are here:

• centralized social networks like Facebook, which offer everything in one place but suffer from identity issues
• micronets like Ning, which just got a nice treatment by Educause
• blogs, which take quite a bit of dedicated attention to maintain and read
• and microblogs like twitter, which is growing in popularity but is suffering from a signal-to-noise issue right now because it’s all one big melting pot of conversations

So, as a futurist, I’ll make a forecast: soon, we will see a proliferation of highly customizable social networks that offer multiple forms of collaboration and co-creation, with real-time communication and a definite sense of identity based upon affinity.

Some will be open, some will be closed; some will rely more on the depth of thought that goes into a paper or a book or even a blog post and resemble research teams or business meetings, others will be entirely composed of real-time updates and resemble smart mobs; all will adapt to the needs of its unique set of users.

And every participants’ identity in his or her communities - because this is really just the development of the right tool (the online, mobile social network) to support a set of practices and relationships - community - will be ephemeral or persistent as needed. This is the natural result of today’s highly Media-Savvy Youth coming of age.

So, are we losing depth in favor of immediacy? No, we are just seeing the seeds of a new, dynamic, and richer form of community. Right now, it’s in its infancy and distributed across disconnected tools. Soon, it will become part of the underlying infrastructure and we won’t even think about it.

In other words, the shifts and struggles and snags in the conversation will no longer be a topic of conversation.

Smart Mobs reports that the Brooklyn Museum is experimenting with crowdsourcing by requesting photo submissions online and asking the public to vote on which photos make it into the exhibit, which will be displayed this summer.

While attending the AERA 2008 annual meeting in NYC, I took a side trip to visit GlobalKids.org. While some of the AERA sessions (link coming soon) were more interesting than others, GlobalKids was a inspiring.

GlobalKids is a non-profit after-school program founded in 1989. GK combines international relations, leadership development, and digital media to turn its high school-aged participants into global activists.

GK oversees many related efforts: 15 student-led sites within high schools throughout New York City, which they support through mentorship and training at their headquarters; student-run summits (600 students attended their annual summit last week; they will reach out to 2000 - 3000 more); online leadership programs; work with the Council on Foreign Relations [cfr], and intense work with the High School for Global Citizenship [hsgc]. It also runs a fee-for-service program that develops curricula and programs for schools and organizations.

During my visit to the headquarters, I sat with a group of students in the Virtual Video Project, an after-school program. Last year, high school students in this program produced A Child’s War, a tale of two brothers abducted into the child soldier armies of Uganda, told through the medium of Second Life. These students are at the very early stages of this year’s project on racism. They researched the topic online with the guidance of Tabitha Tsai (who participated in a KnowledgeWorks convening in December) and Catherine Mbindyo, GK Trainers. Then they held a discussion about racism in the US and other countries and discussed factors that might be worth exploring in their production. By the end of the session they had developed and narrowed down a list of themes to explore - government policies and legal issues were at the top of the list.

And along the way, they develop both leadership skills and technology skills, through hands-on training embedded in their other activities. Many of the students told me their reasons for coming to the program, which ranged from “by mistake” to “something to do” to “computer skills” but it was clear to me that the technology skills were simply a foundation for the others. The discussion was deep and inclusive, and conducted with sensitivity and a sense of purpose.

The future forecasted by the Map is one of globalization, permeable national / identity boundaries, media-savvy youth, and learning through rich media. The students participating in GlobalKids are creating compelling and artistic media, with very real and authentic projects that actually help people and bring attention to real problems in our world.

What impresses me most about this program is the authenticity and relevance of it - these students are engaging with real topics that affect themselves, and then doing something about them to effect change for others.

The Infinite Thinking Machine has a great post on using open source software and the power of web 2.0 to advance digital equity (it’s also a great primer on the topics).

ITM advocates advising students on available commercial, web-based, and free tools that they can use in and out of school; students can also benefit from a list of public sources of high-bandwidth internet access, such as libraries, community centers, and free hotspots.

Technorati Tags: future, education, knowledgeworks, digitaldivide, equity, web2.0, opensource

After the terrific experience I had at Educon, and again at ETech2008, I’ve become a reluctant convert to twitter, a “microblogging” tool.

Microblogging is sort of like blogging, except that instead of posting paragraphs or pages of text and other content on a website, users post very short updates that show up on a phone or a website or on a computer desktop. Typically the frequency for this kind of activity is much higher, and the style is much more casual.

Using twitter in the normal, “passive” mode that I like to use, I can get insight into what some of my favorite people are thinking about, and respond to them if they think I’m worth following as well. During an event like Educon or in a classroom, it makes a great “active” back-channel for communication with other participants.

twitter (and now Pownce, which has more features but hasn’t caught on yet as widely) is one of those services, like facebook, the overhead projector, and the chalkboard, that was not originally designed for learning, but has been adopted and adapted for that purpose. Its API allows developers to create many complementary applications for it, like plugins for other online social media services, and it has a good mobile interface for twittering on the go. It is an early platform for a technology-enabled personal learning network, and represents another step along the path to the day when everyone is connected, all the time, with a finely nuanced social network based upon personal and professional relationships, affinities, and distance.

Imagine a day when learners are able to instantly ask questions and hold discussions with anyone willing to participate. A team of students studying a great work of modern literature could correspond with each other, with the leading experts on the works, with the actors from the stage adaptation, with a professor at a distant university, and perhaps with the author, and they could trade resources and construct meaning together. A field trip to a museum can become a dialog with learners around the world that cannot be there in person. A solo learner at home can have access to the brain power of thousands.

Whether you believe in this vision or not, it’s interesting to note that most schools today discourage or ban the use of social media instead of embracing it and integrating it.

If you’re interested in learning more about how microblogging is being used now, academHacK has a great post about effective use of twitter in and out of the classroom.

Technorati Tags: future, education, knowledgeworks, twitter, pownce, microblogging

Powered by ScribeFire.

This article in Thursday’s Toronto Star tells a disturbing story:

First-year student Chris Avenir is fighting charges of academic misconduct for helping run an online chemistry study group via Facebook last term, where 146 classmates swapped tips on homework questions that counted for 10 per cent of their mark.

Pending any comments or further explanation from Ryerson University, I give them an F in understanding the ways in which today’s students learn and work.

03/20/2008 Update: Andy Carvin reports that Chris has dodged the bullet. Congratulations, Chris!

Lawrence Lessig, professor at Stanford Law School, champion of the free software movement, icon of participatory culture, and creator of engaging presentations, has been drafted to run for the open seat in the 12th District of California (vacant since the death of Tom Lantos).

Yes, drafted. The masses of digerati that reside in the area began an online campaign to draft Lessig. Harvard law professor John Palfrey started a Facebook group (which just passed 2500 members yesterday,) other fans have started a myspace page (now with 32 friends,) and still others launched a website.

Lessig recently ended his long-running campaign for reduced legal restrictions on copyright and trademark, and has turned his attention to corruption in the American political system. This video, released Wednesday, announces his Change Congress initiative and the three principles that he believes politicians must embrace:

• No Money from Lobbyists / P.A.C.s
• Ban Earmarks
• Publicly Financed Elections

The video also announces that he will make a decision on whether to run by March 1st. In it, he praises the likely successor to the seat, State Senator Jackie Speier, for her excellent record, but says that she is a the perfect example of a good person operating in a broken system. The video closes with a plea to let him know if he should run on his own website, Lessig08.

This is an excellent example of the Map trends of Participatory Democracy, Institutions for Collective Action, and Open Economy Priniciples. These are all trends that support growth of open standards and inexpensive tools for education and learning and lead to An Expanding Learning Economy.

It’s also a good lesson for education reformers on how to use the power of the Grassroots Economy to promote change. There’s no lack of good ideas out there, but it will take a substantial effort to get public support to get them implemented on a systemic scale.

03/01/08 Update: Lessig has decided not to run for Congress.

03/05/08 Update: I’ve just finished watching Lessig give the evening keynote speech at ETech2008. I’ll post a link as soon as one is available.

Note: KnowledgeWorks does not endorse specific candidates for public office.

Technorati Tags: future, education, KnowledgeWorks, politics, lawrencelessig, corruption, participatoryculture, grassroots

Will Richardson has an excellent post on what our kids really need to know.

Our kids’ futures will require them to be:

• Networked–They’ll need an “outboard brain.”
• More collaborative–They are going to need to work closely with people to co-create information.
• More globally aware–Those collaborators may be anywhere in the world.
• Less dependent on paper–Right now, we are still paper training our kids.
• More active–In just about every sense of the word. Physically. Socially. Politically.
• Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext–Basic reading and writing skills will not suffice.
• More connected–To their communities, to their environments, to the world.
• Editors of information–Something we should have been teaching them all along but is even more important now.

One of the best examples of media-savvy youth, the Midwest Teen Sex Show [MTSS], is seeking an intern:

We seek an intern to help with production 1 to 2 days a month, along with some basic email/schedule management throughout the month. Shoots take place one weekend a month in Chicago.

Candidates do not need extensive experience but should be energetic, creative, willing to work hard, and located in the Chicago area.

Responsibilities include:
-coordinating production schedules
-determining prop/costume needs
-moderating website comments
-organizing audience emails
-assisting director with lighting and audio on shoot days
-performing research for show topics
-coordinating interviews with media
-keeping actors focused and happy

Camera or motion graphics skills are a plus. If you are talented in front of the camera, we could use you as well.

Unfortunately the show is a labor of love, so we are unable to offer a paying position at this point, but we’ll teach you everything we know about video production and of course feed you.

And we have fun!

Via their twitterstream, I’ve learned that they also expect the intern to help with laundry and babysitting

Technorati Tags: education, knowledgeworks, future, sex