The Missing Link: eReaders

An eReader that will seamlessly integrate with students' lifestyles is the missing link in the Education: On Demand model. It needs to be:

• portable
• wireless
• media-rich
• impact-resistant
• intuitively accessible

Kids these days seem to always have a cellphone/ mp3 /dvd player/video game console in their hands. Combine all of those things into one handheld device that wirelessly connects classmates, teachers and parents with each other, and simultaneously provides access to educational media on demand, and our education systems will be transformed. At one stroke, the factory model of schooling will become obsolete, and will fade away like the teacher's strap. It will become an embarrassing reminder of primitive man's inhumanity to man.

How so, you ask? Think about it...

• Education:On Demand means that students will have more options. Students who can get extra help, or review a lesson directly from their handheld can progress at their own rates. They need not be locked into a one-size-fits-all pace of instruction.
• Education: On Demand means that teachers will be released from some of the drudgery traditionally associated with the profession - scrounging for resources? photocopying? marking? teaching the same lesson over and over? These can be reduced to almost zero with digital systems that automatically track student performance and deliver On Demand access to media-rich, interactive instructional modules.
• Education:On Demand means that parents will be able to participate as full partners in educational planning and decision-making. Parents may be able to set their own timetables for schooling - ski vacation? no problem - all the lessons are available wirelessly on demand from your child's handheld - all the planning and sequencing has already been done. The extra help is available - so are enrichment activities to challenge the high achievers.

A bit vague? Yes, but we are dealing with possibility. The details will sort themselves out when possibility becomes reality.

Education: On Demand

I keep thinking of Buckminster Fuller's admonition:

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

Our current education system is essentially an industrial model. Think of school as a factory - students as raw materials - graduates as finished products. We 'warehouse' students and force them to adhere to strict schedules - Language Arts at 9:05, Math at 10:00. It just doesn't work for most students, and the consequence is usually disengagement.

I believe the new model will feature what could be called Education: On Demand. We have the technology to create and deliver mini lesson modules on any conceivable topic, wirelessly and on demand. It makes no sense to me to have a million teachers individually writing lesson plans to teach addition of one digit numbers, or order of operations, when we could have beautifully crafted and professionally-produced video lessons available on demand.

Students don't need Math at 10:00AM - they need Math when they have an authentic problem to solve. How many chairs do we have to set up for the assembly? If two people do the work how long will it take? What if ten people do it? Then Math becomes purposeful and real to students. No one asks, "Why do we need to learn this?" The need to know creates the motivation to learn, and engagement becomes intrinsic.

To my knowledge, no one is pursuing the notion of Education: On Demand as a new model for public education. Private business interests and dedicated individuals are leading the way in creating an "On Demand" infrastructure and producing digital instructional media. When this connects with a handheld device, I predict the new model will shatter the old "Education: On Schedule" approach and the schoolhouse walls will come tumbling down.