This special issue focuses on trends, pressures, and evolutions shaping the
future of education in all its forms, with particular consideration of the
role of information technologies in creating that future.
The future of education--whether in public or private schools, colleges or
universities, corporate training rooms, or other yet-to-be-imagined
venues--is a vision dimly seen on an uncertain horizon. Tectonic
technological, social, economic, and political shifts, driven by the
accelerating pace of information technology, globalization, and an evolving
culture of knowledge, render already unstable futures largely unknowable.
Educational systems face even more immediate pressures arising from the
increasing role of for-profit education providers, learner access to open
content, and the growth of the "participation culture." Change, even
radical change, is unavoidable; tomorrow’s education and training
systems are not likely to resemble today’s educational complex.
Whatever the future holds for education, information technologies will play
a role. The creative use of information technology can enhance education
processes, enabling educators to meet new challenges and reshape
education's role in society. The technologies of education, and the use
of technology in education, are both drivers of change and indicators of
future directions.
Submissions for this special issue may address, but are not limited to,
these key issues:
1. What does the "rise of the amateur" in media, music, and news industries
suggest for education providers of the future?
2. What is the role of universities and colleges when the world's
information is at the fingertips of learners, without the mediation of
experts? Or when experts make those resources freely available through
MIT's OpenCourseWare or Open University’s OpenLearn?
3. Is a copyright system designed to protect physical objects—books,
magazines, and journals—capable of serving the digital knowledge
needs of the next generation?
4. How can technological tools be used by developed countries to assist
emerging countries in educating their people?
5. How should governance and leadership be structured in educational
institutions facing exponential change?
6. Are existing research agendas and methodologies capable of answering the
knowledge needs of the next generation?
7. Do our existing theories of learning reflect how digital natives learn
in the information age?
If you would like to submit a manuscript on this topic, please send it to
the guest editor of this issue, George Siemans (
gsiemens@elearnspace.org)
and to me (
jlm@nova.edu) no later than October 15, 2007.
Thanks!
Jim
----
James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info
Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership
UNC-Chapel Hill
http://horizon.unc.edu