Bryan Alexander has been thinking and writing about these trends for a long time now, and I think this analysis of why classrooms are going to change whether we like it or not is pretty much spot on. As always, the whole essay is worth the read, but I was particularly struck by this thought:
“Class begins when the classroom door closes.” This image is enshrined in many practices, much popular memory, and even campus policies. But the concept may well be turned inside out in the near future as several trends coincide, altering the ways we teach and learn. That shut door is about to be wrenched open and our closed classes drawn into a global, visible college (compared to the invisible college described by David Staley and Dennis Trinkle1).
The question is how much of that “visible” education will trickle down to K-12. As more and more mobile devices and more and more connectivity become the norm, that’s a question that we’re going to have to answer.