David Black posted on August 21, 2008 10:56
I certainly don't pretend to have an special powers in predicting the future, but the emerging wireless and increasingly mobile world has too many implications for us in education to simply ignore. We MUST start talking about what all this means. What does it mean for student productivity if a phone becomes the Internet hardware of choice? How does this affect filtering efforts by families and schools? What sorts of personal and ministry connections are enhanced by this? What relationships might suffer? Do our definitions of productivity change in any way?
It seems clear to me that schools will need to adapt at an even greater pace to best meet the needs of the 21st century learner. Do we have the courage, innovation, and foresight to do this? Are we prepared to alter our perception of the role of cell phones (or the lack of a role!) in our school if necessary? Are we ready to empower students to access and filter information in a God-pleasing way, whether an outside filtering system is in place or not? Are we positioned to take advantage of the increasing level of connectedness?
These are challenges, to be sure, and they are should not be ignored. But we would be remiss to ignore the possibilities that this changing environment brings as well. What doors are the Lord opening to all of us?
Can't say I have all the answers -- but I'd sure like to start the conversation!