Students Want 21st Century Classroom, ...schools not meeting expectations

[Trevor Meister/tjmeister Megadon]

Following on the heels of the April 1st. Congressional Testimony regarding Virtual Worlds (check the Rezed forum document library ) another Congressional Briefing of interest to Virtual World educators was presented on Capitol Hill. On April 8th 2008, Project Tomorrow released the results of the 5th annual Speak Up: Speakup 2007. The press release containing a summary of the key points and links to original reports is worth a look. While Virtual Worlds were not directly mentioned or overtly discussed, a section on leveraging emerging technologies identified Educational Gaming, Mobile Devices and Online-Learning does point in that direction. The most interesting thing I found in an initial scan of the findings is the significant difference in views of Students and Parents/Teachers/Administrators as to the value of using emerging technologies for learning. Not a big surprise, another example of the disconnect between the generations. Observation: many of the students on the one side are comfortable using these tools, and there seems to be growing support for leveraging social media/networking and collaborative tools (flat web2.0 and Virtual Worlds) on the other side in the business and non-profit sectors. I find it Ironic that the traditional "bridge" between the student side and the working side, "Formal Education", may be developing into more of a "closely guarded tunnel". You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what is likely to happen when the two sides tire of relying on the "tunnel".