Technology, Curriculum, and the Future of Education By Christine Wolgemuth based on the work of David D. Thornburg, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Congressional Institute for the Future Director, Thornburg Center

The digital divide is real and the financial have-nots are also the informational have nots.

Information worldwide is doubling every two years.

With the exception of the Xerox machine which allowed teachers to make copies for students, schools are slower to accept technology.

“Metcalfe’s Law” - The power of a network increases by the square of the number of users.

The Internet is doubling in size every year and the Web is doubling in size every 90 days.

Technological fluency is a basic skill.

Education must prepare students for jobs that have yet to be invented.

Inexpensive compact technologies allow learning to take place anywhere.

Of people having access to the web, only 8% use it through school because few schools have net access through the classroom.

Computers are outselling televisions, and more Americans spend time surfing the net than they do watching rented videos.

Both teacher and student have equal access to information. Teachers need to be educated in order to have success. Their goal is to help students make magic carpets of the mind- exploring ideas at the speed of thought! BUT, a challenge we need to face is the digital divide.

Changes of this magnitude require a complete rethinking of education, both in terms of the curriculum, and in the development of pedagogies that insure that every student acquires the high level of skills needed to thrive in the dynamic world of the 21st century.