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Last October, I contacted some friends in San Diego to find out how they were doing when the wild fires raged through the county. I learned that technology played a key role in the school district’s ability to communicate with families and continue learning despite a county-wide evacuation. I learned that when schools have to shut down for a period of time, due to fire, hurricanes, or other disasters, students can find comfort learning online.
Read Surviving Disaster in the March issue of Technology & Learning.
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Steve Hargadon and I have been swapping ideas about technology in education and shared space on a panel at the Office 2.0 Conference. His talk at IL-TCE transformed from a presentation on Web 2.0 in schools to “Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education“. His 10 trends include the long tail in education.
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In 2006, Chris Anderson defined a transformation in business with his book The Long Tail. We’ve invested billions of dollars in technology as well as time and talent into improving education in this country. But the tail of our learning curve keeps getting longer. If we continue to teach to the masses with interventions for the most common problems, we will never meet the needs of the millions of students falling into the niches. They are teaching themselves and each other in social networks and game sites. How can we increase the wisdom of the crowds by delivering a sound education to the long tail learners?
