Critical Barriers to Technolgy in K-12 Education

Abstract

Those who are fortunate enough to be associated with K-12 education during this first decade of the 21st century will witness tremendous evolutionary—even revolutionary—changes throughout those institutions. The interrelated dynamics of public education, the IT industry, and the evolving “digital society” are already combining to produce a variety of entirely new models for K-12. Although those models are indeed emerging, significant change will come at a pace that is perhaps somewhat slower initially than some would prefer. K-12 education is, after all, an institution rich in tradition and culture, and often slow to change. Nonetheless, as the presence and reach of new technologies—the Internet in particular—reach critical mass, that pace will quicken, and by the year 2010, school age children will enjoy an educational experience profoundly different from anything previously known. Profound change usually occurs when not one, but several change agents come together, either deliberately or coincidentally, and interact—often sparked by some sort of catalyst. This type of interaction is occurring throughout public education today. In this case, the change agents at work include K-12 institutions, the evolving IT industry, and the rapidly emerging digital society.