Looking Ahead
Interconnect Ed
The hallmark of this brave new Information Age is the interconnectedness of everything: ideas, information, people. Relationships are key. It’s no longer what you know or how much you know…it’s who you know and how to connect with them. Interactions are more immediate, fluid and dynamic.
On an individual basis it is happening as I write. But what about on an institutional scale? Don’t we eventually have to affect change in our public institutions so that they will morph from their successful Industrial Age mindset to this new way of living and working? This is the biggest challenge of making the shift: finding institutional incentive for becoming more interconnected, agile and responsive.
Public education is a prime example. In the Industrial Age education established itself by putting in place very deliberate policies and practices that require anyone engaging with the institution to meet established requirements, complete specified forms and tests, and move through its programs and services in prescribed, sequential steps. It is very hard to
