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Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America (Technology, Education--Connections (Tec)) (Technology, Education-Cnnections the Tec Series)

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Collins and Halverson raise many legitimate points in this book, but there are also some points of contention that remain unresolved. Although this book proposes few definite answers, it opens up lively discussion for rethinking education in the information age, and it is an essential read for future educators because it outlines very convincingly that schools are following an outdated model and should be reformed. However, the solutions that Collins and Halverson propose will remain points of contention for time to come, and many people will remain skeptical.

This book does an excellent job of outlining the problem in an easy-to-understand way: In short, the school system as we know it was formed during the Industrial Revolution, and it is designed to efficiently transmit information from the teacher to the students in large numbers. It is clear that the Industrial Age is over, and we are now well into the Information Age, and we see youth becoming a lot more involved in exchanging information and knowledge over the web than before. Consequently, we are finding that students are learning much more in these informal environments because they are voluntarily engaging in information which they find interesting, so Collins and Halverson propose that education should become less institutionalized and more personalized.

Essentially, Collins and Halverson propose that technology allows personalized instruction to large numbers of students, and education should look more like home-schooling or apprenticeship, in which students decide the terms and conditions of their learning rather than following a prescribed route. This will promote a higher degree of specialization, and "just-in-case" learning would no longer be relevant. Because students would be focusing on what interests them, they would be more motivated to learn, but this model leaves many future educators uneasy.

However, this book also does a fair job of outlining what may be lost from that proposed model of education, but there are many possible losses that Collins and Halverson did not address or resolve. Some future educators ponder about what would happen to the generalists if this model of personalized online instruction takes place, but it is not likely that generalists would disappear, and in world with such good communication, there would not really be a need for them. Also, when it comes to educating students about prejudice, tolerence, and social justice, schools have been the most effective means because they provide a common space for a diversity of students to interact, but the book does not address this. And finally, this book mentions nothing about physical education. Schools are typically an excellent institution for students to get involved with physical activity and sports, and this book does not address it at all. Although I would not agree entirely with the proposed solutions, I believe this book is an overall worthwhile read that should be taken with a grain of salt.

One significant qualm that I have with this book is that I find it to be polarizing: It offers perspectives from Technology Enthusiasts and Skeptics without offering a middleground or even explain why or if these two sides are incompatible. The authors present both sides fairly, but it is pretty clear which sides the authors are on. Although these authors are highly knowledgeable and offer a lot of valuable insight, I treat this polarization only as an organizational tool that helps me read and digest information, so I take nothing at face value.

Nonetheless, I would recommend this to any serious educator or future educator because the insights provocative and valuable, but this book should not be read passively like a novel. Anybody who reads this should be prepared to critique this book very carefully and open up lively discussions about rethinking education.

Collins and Halverson have provided a timely and realistic perspective on educational technology that gets us past both the exuberant and the despairing views. There certainly is much more that can and should be said about the many topics they discuss, but I think they've successfully located the "core" of the matter, and with welcome brevity.

Being personally experienced in this field, I'd just offer two or three criticisms. The first is their assumption that interactive learning programs will play a large role in the future of education. I imagine that they eventually will, but after at least thirty years of research and experimentation with such environments, I am impressed by how limited their real-world success has been. The commercial successes have been in the teaching of math, but besides that there's still a surprising lack of good, usable programs.

Which leads to a more general comment about the way they characterize the "skeptics'" perspective. The authors stress the institutional obstacles, but I don't ever hear them acknowledge that making all these different ed tech ideas work "at scale" is much, much harder than it looks. We want to lament schools' intransigence, and cultural issues, and misguided policies about standards, and etc... but maybe most of what has been offered to schools is bad and unworkable. It doesn't _seem_ unworkable to most of us, but most of it really has been.

What may have been helpful in this book would have been an attempt, however speculative, at estimating the time frames likely to be involved in the proliferation of these new forms, i.e. learning centers, distance education, interactive simulations, certifications, etc. Are these changes 5 years away? 20? 100? The historical framework described by Collins and Halverson seems right, but I left wanting to hear more about their third "lifelong learning" era.

Still, I think the book is groundbreaking and will provide the basis for all future discussions about this topic. And, with these particular authors' reputation and experience, I am inclined to trust their vision more than I would if someone else had written it.

This is an excellent, thoughtful book about schooling and the changes in technologies: networks, cell phones, simulations and games; and their effects around the edges of school systems. The authors are a technologist and an educator and together they bring balance and insight into this formidable jungle of interwoven influences and possibilities. It is well worth reading if you too are a thoughtful parent or grandparent and want to prepare yourself and your children for the future. If you are a teacher or educational leader, you must read this book.

They are best at describing succinctly all the changes going on and the virtual absence of response by schools, who are "locked in place". Their short history of schooling in America is a glorious thumbnail of the important events that provides the dominant theme of transition between apprenticeship, didactic learning in the industrial age, and the beginnings of an information age that is in evolution. They think they discern the directions that are important, the changes nibbling at the edge of school systems, and they lay them out clearly under several headings such as home schooling, workplace learning, distance ed, adult ed, learning centers, internet cafes, interactive learning environments, technical certifications, and lifelong learning. Each of these are short and to the point, presenting just the main skeleton to sustain their arguments. Anything more and the reader would be bogged down in complexities.

For me, their main points are old hat. This is a history I have lived and am all too familiar with. I was surprised then to find a set of presecriptions that actually began to make sense of this morass and offered some hope for a real future. This then was the reason for the lucid but simplistic presentation of arguments that preceded their ideas for how schools may be able to cope. The proposals are well worth reading and thinking about. The main proposal they make is to create a national set of credentials that could be administered online on any learning center or school by trained professionals. Why this might work and why it is a good idea are admirably well explained in the book. It is worth a shot. I hope there are leaders out there who will take it, and I hope you will help them.

As a scientist, I cannot in all good conscience leave a good thing alone. I have to critique it to death. In order to simplify their arguments they have deliberately ignored what schools and new technologies are going to do in the next decade. This is perhaps with good reason. If you look at books like Nickerson's Technology in Education: 2020 written in 1988 you get a good idea why prognostication is risky. So much has happened they couldn't foresee that what they predict is only accurate because so little has actually changed in education while the world outside has been so transformed only Dick Tracy would recognize it.

Nevertheless, a book like this has to deal with future technologies if it wants to have any credibility for its policy recommendations. And there are so many possible or even likely changes that will undermine many of the themes in the book. Cell phones that are more than smart phones, but tv, media, social network, internet,workstation and library centers are obvious changes to come and they truly jeopardize these recommendations within the next 10 years. But computing itself is likely to change fundamentally from digital computers to neural computers that think and talk and engage students in converstations, companionship, learning assistants, and more. How long they will be in coming is not clear but in 10 years it will be very clear.

Of course, you don't need to know exactly what these changes in technology will be to begin to prosyletize for changes in the school system. The immediate changes described in this book should be enough to drive you to the local school board and demand some awareness and response. But it does not take much extrapolation to know that these changes are the leading edge of a seachange, and if we are as flexible and responsive as we think we are, it is time for us to assert ourselves as the creative class and demand new policies.

Technology has changed not only educational practices and structures, but also the nature of learning and the role that schools now play in facilitating learning. Collins and Halverson describe a number of incompatibilities between the use of new technologies and traditional schools, explaining that the standardization of American education intended to efficiently teach large numbers of students does not match today's demand for individualized, just-in-time learning.

The authors present perspectives of both technology enthusiasts, who believe that technology can and should transform education, and technology skeptics who believe that the contradictions between the existing culture of American schools and the participatory, individualized learning fostered by new technologies are too significant to be overcome.

The reader is provided with a well-organized discussion of the historical foundation for the current state of educational practice and arguments on both sides of the question of how technology should change its future. The authors recount the development of American education from the 19th Century, and the movement towards universal schooling that shifted responsibility for educating children from the family to the state. Early chapters outline educational advancements including the invention of the printing press, the Reformation, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, the authors remind us that American schooling has "coalesced into a system that is "locked in place" and unable to adapt to new conditions." (p. 66). But technology appears to have given rise to a new system that is able to separate the idea of learning from the traditional approach to schooling.

The book also describes the growing emphasis on home schooling, workplace learning, distance learning, and adult education. According to Collins and Halverson, education has become about "learning how to learn and learning how to find useful resources" (p.95). Assessment has changed from simple observation to ongoing evaluation throughout the learning process. Customization, interaction and learner control are three imperatives to viewing education through the new technology. Collins and Halverson argue that the key to successfully incorporating these imperatives into today's educational system is to shake up the system from the core.

The authors conclude by pleading for teachers to get on board with the new technology, arguing that learning is already taking place outside the classroom. Students are directing their own learning, and parents are following their children into the digital revolution. This new educational paradigm will require a different kind of leader who can make the shifts that are necessary to match what students are learning with the needs of society. Overall, "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology" is a thought-provoking book that helps educators plan for educating in a digital age.

I read the entire book, but my main focus was Collins chapter 9. I thought that overall the book was fantastic and will really help me as an educator with those technology questions that I have. In this chapter "What Does It All Mean?" it explains why students should use technology and what benefits it gives them and what the parents should be looking for and encouraging in their children with school and technology. This section stated that the emergences of technology based learning environments require parents along with teachers to pay attention to how and what children learn outside of school and the home. Not only can the parents and teachers raise awareness of the new technologies they can also begin to appreciate the range of new skills that kids develop when they get to start using these technologies in school and at home. The chapter also talks about how technology is a large threat to children of school age, but also one of the greatest opportunities that they will have to do what they want. Technology has become an economic engineer that students and parents can use to their advantage. Teachers are being pressured to change their traditional classrooms into ones that integrate technology so that they are not left behind when the students know more about the technology than them. There will still be parts of the traditional classrooms they will just be implemented in different ways, like math homework will still be math homework it will just be done online and scored immediately. The one thing that has school holding back is the funding or lack of it in schools across America.

Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, Collins and Halverson point to the many arguments that skeptics to the use of technology in classrooms make; from a decline in classroom management, to the cost and access of technology, to the elimination as the teacher as an expert, and many, many more. Overall, Collins and Halverson layout a very thorough and complex blueprint for why some people are skeptical and why some reforms fail. For those teachers in schools where they hear many complaints about technology, this chapter provides some excellent insight and even some counterpoints to many common arguments.

While the authors do not necessarily provide the reader with solutions to all of the problems listed, they certainly give many new ideas about to counter the arguments themselves. I ended this chapter feeling like I did not have all the answers, but I certainly had a starting point. If nothing else, it served to reiterate my initial feelings; educational technology is not so much about the actual technology, but about the education. Technology is simply the jumping off point for conversations that need to be had about how we, as a society, can change public education for the better. Collins and Halverson certainly provide their reader with many jumping off points.

Collins and Halverson have great depth in the area of education reform. This book not only reviews education's past, it also describes today's present situation in with digital natives being taught by digital immigrants, and it ends with recommendations for education's future.

Despite the diversity that exists within our boundaries, America has always sought to give equality to its fellow man (or woman). Even the Civil War could not destroy this vision. Today's technology age now has the ability to create a "digital divide" because of access to technology, wealth, and race (p. 108). Additionally, as parents become more involved in their children's education they may shelter their children from arts or philosophies that rival their personal beliefs while investing personal money in improving their skills in other areas, hence, increasing the gap between groups of people based on religion and socio-economic status. It has also been noted that the increase in technology also has seen a rise in isolation and depression among technology users. Despite the negatives, the race for education is fierce. Students using technology are more engaged, driven, and have autonomy over their education. Corporation competition is also heating up making a competitive market in tutoring, educational resources, and private schooling. This will only serve to improve education for students. Computers can also individualize education which will help all students, not just those with special needs or those who are gifted. Parents will become more involved in their children's education, a problem that has plagued public education for a long time. With the Internet, students have access to knowledge 24/7. They don't need to hear about studies when they can watch them live or research a topic of their choice. There are positives and negatives to this new wave of technology that has taken education by force.

Collins and Halverson (2009) feel today's youth are already using technology and our current direction with standardized scores driving education is only serving to increase the achievement gap. Two of the ideas discussed are national certification and skill based assessment systems. By creating smaller certifications that are nationally recognized students would have autonomy when it comes to which certification tests they take, when they take the tests, and the topics to research. Skill based assessment systems would utilize computer adaptive technology to rate student ability levels. Combine national certification and interactive testing abilities with a student selected curriculum and you revolutionize a K-12 education into a useful set of skills once graduated. Students will have a resume of nationally recognized certificates when they graduate. This motivation factor has the capability to encourage students to stay in school and lessen the achievement gap.

Furthermore, change among the way schools do business on a daily basis is on the brink of change. As new technologies take form and creative curriculum's come into existence, the way students learn in a traditional classroom is being challenged. Society and the workforce are moving ahead digitally but yet in many classrooms we expect our children to learn in classrooms void of newer technology. We expect kids to put away their own digital devices and learn in the same way their grandparents learned. This is doing our current generation a disservice. Our children's social network is far more advanced than that of their parents. Their interests and pop culture icons are always at their fingertips. Their sophisticated network far outreaches that of other generations. Children and gaming now go hand in hand. These children are developing critical thinking and problem solving skills much faster than originally thought, their language and communication skills are developing more rapidly than earlier generations. Yet our schools have not all caught on to this phenomenon. It is time to tap into the wide array of possibilities that lie ahead for our students and realize the great potential that is at our fingertips.

Collins and Halverson give the overall picture of how technology is changing technology. This book comes highly recommended.

Collins, A. & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

This text is a fine resource for educators. It covers philosophies surrounding the concept of integrated technology and a good foundation for new teachers. The book will provoke thought and challenges its readers to be active participants in the education reform discussion.

Collins and Halverson have great depth in the area of education reform. The book begins with a minor history lesson on the beginnings of the American educational system with Horace Mann and Thomas Jefferson. Their vision was to unite America through education so that citizens would be capable of being educated voters and promote the common good. Despite the diversity that exists within our boundaries, America has always sought to give equality to its fellow man (or woman). Even the Civil War could not destroy this vision. Today's technology age now has the ability to create a "digital divide" because of access to technology, wealth, and race (p. 108). Additionally, as parents become more involved in their children's education they may shelter their children from arts or philosophies that rival their personal beliefs while investing personal money in improving their skills in other areas hence increasing the gap between groups of people based on religion and socio-economic status. It has also been noted that the increase in technology also has seen a rise in isolation and depression among technology users. Despite the negatives, the race for education is fierce. Students using technology are more engaged, driven, and have autonomy over their education. Corporation competition is also heating up making a competitive market in tutoring, educational resources, and private schooling. This will only serve to improve education for students. Computers can also individualize education which will help all students, not just those with special needs or those who are gifted. Parents will become more involved in their children's education, a problem that has plagued public education for a long time. With the Internet, students have access to knowledge 24/7. They don't need to hear about studies when they can watch them live or research a topic of their choice. There are positives and negatives to this new wave of technology that has taken education by force.

Collins and Halverson (2009) have suggestions for today's education system when it comes to integrating technology. As they see it, today's youth are already using technology and our current direction with standardized scores driving education is only serving to increase the achievement gap. Two of their ideas are national certification and skill based assessment systems. By creating smaller certifications that are nationally recognized students would have autonomy when it comes to which certification tests they take, when they take the tests, and the topics to research. Skill based assessment systems would utilize computer adaptive technology to rate student ability levels. Combine national certification and interactive testing abilities with a student selected curriculum and you revolutionize a K-12 education into a useful set of skills once graduated. Students will have a resume of nationally recognized certificates when they graduate. This motivation factor has the capability to encourage students to stay in school and lessen the achievement gap.

Overall the text gives a solid base of knowledge on how technology has transformed today's education. This book will help people understand the arguments for and against technology integration.

Collins and Halverson started a major discussion. The book is very nice to read, but it will not be the last major book on this subject.
I liked the book, because it introduced me to several ideas about the history of American Education. Specially, ideas sponsored by Horace Mann in the XIX century. As I read the book I perceived that a few things are missing in the discussion, but this does not diminishes the value of the book. This book is important to read and most of the reviews are praising the qualities of the book, so I decided to concentrate my review on items that I think are missing or overlooked.

My first observation is that the authors emphasize the impact of gaming and video technology in the future of education. Looks like they are overwhelmed by the idea of using these technologies to improve education. The fact that young people use computers easily is a tribute to the designers of the programs and machines that are being used by all types of consumers. Using a computer is not different than using a telephone. Using a machine is not the same as designing and conceptualizing this sophisticated products. (We must keep the skills to do this... or we will be servants of the technology).

The impact of several technologies like the TV, gaming technology, computers, cell phones are praised, but is missing the impact that the time spent using the same technologies unproductively by people throughout the globe is huge. Everywhere, man and woman are forgetting the people who are close to them, like their families and real friends, and instead of communicating with whom we live for an interaction with a machine or machines (like seeing TV shows, surfing the internet...). I think the best critical view on this, is expressed by the cartoon WALL-E. Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition) It is important to observe this, because education is the way for us to tame the current technology and make it our servant, and not make everybody dependent on it as if it is a type of drug.
Interaction with the real world is necessary, if we don't pay attention to adolescents, they will find something to do with their time, that is not boring, like getting a drug addiction!

Collins and Halverson identify many trends in social behavior that are global today and they are not specific to one country, like the idea that one person will pursue many careers during its productive lifetime. This is not new, this has been happening since the sixties (at least). They identify some of the causes behind this, specially the dislocation of jobs that is related to outsourcing and technological change. This is an important trend, because this is deeply related to a major trend in education identified by the authors, we are in an era of lifetime learning and education. Many people that went through the old school system did adapt well to these conditions in the last 30 years or so. This is a hint that the education problem is not addressed by applying technology and new teaching methods derived from new technologies but preparing people with concepts that are more general and not tied to a specific technology, so that an individual has a frame of reference to learn new techniques, new theories and also be prepared to judge what is the right trend to follow.

The authors concentrated their attention on the possibilities that technology can do to improve education, but missing is the fact that from the 60's until today several techniques were developed to analyze problems so that we could implement computer programs to solve routine problems. These techniques should be better known by teachers and professors because they can be used as part of education. Examples, structured systems analysis and specification, specification or program walkthroughs, program testing methodology. These techniques combined with better knowledge of how the human brain works could help improve the tools that we use for studying and learning. These techniques should be part of disciplines to improve our analytical capabilities and thinking processes.

The other important trend, is one that some thinkers use as a method to be creative, they move away from computer/digital technology and work with pencil and white paper. They will use computers only in the final part, when they will implement the solution. They use simple old concepts that will help the human brain function in its plenitude and produce better results. See for example, a book like Presentation Zen.Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery


The fact that today we can keep zillions of data stored in all types of media and that we can access a lot of facts through several devices, raises new questions. What is important to learn? What shall be the purpose of education in the future? How we keep our capacity of advancing human knowledge when there are so many frontiers to pursue? What should be the human values that we have to instill in the future generations? What kind of impact the lack of parental/teacher attention and excessive use of computerized devices are having on individuals? Some of these questions were raised in the book. The authors did not explore in depth the question of what is important for the newer generations to learn during their education. They mentioned a study by the Labor Dept, the SCANS report, but did not explore it in depth.

I think that Horace Mann had a clear purpose for the task of education in America in the XIX century: to prepare new citizens for a new democracy.
I think the main thing that is missing in this discussion is the identification of the new philosophy behind education in our times. If we identify our objectives better we will find our way. What kind of society we want in the future? How can one participate in the decisions of strategy and policies that will impact all of us?
How our societies will function?

In "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology", Collins and Halverson address the forever changing education system and the impact of technology on those changes. As they point out, learning these days not only occurs in the classroom but also in the home, workplace, library, virtually everywhere. The way we communicate, share information and process information is also transforming. This can be attributed to the new developments of technology.
With the changes in learning comes a change in the way we educate our students. As stated above, learning is not only occurring in the classroom but also at home. As a result, Collins and Halverson believe there will be a push for distance learning environments and home schooling. I don't fully agree with them. I believe the majority of learning will occur in the classroom. The change will be in the way educators facilitate learning. Motivation is a topic of discussion in this book and I support their ideas. I agree with Collins and Halverson in the notion of giving students more control over their learning. Providing students with the necessary tools to educate themselves through discoveries improve intrinsic motivation.
Collins and Halverson do a great job pointing out the fact that with the change in the system, society will experience both "gains" and "losses." One of the most significant gains that we will experience is the increase in engagement of students. Technology in the classroom can allow students to focus on their individual strengths and weaknesses. Some of the possible losses include the digital divide, the loss of the liberal arts and a decrease in face to face human interactions.
Overall, this book touches upon the impact of technology on the education system. As a teacher and someone studying educational technology, I would recommend this book to fellow teachers, administrators and parents. Society is changing so quickly, it is hard to tell when some of the changes Collins and Halverson mention will take effect, but it is good to know what changes are to come.