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"In our innovative classrooms across America, students are using technology in ways that were unheard of just ten short years ago. In a small elementary school in Northwest Baltimore, students use their Makerspace to create 3D printed materials, learn to code and engage in other making activities. In another school in Philadelphia, a student fulfills his senior capstone project requirement by creating a "Smart Beehive" that uses sensors and a camera to track the health of a bee colony. While there are some schools of education that prepare pre-service teachers to excel in these types of technology-rich environments on their first day of in-service teaching, there is still room for growth in our teacher preparation programs as a whole, particularly as more schools shift towards digital learning. "Education-Creative Commons" by NEC Corporation of America licensed under CC BY 2.0" This is why the 2016 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) asks us to refine educational technology's place in teacher preparation programs. It makes the bold statement that "no new teacher exiting a preparation program should require remediation by his or her hiring district."¹"

"Are we preparing students for life?"

"Last year, in the height of the election season, the Obama administration quietly released a national strategic plan for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development. The plan was the beginning of a national effort to prepare Americans for a future with AI-a future some computer scientist believe our nation is ill-equipped to handle. AI has become a part of the American fabric for some time. Siri and Alexa are already taking orders, self-driving cars have hit some streets, and the concept of interconnectivity is now a reality through the Internet of Things. But experts assert that in order for the society to fully embrace AI, learning machines should not replace human workers, but complement them. So to prepare the future workforce for a computer coworker, there must be a shift in teaching and learning-a change that should begin in the classroom."

"The latest and greatest release of iOS 10 is here, and with the public release just around the corner it's a good time to start preparing your iPhone and iPad hardware to install the iOS 10 update. Let's walk through some important steps to prepare for the iOS 10 update the right way, including checking for supported hardware, doing a little cleanup, insuring adequate backups have been made, and then of course, diving right into the install. "

"Project Tomorrow®, the national education nonprofit organization that annually facilitates the Speak Up National Research Project, conducted a special Speak Up survey in Spring 2012 for college students in teacher preparation programs. Since 2007, Project Tomorrow has collaborated with Blackboard Inc. to create a series of annual reports that focus on key trends in the use of technology to increase student achievement, teacher productivity and parental engagement. This new report, "Learning in the 21st Century: Digital Experiences and Expectations of Tomorrow's Teachers," is the latest in the series and provides new insights that will inform college and university based teacher preparation programs as well as the induction and professional development processes within K-12 schools and districts. Tomorrow's teachers may have the keys to finally unlock the potential of technology to transform teaching and learning, but much depends upon their experiences in their preparation program and how well future school leadership can support their expectations for essential technology tools and resources."

"The start of a new school year is a great time to think about long-term plans for the upcoming year, but also the plans we need to make for our students for years to come. Each day there are news alerts on topics such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, digital citizenship and literacy and their relation to education. These are the trends and terms that are already a part of our world and will become an increasing part of our future. Beyond these technology-themed trends, we're learning more about social-emotional learning (SEL), mental health awareness, mindfulness and trauma-informed teaching. These are important issues and educators must stay informed on best practices and ways to make these 'themes' part of our daily practice. As educators today, it's no longer about simply planning instruction with our students in mind. We also have to consider how changing technology trends and important societal issues will impact our students both now and beyond high school. How can we best prepare them to not only find success for themselves but also make an impact on others? So the pressure is on, to really consider how we can best prepare students not just for this school year, not just for life after high school graduation, but well beyond. We need to prepare our students for the year 2030 and the future. But how?"

Corporate leaders aren't the only ones who need to consider how to adjust to the new world the 4th Industrial Revolution is ushering in. Educators, schools, government officials, and parents must re-think education and how to prepare the next generation to take advantage of the plethora of opportunities and overcome the challenges enabled by ever-increasing technological change. Here are some of the changes happening because of the 4th Industrial Revolution and eight things every school must do to prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution.

"Our 3rd grade classrooms love to mystery Skype.  Have you tried it? In a mystery Skype, 2 classrooms connect with one another but don't say where they are from.  The two organizers of course know, but the students don't.  By asking a series of yes or no questions, students try to narrow down to a country, state, city, and even school if there is time.  Mystery Skypes work best when students are prepared in advance and every student has a job to do.  There are many example of jobs to assign in a mystery Skype such as greeter, researcher, questioner, scribe, and photographer."

"Apple announced the eighth major release of its iOS mobile operating system at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The latest version of iOS include improvements to the Siri voice assistant, a new health and wellness app, and revamped notifications, among other things. With iOS 8 slated to arrive on devices in the coming weeks, now is the perfect time to ensure that your iPhone or iPad is prepared to receive the update. These tips will help make the transition to iOS 8 from iOS 7 as smooth as possible."

"Do you like change? If you do, then living in the present is an exhilarating experience.  For those who don't, buckle up as we are only going to see unprecedented innovations at exponential rates involving technology.  You can't run or hide from it. The revolution, or evolution depending on your respective lens, of our world, will transform everything as we know it. We must adapt, but more importantly, prepare our learners for a bold new world that is totally unpredictable.  Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.  "

"In a flipped classroom, students typically interact with a short micro-video (flipped video) before class and then class time is transformed into an active place of engagement and learning. Some teachers think that students take to flipped learning quickly. However, since many students have been trained in how to learn passively, they need to have explicit instructions on how to learn differently in a flipped classroom. Below is a series of suggestions teachers may find helpful to hand out to students to prepare them for a flipped classroom."

"If you're still adapting to millennials in the workplace, it's time to move on because the next generation of workers is here. We call them "digital natives" and their lives have always been integrated with technology. According to Marc Prensky, the author responsible for coining the term, digital natives are by definition a generation of children born into a completely digital world. As businesses prepare to welcome this new generation, we'll discuss what these businesses should know and how they can leverage the digital wisdom and tech-ready mindsets the digital natives will bring to the workforce."

"In this post-election period, there has been a lot of discussion about fake news, particularly about how it is spread and shared online, and whether it influenced the recent presidential election. On November 22, Stanford University released an influential study showing that middle and high school students-and even some in college-have trouble distinguishing which online resources are credible. The inescapable fact is that young people need to be prepared for the Wild West of information that they live in and will grow up in. It is also imperative that we, as educators, prepare young people for the important job of responsible and informed citizenship"

What will tomorrow bring? What will life be like in 2028 as our youngest students of today exit school? What occupations will they enter and what challenges will they face? These are not new questions but with the rate of change in society and the pace at which technology evolves they are questions without clear answers. How then do schools prepare students for this uncertain tomorrow? What shall we teach our children today such that are well prepared for the challenges and opportunities of their tomorrow?

"Whether it's Minecraft or duct tape wallets, the childhood passions that seem like fads, if not totally unproductive, can alternatively be seen as mediums for experiencing the virtuous cycle of curiosity: discovering, trying, failing and growing. At DIY, we've created a way for kids to explore hundreds of skills and to understand the ways in which they can be creative through them. Often, the skills are unconventional, and almost always the results are surprising. I don't think it's important that kids use the skills they learn on DIY for the rest of their lives. What's important is that kids develop the muscle to be fearless learners so that they are never stuck with the skills they have. Only this will prepare them for a world where change is accelerating and depending on a single skill to provide a lifetime career is becoming impossible."

"Students Who Study on Smartphones Are Better Prepared for Class"

"My objective with this wide-ranging set of skills, and involving the community so closely in their development, is to give kids the chance to practice whatever makes them passionate now and feel encouraged -- even if they're obsessed with making stuff exclusively with duct tape. It's crucial that kids learn how to be passionate for the rest of their lives. To start, they must first learn what it feels like to be simultaneously challenged and confident. It's my instinct that we should not try to introduce these experiences through skills we value as much as look for opportunities to develop them, as well as creativity and literacy, in the skills they already love. MAGICIANS CRAFT ILLUSIONS THAT BAFFLE THE SENSES AND CONFUSE OUR REASONING. THEY PLAN LIKE SCIENTISTS, BUT PERFORM AS ARTISTS. ONLY THROUGH LONG AND DISCIPLINED PREPARATION DO THEY SUCCEED. It's difficult to predict which skills will be valuable in the future, and even more challenging to see the connection between our children's interests and these skills. Nothing illustrates this better than Minecraft, a popular game that might be best described as virtual LEGOs. Calling it a game belies the transformation it has sparked: An entire generation is learning how to create 3D models using a computer. Now, I wonder, what sort of businesses, communication, entertainment or art will be possible? Cathy Davidson, a scholar of learning technology, concluded that 65% of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that haven't even been invented yet. I bet today's kids will eventually explore outcomes and create jobs only made possible by the influence of Minecraft in their lives. Why take any chances and build your dream house with blueprints alone? The Minecraft kid could easily make a realistic 3D model of one for you to walk through before you build. That's why DIY treats Minecraft as a tool, not a game, and encourages our members to use it to pursue art, architect

"How many schools and how many classrooms allow student choice? And, in adult-centered spaces, how often do young people have the opportunity to make important decisions? Our mainstream educational machine is fueled by the idea that adults know best-that adults must impart their knowledge to prepare students for a demanding world. Our responsibility as teachers is to teach students for their own good…a "good" that more and more of us are having difficulty understanding. We teach students addition and multiplication facts because some day they will need to calculate very quickly…a tip at a restaurant or a bill at the grocery store in case their smartphone runs out of batteries. We teach them to write a five paragraph essay on the theme of a book because they will need those writing skills when…writing an argument to dispute a lawsuit. We teach them how to conjugate "to be" in Spanish because it might save their life…at a fruit stand in South America. While we are preparing them for possible situations, should these situations define the entirety of the direction of their education? I propose that we introduce some choice and some unknown into the situation of school. What if we allow students to make choices about what they learn, how they learn, and when they learn? In a way, 1:1 iPad programs are sparking choice whether we're OK with it or not."

"These courses represented a lifeline and a glimmer of hope in what has become a day fraught with relentless preparation for college and careers.  However, the powers that be found that they consumed precious time from the school day that could have been spent on more important curricular endeavors.  In the end, students, especially those most at-risk based on learning needs, have immensely suffered.  They desperately need an outlet during the long school day.  If not, their motivation to learn in all their other classes will wane resulting in either a lack of effort or desire to even attend school.  The bottom line is that many schools have deprived students of real-world learning experiences that are needed now more than ever.  This might seem like a bleak scenario that I describe above and it should.  Our students deserve activities that will not only prepare them for vital trade careers, but also allow them to openly explore the solving of problems that are relevant to them.  During my tenure as New Milford High School Principal our district cut wood and metal shop.  Over the years I have also seen recess time dwindle for my own kids and others who attend the New York City Public School System.  All hope is not lost though for any school looking to create a better learning environment that works for kids.  The solution for all schools comes in the form of makerspaces. "

"One of the things that I hear teachers worrying about is the disappearance of creativity in the curriculum. More and more districts are ramping up the standardized exams to prepare students for the bigger standardized exams they will take later in the year. The beauty of creativity is slowly being phased out and replaced by worksheets. Standardized tests are a reality where I teach, but I still find creativity time for my students. I feel that it helps strengthen their other skills and is needed to develop well-rounded people. Here are some things that can add a creative spark into your class and still prepare them for those exams."