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"It's important that they understand that they may bring a lot of technical expertise, but that they have a lot to learn from the [other] teachers in schools in terms of pedagogy and content," she says. Thompson also concedes that higher ed has been guilty of paying too much attention to the devices themselves. "We all did at first: 'If we just teach teachers how to use technology, they'll figure out how to teach with it.' Although it was an understandable approach, it really wasn't the approach we should be taking."

"In the state of Michigan, every high school student must have at least one online class experience for graduation," Brady says. "What I say to my students is, 'How can we have that as a high school requirement if we've never walked in their shoes?' We have to take an online class to be in a better position to train our students so they'll be ready for that online experience."

As the project got underway, there was considerable interest in seeing the how similarly K-12 and higher education were viewing emerging technology. As it turned out, there is a considerable overlap, but there are also clear distinctions.

collaborative environments and online communication tools

barriers such as policy constraints on using online tools, the fact that many students do not bring laptops to school (as opposed to many college students, who do), and policies that restrict Internet access in many schools.