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must engage in ongoing capacity-building; ideally including a combination of coaching, mentoring, support and training.

Not surprisingly, technology investments seldom produce maximal educational returns. To strengthen this weak link, any consideration of purpose-built technologies must benefit from including strong training, professional development, and ongoing professional learning components.

The cartwheeled classroom not only connects text books and classrooms to the real world, but it also inspires, uplifts, and offers the joy of accomplishment. Transformative, connected knowledge isn’t a thing--it’s an action, an accomplishment, a connection that spins your world upside down, then sets you squarely on your feet, eager to whirl again. It’s a paradigm shift.

this is what collaborative learning looks and sounds like in 21st-century schools. “Why shoul

”Top-down authoritative teaching styles – and, in some cases, courtesy titles as teachers become peers, friends and resource facilitators – are out, along with desks arranged in tidy rows, all seats facing forward. In the classroom of the past, students memorized and regurgitated on tests the facts teachers presented in lectures. In the classroom of the present and future, students increasingly take personal responsibility for their own educations. “We have given them res

Every single day, I am finding new connections that make kids’ education more exciting. If our kids didn’t see this vision and they didn’t see what is so powerful about it, it wouldn’t work.

In fact, the reason the panel consisted of nine educators, instead of two or three, was precisely to demonstrate that there were many different ways to effectively flip a classroom.

Many of the educators talked about pre-recording certain topics that students consistently ask about, such as "How do I get to Google Docs?" and "What does MLA formatting look like?"

Victor: What is something educators can do right now to reimagine their schools?

Chris: I think what every educator should be able to do is to consider “What do I control, what do I have control over?” And by control, I don’t mean command-and-control teaching, I mean, if you’re a classroom teacher, what you own inside your classroom or, if you are a principal, within your school. Within the boundaries that we have control over, how can we develop visions of what we want in order to invest in our kids? Then, latch all of our systems and structures that we have control over to that overall vision. The way kids produce information, the way they consume information, the way they reflect, the way that we as educators grade, the way we sit kids in the classroom, anything that you have control over, ask yourself, “Does it leverage the best ideas that we have? Does it leverage the best vision for what we have for what we hope kids can do and learn and be with us?” If not, change your policies! Change your structures so that they are more closely aligned to that best vision of what we are and what we can be.

Chris: I think you let people see what is best. I think you let people what is possible. You stop making this one more thing that teachers have to do and help them see that using this technology will allow them to transform their practice.

Students said they want a greater mix of learning models, with less lecture and more direct interaction – and they reported that classroom time is moving in the right direction.  “I learn more and get more out of my educational experience when we use multiple methods,” said one student surveyed by CDW-G.

Students say technology will help them take ownership of their educational experience and will help them transition to the workforce. 

“I often got bored during traditional lectures where the teacher would just talk for the full class period,” said one student. “When we watch videos online or do hands-on projects I learn the material better and retain the information long term.”

nstead of classrooms, PlayMaker School has a suite of spaces that are interconnected physically and visually. There’s an ideation lab, a maker space, and an immersive gaming and learning zone where the students can try out the games they create and the software they develop.

When you put math and science teachers together, they can cross-collaborate on lesson plans. If they’re teaching trigonometry or wave properties in math, they know they have to pull in the physics faculty also.” Schools that embrace STEM end up retraining. “They have to stretch their conception of what’s being taught.”

They were inspired by facilities that “let spontaneous collisions happen,”

Every student needs one-on-one access to computers and other mobile technology in classrooms.Every teacher needs professional development in the effective use of digital tools for teaching and learning, including the use of digital tools to promote writing.All schools and districts need a comprehensive information technology policy to ensure that the necessary infrastructure, technical support and resources are available for teaching and learning.

Tell me what you’ve learned.  When I told my students this the next day, they were shocked, but so excited. During the exam I kept hearing, “I really love this exam.”  How many times do you hear that as a teacher?

They loved the Khan Academy video, and reverse instruction learning.  They found the illustrations easy to understand, and the format challenging.  And most of all, they love the independence.

This is a student who struggles in a traditional classroom, and experiences limited success. And she doesn’t think she’s smart. But the truth is, she is.  She gets Biology.