Learning to Change

Tell us what matters to you, in two sentences, an image or a video

Teachers are often portrayed as being clueless about technology, but ever more of them are putting that stereotype to the test.

Revenue from music sold over the Internet, via mobile phones and in other digital forms, rose by 25 percent last year, to $3.7 billion, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a report set for publication Friday. Digital sales accounted for 20 percent of the industry's revenue, up from 15 percent a year earlier.

Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to "serious" work.

Tomorrow marks a turning point in the history of our schools as well as our country. Note how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom we honor today, had to confront the cold, hard, in-your-face prejudice of a legally segregated system, while the next president, Barack Obama, speaks of a softer negligence, illuminated by the frequently heard phrase, "These kids can't learn."

...less than a month before the Feb. 17 deadline, so many American households have yet to take the necessary steps to continue to watch over-the-air television - more than 6.5 million, according to Nielsen Media Research - that Congress has considered giving them more time.

The Effective Professional Learning Communities project is a study of effective professional learning communities in schools and of how they are created and sustained. It is an exciting, new, collaborative venture between the Universities of Bristol and Bath and the Institute of Education, University of London, which is funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), General Teaching Council for England (GTC) and the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)

1. Personal Mastery 2. Mental Models 3. Shared Vision 4. Team Learning 5. Systems Thinking