Riel, M. (2000). The future of technology and education. In Deryn Watson & Toni Downes (Eds.) Communication and Networking in Education: Learning in a Network Society, Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Press, 9-24.
Abstract
Technology is shared minds made visible. It connects people through time and across distances. Our shared past is divided into five periods which are based on the intellectual puzzles that have dominated our collective minds in terms of communication. These puzzles are discussed by focusing on how they have been transformed by technology in the past and will continue to be transformed by technology in the future. The 21st Century will be the Age of Communities because of the rapid expansion of what is possible in terms of shared values, goals and actions by people who can communicate over time and distances in ways not previously conceived. The four C’s for the future of education are: Community, Collaboration, Curriculum, and Creativity. Each of these is used to organize a discussion of where we are heading in education during the Age of Communities.