The Role of the Educator In Regards to the Future

The world is changing -- it is getting both smaller and bigger at the same time. Our world shrinks as technologies now allow us to communicate both synchronously and asynchronously with peers around the world. Conversely, the explosion of information now available to us expands our view of the world. As a result of the ability to communicate globally and the information explosion, education must change. Most educators might not want to change, but the change is coming -- it is a matter of when not if. The challenge is to prepare the children of today for a world that has yet to be created, for jobs yet to be invented, and for technologies yet undreamed. As we will see, the driving forces of Moore's Law, Metcalfe's Law, technology fusion, and a changing world economy are redefining the way our children need to be taught. The current teaching paradigm of the teacher as the possessor and transferor of information is shifting to a new paradigm of the teacher as a facilitator or coach. This new teacher will provide contextual learning environments that engage students in collaborative activities that will require communications and access to information that only technology can provide.

Experts from all fields, including education, business, and government agree that we have moved into the information age. As much as 97% of the world's knowledge will be accumulated over one person's lifetime (Molitor, 1998). Against statistics like this, teaching students a host of facts "just in case" they need them later on in life is a fruitless effort. The ability to find and use facts as they are needed becomes the skill that will enable students to become lifelong learners. The roll of education is no longer to provide educational opportunities through early adulthood, but to provide the scaffolding necessary to support individuals and families from all walks of life, throughout their entire lives. In order to prevent a further widening between the upper and lower classes, it will become increasingly important for educational institutions to provide this support by providing weeknight and weekend adult classes focused on emerging technologies.