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Abstract

America's multiple educational systems are its major long-term mechanism for shaping the future, but this infrastructure for human resource development has remained static rather than shifting its mission as the societal environment has changed. The emergence of a global economy with a shift toward cognitive partnerships with intelligent tools, and the growing challenge of diversity when excellence and quality depend on a pluralistic understanding of a worldwide market are underscoring the decline in the effectiveness of America's instructional environments. Building on societal discontent with traditional educational models, the evolution of advanced technologies for teaching, learning, and management and the initiation of a restructuring movement for educational reform both provide contexts for innovation that may foster the implementation of new paradigms for education. Nonetheless, a future of little or no change in American education is all too probable; similar opportunities for innovation always slipped away in the past.

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References

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2. This issue is discussed in detail in Shoshanna Zuboff , In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988).

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11. Alan C. Kay , “Computers, Networks, and Education,” Scientific American, 265(3):138-149 (1991).

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12. Christopher J. Dede , “Emerging Technologies: Impacts on Distance Learning,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 514:146-158 (Mar. 1991).

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13. Lauren B. Resnick , “Learning in School and Out,” Educational Researcher, 16(9):13-20 (1987).

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14. John D. Bransford et al. , “New Approaches to Instruction: Because Wisdom Can't Be Told,” in Similarity and Analogical Reasoning, ed. S. Vosniadou and A. Ortony (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

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15. David C. Dwyer , Cathy Ringstaff , and Judy H. Sandholtz , “Changes in Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Technology-Rich Classrooms,” Educational Leadership, 48(9):45-52 (1991).

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17. John S. Brown , Allan Collins , and Paul Duguid , “Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning,” Educational Researcher, 18(1):32-42 (1989).

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18. Albert Shanker , “A Proposal for Using Incentives to Restructure Our Public Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, 71(5):345-357 (1990).

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19. Jane David et al. , State Actions to Restructure Schools: First Steps (Washington, DC: National Governors' Association, 1990).

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20. John R. Frederickson and Allan Collins , “A Systems Approach to Educational Testing,” Educational Researcher, 18(9):27-32 (1989).

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idem , “Emerging Technologies.”

Education in the Twenty-First Century

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