15 Moonshots in Education

April 11, 2017
Getting Smart

by Tom Vander Ark

What’s possible in the next five or 10 years? It’s hard to tell given the exponential rate of technology related change. In the last ten years, we’ve seen the development of smartphones and tablets, Instagram and Snap, ride and room sharing, 3D printing and self-driving vehicles. We’ll see far more important advances in the next decade than the last–most will involve artificial intelligence.

In the last ten years, we’ve seen the development of smartphones and tablets, Instagram and Snap, ride and room sharing, 3D printing and self-driving vehicles. We’ll see far more important advances in the next decade than the last–most will involve artificial intelligence.

A few impact investors like Elon Musk are working on moonshot projects–massively ambitious endeavors that will change how well, how long–maybe even where–we live.

What big advances are possible in learning and education? Here are 15 ideas we’re tracking. They move from expected breakthroughs to more speculative advances.

1. Learning Platforms. Personalized learning is promising but hard to manage manually. Advances in learning platforms will enable individual learning pathways optimizing experiences (see #7 & #8). They will be easy to configure for specific learning models and school models (see #2).

2. Platform Networks. Personalized learning is promising but hard for individual schools to figure out. Schools join voluntary networks like New Tech Network to take advantage of a well-developed school model, platform and professional learning opportunity. Thousands of schools work with Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a curriculum network that offers courses on a platform with PD. As platforms improve, a growing percentage of schools will join platform networks. Read more…


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