Free Agent Learners

Project Tomorrow is a national education nonprofit organization and they have been gathering data from administrators, teachers, parents, and students about educational trends specifically those dealing with the integration and use of technology. The Speak Up survey has been collecting data for the past six years and the 2009 Trends Update examines the data as it relates to online learning. The publication features this statement

Clayton Christensen makes a bold prediction in Disrupting Class, a national bestseller on the future of education, that 50% of all high school classes will be delivered online by 2019. Christensen argues that online learning will provide educational opportunities they seek, and by meeting that demand, will disrupt the current educational system.

So I have to wonder how that will disrupt our educational system and I have to wonder if that will be a positive experience for educators. According to the Speak Up survey results gathered by Project Tomorrow students are now becoming Free Agent Learners that are becoming less dependent on traditional education institutions for learning.

To engage these free agent learners educators will have to shift focus, change delivery, and explore options that emerging technologies present not only for the students they teach, but also for themselves.