REDEFINING EDUCATION The Future of Learning Is Not the Future of Schooling Elizabeth A City, Richard F. Elmore, snd Doug Lynch MAGINE THIS: students choose learning project from an arzay of curriculum materials and begin an individual line of inquiry. Adule urs, who ate eained by other tutors and network leaders (ho or ganize tuors across a lage numberof communities), work with seu- dents in azeas where they have expertise. These adults assume a vatiery cof roles, sometimes doing what might be called conventional teaching, sometimes probing and asking questions, sometimes offering advice in areas where they have specialized expertise, but never standing and purveying knowledge in front of a group of students siting in rows. (Once the seudents have demonstrated mastery in their chosen inquiry project, chey prepare a formal response and presen tin an exhibition tw fellow students, cutos, and parents, Demonstrations of martery are based on students ability nt only o explain and justify their knowl- ‘edge to abroad cross-section of adults and students, but also to teach‘what they know to other students wo have not yet achieved mastery in ‘heir subjects. Because students who have mastered a given eubject play the role of tutor other students who are undertaking inquiry inthe sme area, they learn boch che content they're eudying and che practice of cuorials. Over ime, this student earning coupled with the training that tutors receive in the broader network, becomes a font of knowl ‘edge available wo rurors and students in her schools inthe nerwork. ‘Or imagine this: Jeazers select from a mena of possible domains, cach of which hasa set of nowledge and sills that learners must dem- ‘onstrate successfully to earn a badge of accomplishment. Domains include entrepreneurship, financial literacy (with eleven subareas, in- cluding good credit, budgesing, and compatison shopper, digital arts, bnalthy living, and citizenship inthe nation. Learners select domains based on cheir interests, pussue those interests in a largely self-guided vay with some assisance fiom adult volunteers if needed, and after ac- cumulating a number of badges, earn a rank of accomplishment. ‘Whar do these scenarios have in common? They may sound furur istic, but chey are already happening, The rst example isthe Learning Community project in Mexico. The second ie the moder version of Boy Scout and Gist Scour badges. These scenarios are all about leara- ing. Learning isthe Furure. Learning is now. ‘Schools as Portals learning isthe Furure, what docs chat mean fr schools? What exactly is school? Isic building, or something else? One way to view school sas portal through which some combination of information, knowl cg, and learning Bows. Information, Knowledge, and Learning (One ofthe chief miracles ofthe so-called Information Ages our capac- ity to gather, store, and eranser raw data. So, accordingly, le’ think of. “information” as simply the ordered collection, storage, and tcansmis- sion of data. The way information works today is that everything is e- seavilly reduced tan ordered colletion of ones and zeros. Through, the magic of digital technology, we can reduce almost anything to this form, store it, and move it fom one place ro another. The ones and ze- ros hae increased and continue wo do so exponentially. The constants on our abiliry ro manipulate information are purely technics, not cog- nitive ointllectul—meaning tat the relationship becween wha we can gather, and whar we can know as 2 result of what we gates, largely uncoupled. Put another way, we now have unprecedenced ae- cess to vast quantities of information with a few keystrokes, buc what ‘we know asa consequence ofthis capabilgy is another mater, Now think about “knowledge” as information “acquired by an in- dividual through experience or education” and “the theoretical oF practical understanding of 2 subject.”’ Knowledge in other words, information plus meaning, where meaning is acquired through exper cnceo education. Since meaning making isa habia haran ace bad nor just something that happens in organized education, knowledge {sbeing created ll the time through the interaction of human beings ‘with their environments ‘Next, lets add “leaning” Learing might be best described asthe proces by which information becomes knowledge. Thais, che world is fall of information emanating from multiple sources, much more than anyone can process ar any given time. To convert information into knowledge, human beings have to choote among competing sources, focus their attention’ on those sources, and construct their learning from chose sources, Learning isan activity with its own special charac- ters and skills, informed by experience, dispositions, and incre. Finally, imagine a world in which che amoune of information that is accessible wo individuals i, as nove ease, large and increasing ex- ponentially. In cis wood, there i a ser of insttuions—schools and their artendane complex governance structures—chat purports (0, in some way, coneel acces 0 this information chrough organized laen- ing, One Function of his insiusional seruceure sw auchoritaively say‘what conse knowledge, andi does o with an elaborate regime of cuticulum sandards, ests, and acouncbilty measuzes. Think ofthis insturionl structure as a portal That i. a, inorder fr informe ‘ion to hecome knowledge through leatning, i must fst pas through this portal of legal definitions and constrains and thea be converted through the intervention of adalschazged with delivering knowledge to seudens, At each level, the sytem applis seis of flers—nan- dards, tess, age-gade structures, and curricula, nt © mention the knowledge and sll of educator at cach level and their understanding cf wha offically consis knowiedse. As the sheer volume of information increates, che poral aztociaed ‘with formal schooling begins co look increasingly cestcive and, ina sword of ect acces tofnformation, increasingly dysfunctional, Whae qualifies as “oficial” knowledge looks old-ishioned in an age when ‘here ate many posible poral for access wo information and maay possible ways to actach meaning © that information through the pro- cess of earning. Spatial constraints on learning —finding fellow laxn- cso engage with, enlsing teachers, gaining access to divergent points of view—are no longer as important as they were whea schools were the primary portal for turing information into knowledge. The asx thority of people who workin the esablshed insitions of schooling becomes increasingly tenuous. When learning spreads oxt ino social nerworks, the role of teacher takes many forms only one of which sides in che insituion of school. And the system's ability to monopel ‘caly define wha constitutes knowledge srlarly begins a erode. The system can use its egulatory authority wo “eet” cereain providers as legitimate and certain bodies oF knowledge a8 auchoiative. Ie an also specify where people mas spend ther ime during daylight hours nc they ae sixteen yeas old, But it canaot prevent people from making ‘heir own decisions about what and where they wl gre. Our curren—ineflent—system depends on poral tha is in- creasingly smal elaive othe vast amount of informacion itis eying to accommodae, Because the system operates on principles of auhor- tative contol over both the “what” and che “how” of leaning (rather than individual choice), and is based on physical srucrues in fied locations (rather than social newworks), i cannot adequately handle learning thats noe similaely constrained. Ie will no ake long for peo- ple wo discover that learning occurs much more eficiendy in what Su- {gata Miera has called “selEonganising” systems characterized by the property of “emergence,” or the abiley ro morph int seructutes that ‘were not planned in the original design bur develop ro meee the needs of learners inthe system, “Education,” he argues, is bese thought of as self-organizing sytem where learning is an emergene phenomenon”? In chis environment, a fixed structure with a small portal will ether change radically or collapse. Tes important to understand that there is nothing necessarily “bee ter” about cis environment than the one we curtenly wosk in. There ismo guarantee that selForganizing systems will be more responsive t9 individual learning differences than the schools we have, nor is there any guarantee chat these systems will improve the overall cognitive per formance of American seudents. Our arguments about the challenges posed by he shifting relationship beeween information learning and knowledge in a world in which ths relationship i largely determined by inscutons cht ignore or actively oppose such a shift. These ine sitions will have opportunities to shape and design with intention emerging learning environments, but ro exercise influence they must fase ecognize the contours ofthe modern woeld, In addition co posing problems for che education secos, the growth of information radically changes the definition of karning, In a world in which the institutions of schooling determine what knowledge is learning itself is relatively easy to define: eis the accumulation of au- thoritative knowledge, and demonstrated competence in recall and application ofthat knowledge. The growth of information, however, redefines learning, When the volume of posible information applica- ble eo human problem solving is vast, and the portals available for ac- cessing chat information are numerous, learning becomes mastering