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The tradition classroom is changing. People have ever increasing demands on their time. Finding new ways to deliver a traditional education is a growth area for innovation in education.
Textbooks are continuing (and need to continue) to move into electronic formats and to digital device usage by faculty and students–such as Kindle and Sony Reader or Kindle for PC, etc.
It appears as if both of you are in agreement that the mode of delivery is the key place for innovation. I definitely agree that the mode of deliver will be extremely important. However, I believe strongly that access is only the first phase of the education revolution and that a second phase will include a combination of access and quality in terms of the level and types of educational opportunities that are afforded using these new methods.I believe that the area of remediation for the large number of students who are currently not able to obtain a high school diploma holds promise. In addition, there will also be opportunities in regard to those who are seeking a post-secondary education but who do not have the necessary skills to do so. A third area that ties in to both your idea of service delivery and the idea of access to content is the need for providing new methods and also increased access to quality curriculum (at an affordable price) for those who are choosing to home school their children. Delivery methods in the form of on-line programming has already made more diverse resources available to parents. However, there is is need for these parents to receive more and better options for receiving a standardized curriculum that can ensure that they are meeting quality indicators as highlighted by colleges and universities.
All of this being said, I think that access to digital is one way to deliver content while improving quality. Delivery of textbooks using this medium will definitely save schools money, time and resources. However, if we can also deliver varied types of content in more updated and non-traditional ways using digital media then that takes it one step further. With this in mind, I believe that the digitizing of actual teaching in such a way as to tie in immediate feedback in the form of assessments is the next big wave. While I do believe that there is no replacement for a real life human being, the fact of the matter is that schools currently teach to the middle leaving many students fall behind. This lends itself to remediation as being the area where opportunity exists. After that we can begin to look at challenging those that are on the high end although I am noticing that these students are gaining greater access to distance learning courses offered by colleges and universities (and only time will tell if that fills this area of need). Regardless, we will need to think outside the box to provide digital teaching opportunities.
Any thoughts?