"If we did not have the schools we have today, would we create the schools we have today?"

This is the title of a paper by Thomas Carroll of the U.S. Department of Education U.S., published in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education. He argues that technology allows us to move away from what he calls the "the factory-era teaching and learning model ... in which information flows one way from the teacher to individual students, who are expected to learn independently from each other." ” He argues that we replace the transmissionn model with the "Expert Learner" model. The model, which looks like this,puts everyone in the roll of learner. The teacher is an "expert learner" who models investigation, collaboration and critical thought. This model has no borders because in a networked world, anyone can be a learner and source of expertise. Faculty at another college, a local business person or artist, a farmer on the other side of the world... anyone can participate in this learning community. To adopt this model, we would have to be intimately connected with all of our stakeholders to know their needs and resources.