I’ve been doing a series of commentaries for WYPR, the NPR station in Baltimore. You can read the first post below, or listen here 

Technology is only one of the many factors that has changed the starting point for educators. Technology has changed our relationship with knowledge, but has also created a new learning economy where most of the information you need for the jobs of the future is unknown. 

Education has always been about critical thinking, but now that most of the content we are teaching is also available online for free, and much of what students need to learn is still being discovered, we need to shift the balance between process and content. In this new learning economy, graduates who are truly self-regulated learners will have a huge advantage. Good teaching has always been about making yourself obsolete, but new technology makes it clear that the best schools and teachers are the ones whose students can learn new things on their own. 

We are confused about what it means to be smart, we are so confused, we call it a “smart” phone. But despite its access to so much content, your phone isn’t smart. Smart is not about how much you know, but how much you can learn. Smart is the ability to change your mind. In a new economy, where new jobs are being invented every day, requiring new skills, and using new knowledge, we need more self-regulated learners—college graduates who are able to learn new things, reflect and change their minds to adapt to new situations and new information. Learn to change your mind.