Future Ready Learning

1. Learning
Engaging and Empowering Learning Through Technology
GOAL: All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences
in both formal and informal settings that prepare them to be active, creative,
knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally connected society.
To be successful in our daily lives and in a global workforce, Americans need
pathways to acquire expertise and form meaningful connections to peers and
mentors. This journey begins with a base of knowledge and abilities that can be
augmented and enhanced throughout our lives. Fortunately, advances in learning
sciences have provided new insights into how people learn. 1 Technology can be a
powerful tool to reimagine learning experiences on the basis of those insights.
Historically, a learner’s educational opportunities have been limited by the
resources found within the walls of a school. Technology-enabled learning allows
learners to tap resources and expertise anywhere in the world, starting with their
own communities. For example:
• With high-speed Internet access, a student interested in learning computer
science can take the course online in a school that lacks the budget or a
faculty member with the appropriate skills to teach the course.
• Learners struggling with planning for college and careers can access
high-quality online mentoring and advising programs where resources or
geography present challenges to obtaining sufficient face-to-face mentoring.
• With mobile data collection tools and online collaboration platforms,
students in a remote geographic area studying local phenomena can collaborate
with peers doing similar work anywhere in the world.
• A school with connectivity but without robust science facilities can offer its
students virtual chemistry, biology, anatomy, and physics labs—offering students
learning experiences that approach those of peers with better resources.
• Students engaged in creative writing, music, or media production can
publish their work to a broad global audience regardless of where they
go to school.
• Technology-enabled learning environments allow less experienced learners
to access and participate in specialized communities of practice, graduating
to more complex activities and deeper participation as they gain the experience
needed to become expert members of the community. 2
These opportunities expand growth possibilities for all students while affording
historically disadvantaged students greater equity of access to high-quality learning
materials, expertise, personalized learning, and tools for planning for future
education. 3,4 Such opportunities also can support increased capacity for educators
PERSONALIZED
LEARNING
Personalized learning refers to
instruction in which the pace of
learning and the instructional
approach are optimized for
the needs of each learner.
Learning objectives, instructional
approaches, and instructional
content (and its sequencing) all
may vary based on learner needs.
In addition, learning activities
are meaningful and relevant to
learners, driven by their interests,
and often self-initiated.
OFFICE OF Educational Technology
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