Memorization is a skill that is valuable in itself. What are needed most in the “information storm” are concentration skills, strategies for remembering why you began the research, and making meaning out of what you find there. It is possible for thoughtful adults to lead students in acquiring these skills (and perhaps de-acquiring counterproductive ones) by providing a disciplined environment, where such things as work habits and character and clarity of thought are understood as the armature of the curriculum. It is true that education needs to become more student directed, more relevant and more interesting, and that ICT can help transform the “system” to bring this about. But the idea suggested above (“we don’t have to memorize anything because you can get it all on Google”) is an oversimplification. If your child’s teacher asks him/her to memorize the date of an important battle, I would suggest helping her do just that. It doesn’t actually hurt the brain. And certain key memorization lists (latin cognates for English, times tables, etc.) form a very useful and applicable core for learning in any age.

I agree very much with the general point about individualization, and the reflection above that Internet sources and tools offer a disruptive (and beneficial) trend against the fixed curriculum, a kind of democratization of learning. I am looking for practical ICT-based strategies to help these changes happen in real ways for today’s students… (always looking for screws to loosen in the system.) For me, it’s been very helpful to avoid radicalized positions (Google= no need to remember anything) and to stress the practical applications of the new tools so that traditional people (who provide our funding) can understand the benefits and challenges without it sounding like the Pied Piper offering to get rid of their rats.