A great blog, Paleo-Future, has emerged over the past couple months. The site provides “a look into the future that never was” –often for good reason. Here’s one: Bill Gates’ vision of the future classroom. Matt writes: The paleo-future of 1995 is filled with ethnically diverse students academically engaged by the high-tech presentations of their [...]

Google hosts a “Gapminder” tool that uses Flash technology to turn otherwise tedious or boring data into readable, interactive animations. Gapminder is a foundation based in Stockholm, Sweden. Funding has been mainly by grants from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and the data presented are gathered in collaboration with the United Nations Statistic Division. [...]

At yesterday’s Horizon Forum meeting, Chris Dede delivered a presentation via Skype on using multiple-user virtual environments in educational contexts. These environments, he argues, allows students to co-design and co-instruct their own educational experiences, allowing for guided social constructivism and learning that goes beyond what traditional schools try to accomplish through test-based assessments. Scott McLeod [...]

Last Friday, 26 leaders from Minnesota’s PreK-17 spectrum gathered for the second meeting of the Horizon Forum. Dr. Tom Tapper, superintendent of Owatonna Public Schools, presented a compelling argument that public education is nearing obsolescence. He states: Today, the system of public education has a choice: it either leads change, or is led by it. [...]

Time for shameless self-promotion! The StarTribune is running an article on the future of the Minnesota State Fair, which contains input from Arthur Harkins and myself. From the article: “The State Fair has traditionally been a showcase, but in the future, we see it becoming much more of a collaborative, idea- and product-generating place,” said [...]