Tomorrow. It's Only (About) A Day Away.

Now I know there are 24 hours in a day, but lately it seems that Tomorrow gets here a little sooner than usual. As if its clock is running a tad fast.

In education, this is especially relevant when it comes to technology. The prevailing viewpoint is that developing technology related skills is essential to the future of our children. And generally, this is true.

But what lies ahead is never clear. The future cannot be predicted with precision. It really isn't a distant point on the horizon, like Venus shining brilliantly just before sunset and rising predictably into the darkening sky. The future is more like Venus shaking off its gravitational orbit and visiting another planet or beginning a rapid descent on Earth.

At best, we can blindly guess or hypothesize what skills are needed in the years ahead. And while it is important to be mindful of these possibilities, I think we can do better for our students today. But we have to start today.

One line from the updated version of the widely popular Did You Know video reads: "The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010, did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing our students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't know are problems yet.



We must prepare students for the road ahead, by making them literate and proficient with the technology tools and resources that are available today and giving them a vision and skill set that can be used to shape their future, even from an early age. But to achieve this educators must take a serious look at how technology can improve our teaching and learning experiences.

We must give students the opportunities to research and collaborate online, evaluate the content readily available on the web, and teach young people to appreciate or respectfully cope with the diversity of opinions, experiences, and needs for using a communications tool as powerful as the Internet. If we can prepare our children for the many needs of today's digitally driven world, then we give them a leg up on the challenges that are yet to cross their paths in the future.

In absence of adult leadership, many children are already discovering the possibilities of the Internet on their own. But unfortunately without the guidance of responsible adults, they are making up rules that serve to enable their creative work, but disregard obligations to their global village. We must teach our children well. And if we succeed, then they will become digital citizens who someday will stretch the creative and economic potential of technology.

As Yogi Berra once said, "The future ain't what it used to be."