For the past thirty years or so, there has been a wave of interest, training and investment in the promise that technology will change education, just as it has changed almost every part of our lives.

If you think about schools today with their iPads, interactive white boards, Edmodo and other learning management systems as well as online parent portals for grades and communication, there is no doubt that technology has played a vital role in how teaching, learning and communicating take place in schools.

Perhaps the bigger question is,  has technology been disruptive?  Has in changed the playing field for all?  Has it really improved the real bottom line- learning?

In his book The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future, Steve Case, lays out what he believes will be the future of technology, what he calls “the third wave.” Case is a serial entrepreneur, best known for founding America Online, which at its peak handled nearly half of all U.S. internet traffic.  As a visionary, White House initiative leader and start-up accelerator, he is in a unique position to understand not only where technology has been, but where it is going.

According to Case, the first wave of technology was building the infrastructure.  Those of us who have been in schools for a while, remember the and the wiring, electricity, and telephone lines that had to be built in order to create computer labs, followed by broad band capabilities that high speed internet demands.  Finding the funding to buy computers and software was also a part of the first wave of technology.

The second wave, which began around the year 2000, was about building the internet.  This involved creating programs for the internet.  Think Google, Amazon, ebay and social media platforms as well as all of the productivity and learning applications.  In the second wave, software was the focus.  The apps we use in education, the games, the communication tools, and the learning management systems are part of the second wave.

Today, we are starting the third wave, which Case calls, “the Internet of Everything.”  This is the era, Case maintains, that will challenge and reimagine everything, how we learn, how we heal, how we manage our finances, and even what we eat.  Every industry is at risk of being disrupted- and education is at the top of the list.

We are starting to see signs of this disruption already. One of the biggest publishing companies for teachers is now Teachers Pay Teachers, where teachers sell their materials and lesson plans to others. It is disrupting the tradition formats- those where teachers and districts buy materials from traditional publishing companies.

Other examples include focus on more personal and individualized learning, programs that adapt for individual student needs and are evaluated through data. Think of programs like Lexia or ST Math.  Teachers will get data in real time, not months after a standardized test, which will allow for immediate short, targeted interventions. In the future, Case says, the measure of a successful school might be in the number of minutes of individual teacher time students receive.  Standardized test data will not be as important as individual student learning reports which are regularly generated and show a wide range of metrics. These reports have the ability to show progress and specific skill attainment both in the present and over time.

Technology has the power to disrupt education.  Look at the success of the Kahn Academy, which brings virtual tutors to millions.  Online classes in a multitude of content subjects are springing up everywhere.  You can take a college class, learn to run a stock portfolio, learn how to make amazing cupcakes, or learn how to raise pygmy goats at the touch of a button.  Home school and unschooling networks have become vast and powerful as more and more people opt out of traditional education. This disruption means that institutions will no longer be the only owners or dispensers of knowledge.

Third wave technology, Case, suggests, has the ability to change education as it helps answer questions we’ve never been able to answer, to explain patterns we have never before seen, and to solve problems we didn’t even know we had.  Change can happen more quickly through the ability to run low cost experiments, look at the data, and accept or reject new programs, plans or materials.

The third wave of education will not only focus on content, but also on context and community.  Students learn from each other, and communities need to foster sharing and exploring of ideas.  We need teachers who can present content, but also those who can build powerful learning communities.  That is what we are trying to do here with Thriving Young Teachers.

In the first wave of technology, there was too much focus on technology.  In the second wave, there was too much focus on content.

In the third wave of technology, we will combine content with community. It is this combination, Case believes, that  will usher in the revolution that has been talked about for decades, but has yet to become reality.

What do you think?  Do you see technology disrupting the way we teach and learn?  We’d love to hear your examples!