This beautifully edited video, by Michael Wesch asks some rather pressing questions about the purpose and function of educational institutions. Wesch questions beyond the content of the knowledge being passed on. He questions the form of the educational institution itself.

I have had similar questions about the educational institutions in which I work. Are we meeting the needs of our students? Is the environment in which they are learning conducive to imparting the knowledge that they need? Is it relevant? David Buckingham explores this idea as well in Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture (Blackwell Publishing, 2003).

The classrooms of today would be easily recognizable to the pioneers of public education of the mid-nineteenth century; the ways in which teaching and learning are organized, the kinds of skills and knowledge that are valued in assessment, and a good deal of the actual curriculum content, have changed only superficially since that time. (Buckingham, 32-33)

There are so many possibilities, so many opportunities in these conversations. I would love to hear what you think. Please add your thoughts in the comments. What can we as educators do to better serve our students in this new environment? What do you think the educational institutions of the future will look like? How will any changes affect how students learn and how educators teach?