Over the past two decades, the way we learn has
changed dramatically. We have new sources of information and new ways
to exchange and to interact with information. But our schools and the
way we teach have remained largely the same for years, even centuries.
What happens to traditional educational institutions when learning also
takes place on a vast range of Internet sites, from Pokemon Web pages
to Wikipedia? This report investigates how traditional learning
institutions can become as innovative, flexible, robust, and
collaborative as the best social networking sites. The authors propose
an alternative definition of “institution” as a “mobilizing
network”–emphasizing its flexibility, the permeability of its
boundaries, its interactive productivity, and its potential as a
catalyst for change–and explore the implications for higher education. —Davidson and Goldberg
The full PDF is available from the MIT Press website.