School 2.0: Rethinking the Future of Schools in the Digital Age

Despite all of the talk of technology transforming organizations and institutions, it could be argued that the organizations and institutions that relate to education have displayed less obvious evidence of change over the last few decades than those in other areas of society. In particular, many people would argue that a slow pace of change is especially evident with the “traditional” institutions of education – not least the school. In this chapter, we shall consider the significance of educational institutions in contemporary education. How can educational institutions such as the school be said to be coping with the demands of digital technology? Is there a continued need for formal institutions in education? Does digital technology in fact render the educational institution obsolete? In addressing these questions, we need to consider all of the formal and informal elements of “the school” – in other words, we need to approach schools and digital technology both in terms of structure and in terms of process. For example, with regard to defining the “structure” of schools, most people would think of the material aspects of schools as places – i.e., their buildings, corridors, and classrooms. Yet schools are based around a range of social and cultural structures – including the hierarchical roles that people assume within the school organization, the hierarchies of knowledge that constitutes the school curriculum, and the organization of time that constitutes the school time table. All of these structures – although often outof-sight and rarely talked about – are integral elements of the organization of schools and schooling. Similarly, with regard to the “processes” of schooling most people would immediately think of explicit processes such as teaching, learning, communication, and decision-making. However, schooling should also be seen as involving