AIM for the SAME!

This special AIM Program issue focuses on trends, pressures, and evolutions shaping the future of education in all its forms, with particular consideration of the role of information technologies in creating that future.

The future of education; whether in public or private schools, colleges or universities, corporate training rooms, or other yet-to-be-imagined venues; is a vision dimly seen on an uncertain horizon.

Tectonic technological, social, economic, and political shifts, driven by the accelerating pace of information technology, globalization, and an evolving culture of knowledge, render already unstable futures largely unknowable.

Educational systems face even more immediate pressures arising from the increasing role of for-profit education providers, learner access to open content, and the growth of the "participation culture."

Change, even radical change, is unavoidable; tomorrow's education and training systems are not likely to resemble today's educational complex.

Whatever the future holds for education, information technologies will play a role. The creative use of information technology can enhance education processes, enabling educators to meet new challenges and reshape education's role in society. The technologies of education, and the use of technology in education, are both drivers of change and indicators of future directions.

Submissions for this special issue may address, but are not limited to, these key issues:

1. What does the "rise of the amateur" in media, music, and news industries suggest for education providers of the future?

2. What is the role of universities and colleges when the world's information is at the fingertips of learners, without the mediation of experts? Or when experts make those resources freely available through MIT's OpenCourseWare or Open University's OpenLearn?

3. Is a copyright system designed to protect physical objects; books, magazines, and journals; capable of serving the digital knowledge needs of the next generation?

4. How can technological tools be used by developed countries to assist emerging countries in educating their people?

5. How should governance and leadership be structured in educational institutions facing exponential change?

6. Are existing research agendas and methodologies capable of answering the knowledge needs of the next generation?

7. Do our existing theories of learning reflect how digital natives learn in the information age?

If you would like to submit a manuscript on this topic, please send it to the guest editor of this issue, George Siemans (gsiemens@elearnspace.org) and to me (jlm@nova.edu) no later than October 15, 2007.

Thanks!

Jim