Just as we are undoubtedly on the brink of new understandings about learning, so too are we on the brink of radical developments in technology which are so fundamental that they hold the power to alter, not merely our education system, but also our work and our culture. At its roots, however, this technological revolution puts learning and conventional education systems on a collision course. This is a radical agenda. It has to be. Fresh thinking is needed, unconstrained by conventional assumptions and institutional priorities.
Political polarisation has to be avoided.
This is serious stuff. The new disciplines, such as Neurology and Evolutionary Psychology, are developing so rapidly, and with a language quite unfamiliar to non-scientists, that so far there is little dialogue between the old and new disciplines. An old structure for decision-making is thus constraining the formulation of new ideas. A new 'Model of Learning' is going through a particularly difficult and painful birth process. Eventually it will show how a more dynamic and flexible framework, unconstrained by many of the current regulations which simply extend the life of an already outdated system, can draw upon these new understandings of learning, and build on all the new technological and community opportunities.