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Imagine a future where all students
are confident in approaching the unknown,
armed with the ability to explore and
the desire to constantly learn...

Imagine a future where teachers
have the time to work with students as individuals,
where planning and sharing curricula
with colleagues is easy and frequent...

Imagine a future where all parents
are working in close partnership with teachers,
and the home is so closely linked to the classroom that it becomes
one seamless learning environment...

Imagine a future where all administrators
manage efficiently and communicate effectively,
providing teachers, students, and parents with the leadership
needed for an always-improving
learning environment...

Imagine a school without boundaries...

I found this recently while cleaning up my "archives". It was a proposed vision statement I wrote in 1998 for a school district struggling to make update their technology plan. It was only two years after "Net Day" (1996), when bands of tech volunteers rallied to "wire the schools" across the US. Standalone computer labs were getting connected to the internet - an internet that was only a ghost of what it is today, almost quaint by comparison.

I am struck by how many new technologies exist today, making more of this vision possible. In 1998 there was no Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Websites were static pages, and massive collaborative efforts like Wikipedia had yet to appear. Regardless, the possibilities for education were so real they were palatable - in fact, many schools were already taking advantage of a decade's worth of experience with early classroom computers. The excitement propelled us forward.

Fast forward to today. Eleven years later, broadband permeates homes in developing countries, changing the way we perceive the internet. Now that we no longer have to wait for the squawk of a modem, our "always on" connections invite constant use. The high speed itself has propelled us past a text-only world to video on demand, video chat, and a host of other applications that carry more bytes in a second than we had hard-disk space. Now with 3G wireless networks, the world is literally at our fingertips.

But what can we say about this vision for our schools? While we clearly have yet to see this vision come true for ALL students, even within developed countries, a lot of what was imagined in 1998 is now possible - in ways we could not have imagined.

You don't have to look hard to find students who "... are confident in approaching the unknown, armed with the ability to explore..." Many of today's students think nothing of combing the internet for information or emailing an expert in order to find out something that's important to them.

Search within Twitter for #edtech or #edchat, or any one of many NINGs or curriculum portals and you'll find teachers who are "...planning and sharing curricula with colleagues..." In fact, the idea of "colleagues" can now expand to a global "personal learning network" made possible by new collaboration tools and open education resources.

Classroom websites, web-based course management systems, and student portals can help ensure that "...the home is so closely linked to the classroom that it becomes one seamless learning environment...", though governments have yet to adequately address the inequities of access.

With the exploding opportunity for online learning and ubiquitous mobile access to a world full of information and connections to people, the phrase "...schools without boundaries..." almost sounds quaint. Thankfully, committed educators continue to find exciting and creative ways to use technology to engage their students in meaningful, authentic learning experiences, like so many of the HP grant recipients who are "re-imagining the classroom".

It has been many years since my modem stopped squawking. What a decade it has been.

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Worldwide Education Programs
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard
Twitter @jgvanides

For information about the HP Global Social Investments, visit www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants