Today, I had reason and opportunity to dig deeper into GPEE – the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. As I was digging, I took time to explore Dr. Jason B. Huett’s keynote at GPEE’s recent August 2012 event. Dr. Huett is the Associate Dean of Online Development at University of West Georgia.
During Dr. Huett’s presentation, he highlights five themes in educational change and ten catalysts for these shifts.
5 Themes in Educational Change from Dr. Jason B. Huett
- Education will be more technology-advanced.
- Education will be more accessible.
- Education will be more flexible.
- Education will be more social.
- Education will be more affordable.
10 Catalysts for Educational Change from Dr. Jason B. Huett
- Loss of information control.
- Promise of open education.
- Rise of apps culture, cloud, and wireless.
- Bye bye books.
- Coming of brick and clicks.
- Rise of the competition.
- Buyer’s market.
- Time as the new variable.
- Power of collaboration.
- New world of work.
Dr. Huett’s talk is very much worth the listen. He puts very interesting flesh on the 15 interconnected bones listed above. In the embedded video below, his speech begins at 18:05.
it's about learning 
There are a few things I believe I can say with confidence about the future direction of education. Education will be more technology-enhanced, accessible, flexible, and social – and education will have to be more affordable. We cannot address these changes by retreating into polarized camps in the online vs. F2F debate. Extreme positions invite resistance. Resistance leads to gridlock (US Congress, anyone?). Gridlock is not an option if we are to reform our educational system.