3 Big Shifts That Our Schools Need to Make
(from http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2013/09/3-big-shifts.html)

1. From Low-Level Thinking to High-Level Thinking. From an overwhelming emphasis on students doing lower-level thinking tasks (factual recall, procedural regurgitation) to students more often engaging in tasks of greater cognitive complexity (creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, effective communication).
2. From Analog to Digital. From local classrooms that are largely based on pens/pencils, notebook paper, ring binders, and printed textbooks to local and global learning spaces that are deeply and richly technology-infused (devices + Internet).
3. From Teacher-Directed to Student-Directed. From classrooms that are overwhelmingly teacher-controlled to learning environments that enable greater student agency (ownership and control of what, how, when, where, who with, and why they learn).

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8 Building Blocks for the Future of Schools
(from http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2013/08/7-building-blocks-for-the-future-of-schools.html)

1. Project- and inquiry-based learning environments that emphasize greater student agency and active application of more cognitively-complex thinking, communication, and collaboration skills.
2. Simulations and problem-based learning experiences that foster students’ ability to engage in authentic, real-world work.
3. Competency-based education and standards-based grading efforts that shift the focus from seat time to learning mastery.
4. 1:1 computing initiatives (and concurrent Internet bandwidth upgrades) that give students powerful digital learning devices and access to the world’s information, individuals, and organizations.
5. The expansion of digital and online (and often open access) information resources that increase the availability of higher and deeper learning opportunities.
6. Online communities of interest that supplement and augment more-traditional learning communities that are limited by geography and time.
7. Adaptive software and data systems (and accompanying organizational models) that can facilitate greater individualization of learning content and pace.
8. Alternative credentialing mechanisms that enable individuals to quickly reskill for and adapt to rapidly-evolving workforce needs and economic demands.

Guiding Questions for Moving Forward
(from http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2012/09/what-should-be-my-our-guiding-questions.html)

1. What can we do to increase the cognitive complexity of students’ day-to-day work so that they are more often doing deeper thinking and learning work?
2. What can we do to better incorporate digital technologies into students’ deeper thinking and learning work in ways that are authentic, relevant, meaningful, and powerful?
3. What can we do to give students more agency and ownership of what they learn, when they learn, how they learn, and how they show what they’ve learned?
4. What can we do to better recognize and assess when students’ deeper thinking and learning work is (or isn’t) occurring?
5. What can we do to build the internal capacity of both individual educators and school systems to be better learners and faster change agents?
6. As we move toward more cognitively-complex, technology-suffused learning environments, how do we bring educators, board members, parents, communities, policymakers, and higher education along with us?
7. As we move toward more cognitively-complex, technology-suffused learning environments, how do we ensure that traditionally-underserved student and family populations aren’t further disadvantaged?
8. As we move toward more cognitively-complex, technology-suffused learning environments, what individual and societal mindsets – and local, state, and federal policy supports and/or barriers – need reconsideration?
9. How do we balance competing (often unproductive) demands from other fronts so that we can do this important work?