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Educators need your help to bridge the classroom with the knowledge-based society that we live in today.

Where students live in a world that is constantly evolving, they are taught in a way that largely ignores this evolution. Battle lines have been drawn between educators and students where restrictions are applied to minimize reliance on technology within schools and reduce the risk of plagerism.

Like most reactive initiatives, this may not work because the technological evolution cannot be stopped. Educators have to enbrace technology to match the needs of their students. The difficulty and opportunity lies in how this bridge will occur.

To demonstrate the disconnect, compare a student’s classroom experience to the experience outside of the classroom.

Each school day starts early from Monday to Friday most weeks. Students are expected to be in class by the time the bell rings, with teachers often stopping tardy students from getting into class without a note from their guardians, or a permit from the office.

Students are expected to learn by taking notes while the teacher speaks, answering questions posed by the teacher, asking the teacher questions, transcribing notes written on the board, reading the assigned textbook, performing external research and, basically, doing the same things that students have done in school for the past century.

Students are discouraged from using electronic devices beyond calculators in school. The exception is technology provided by the school. Often times, school computers have restricted access to the Internet, and have limited multimedia capabilities.

Students leave class in set intervals then have a few minutes to get to their next class before the ritual repeats.

With their wireless devices, students can communicate via email, SMS, IM and phone, browse the web, record and view images and videos, listen to music, record sound, get directions and map locations, review notes, and coordinate activities.

At home they can go the extra mile with broadband Internet access combined with television, telephone, audio, video and gaming systems.

Why open a book when almost everything can be found in electronic form? If an essay has to be written, it seems senseless to go the library when far more information can be found on the Internet. If a problem has to be solved, social networking and the Internet are always available. The world has gone digital and students have embraced it.

The solution to this disconnect is yours to help find. Technology is here to stay so the solution must center on bridging technology with education. Wireless technology will play a large role in education, but what that role will be has still to be determined.

Richard Evers