Guest commentary: The Atlantic's 'Project Classroom: Transforming Our Schools for the Future'

Rebecca J. Rosen is an associate editor at The Atlantic and spearhead's the publications "Project Classroom" feature. She recently used Duke professor Cathy Davidson's new book Now You See It, as a jumping off point to write about digital learning and the future of education.
"In 2003 the iPod was a relatively new gadget for listening to music. Billboard ads showed young people dancing, iPods in hand. Few people would have pinpointed this newfangled Walkman as a powerful teaching tool," Rosen writes.
"Cathy N. Davidson, a professor at Duke University, believes that classrooms aren't keeping up with the kids. She thought, what is the untapped educational potential of the iPod? She and her Duke colleagues worked with Apple to give every entering freshmen an iPod, and then they sat back and watched as students and teachers developed innovate and collaborative ways to incorporate iPods into their work: med students could listen to recordings of heart arrhythmia, music students could upload their compositions and get feedback from other students, environmental studies students interviewed families in a North Carolina community about lead paint in their town, and then shared their interviews online, for other students to download," Rosen continues.
"No one could have predicted all the ways the iPods enhanced learning once they were in the hands of students and teachers -- and that's a central point of Cathy Davidson's new book," Rosen adds.
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