The true craft of teaching occurs when educators integrate new tools and strategies with their existing approach to enhance student learning. When it comes to digital tools teachers want a research based system that uses multiple measures to meet district requirements, meets students where they are, and brings everything together into one powerful tool. Integration of technology in schools has progressed exponentially over the past ten years. The problem is that teachers have invested too much time learning multiple systems that fail to meet meet a broad range of unique requirements on their own. They're looking for a comprehensive - centralized approach that makes teaching and learning exponential. The future of teaching and learning is here, but current applications are not meeting the needs of education. According to Stephen Laster, "The Future of Education isn't Free. It's Open."21st century students and teachers must learn to navigate, validate, and create using cutting edge tools. The sheer number of education related web applications is overwhelming, and there's simply not enough time for teachers to manage everything that must be done for students, while still finding time to learn system after system and application after application. Educators want a flexible, comprehensive tool that is easy to navigate, and meets all of their needs. A clearly defined set of technology standards are being created to achieve that goal, and InfusionMatrix (IM) is being developed to meet the open standards.The transition from fact based learning and standardized testing to a more open, real world approach requires a mental shift away from traditional grades and percentages, to a more comprehensive personalized learning profile. IM has created a system developed to be flexible and connected to the open standards. The Personalized Learning Network (PLN) is designed to meet students where they are, while utilizing data exchanged across multiple digital platforms. It's a tool designed to meet interoperability standards that will, "empower teachers with new insights and new understanding that maximizes students' abilities." IM has been designed to facilitate connections between digital learning tools that allow it to, "work well within a larger ecosystem designed by educators to promote student success."Until someone has tried to teach a group of 14 year olds who'd rather be anyplace other than school - they probably don't fully understand the massive amount of energy it takes to teach well. As society transitions to new ways of teaching, learning, and creating via digital tools, our education system is struggling to keep up. Open learning standards allow digital tools to communicate, and integration of these tools will empower educators to begin the difficult transition from standardized testing - to real world - skill based outcomes. In the words of Mr. Laster, "By committing to a more open, collaborative future, we can accomplish our goals by putting students and educators in a better position to achieve theirs." This has been our vision from the very beginning, and InfusionMatrix is proud to announce - The Future is Now!
