Educating the Knowledge Society

The knowledge society we have entered differs greatly from the industrial society we leave behind. In the industrial society the principal resource was energy, and its tools were artifacts such as forklifts, cranes, trucks, trains, automobiles, and airplanes. It allowed us to extend the human body.

In the knowledge society, the principal resource is information. As has often been noted, information is a special kind of resource. It can be weightless, invisible, and in many different places at once. The knowledge society is driven by the creation, storage, delivery, manipulation and transformation of information.

The principal characteristic of the knowledge society is that it allows us to dramatically extend the human mind by, among other things, introducing a new model for learning. The extension of the human mind combined with the ability to extend the human body has resulted in a new reality in which, excluding religion and acts of nature, the human mind is now the most powerful force on the planet.

Education is at the center of the knowledge society. Education is a process by which information becomes meaningful; information without meaning is useless. Education converts information into knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Education is the loom through which information is woven into value systems, dignity, self-worth, freedom, and into civilization itself.

For more exploration of this topic, visit educause.org and download Rethinking Teaching for the Knowledge Society (pdf.)