The future of education calls for the development of inquisitive and reflective learners and leaders.  What is truly important for our students to learn in the digital age? Students need to be able to not only retrieve credible content, but to understand the workings of this process. How do they filter the exorbitant amount of information that is available at their fingertips, any second of the day? We need to place emphasis on the development of focusing, analyzing, and synthesizing skills which will shift the perspective of all learners for future generations.

It is crucial for students to develop the skills necessary for intellectual navigation of technologies. Currently, they have the ability to physically navigate technologies, but very few have acquired the skills which allow them to critically utilize these resources. As technology is exponentially increasing and changing, this critical thought is becoming a necessity. Our students are inundated with information at a higher rate than ever. They need to be able to filter out unnecessary or invalid information and focus in on the task at hand.

Through the use of technology, we can creatively challenge students to analyze and synthesize information. Our focus in education has always been placed on higher order thinking skills, therefore we are familiar with the terms afore mentioned. But, what does this mean in the digital age? It means that we have the power to come to conclusions that we never imagined possible.  In order to reach our full potential, we must start integrating more experiences with analysis and synthesis through the medium of technology in our classrooms. I believe this will unlock even more possibilities for our global learning community than ever.