I am just catching up on the past couple of weeks of #change11 content and listening to the audio of Tony Bates’ talk on “Managing technology to transform teaching.” His research and case studies on how this plays out in higher education institutions resonates deeply with my own experience — but not just across higher education.

At one point in his talk, Bates is discussing examples of technology use in academic settings.

“We see some instructors flipping the lectures. So they will record the lecture…and then ask the students to come in afterward. But that hasn’t really changed the model. What I would like to see is a rethinking of the curriculum so you work out very clearly why you need to be in front of the student and what students need to do on the campus that you count as really critical for their learning, and then design around that and do the rest online. That means thinking completely differently about it.”

This is exactly the idea behind the concept of gathering with purpose that I explored in an earlier post. And I am beginning to see the concept as key to driving change in the way we think about technology and learning. Why? One reason: It doesn’t drive an artificial wedge between “online” and face-to-face interactions. It simply forces us to think more deeply about what role each plays.