With the tidal wave of digital media and technology crashing over schools and teachers it is a little disconcerting that so many of those teachers in American classrooms haven't been taught how to teach effectively with digital media or how participatory learning design should be organized and effectively assessed. In short, how do we assist teachers' transition from being the "Sage on the Stage" to a "Ringmaster" that facilitates learning experiences for students?

The reality has very real consequences for digital device purchases, lesson design, integration of core courses within the learning experience, and the real way to assess both subjective as well as objective learning effectively. It indeed produces many challenges for public education and those who work within those institutions committed to providing relevant 21st century learning experiences using digital media and participatory expectations for all students.

Project based learning is truly an effective way to show course integration, real world relevance, and the use of digital media to research information pertinent to helping solve the problem presented. It can be used to defend or attack a concept or a political position by debating both the merits and the problems associated with said concept or position. In either instance, the teacher is the facilitator of learning rather than the sole provider of knowledge. This is a fundamental change that does have real consequences for teacher preparation and course design.

We must help our instructional staff with staff development that will help them facilitate these learning experiences at different levels of complexity to ensure all students are stretched and all students participate. They need scoring rubrics that help assess student engagement and participation that can be quantified. This is a shift from passive learning to participatory learning and the lesson objectives become much more about the planning of the learning experience rather than teacher preparation to ensure knowledge of the material they would deliver through lecture. This change is massive and administrators can't underestimate the challenge this represents for today's classroom teachers. We simply must understand that the staff presently in our classrooms haven't been taught how to teach this way through traditional university programs. However, our public and constituency are rapidly expecting this transition to happen as soon as possible to match the public's personal use of all things digital. The hidebound staid institution we call the education establishment will not get a pass from its public if we refuse to buy-in to this reality. Inertia is often palpable within the education establishment and traditionally, it is locked in place within most classrooms. The digital revolution will provide the outside force to education's locked inertia to get it moving toward participatory learning and integrated instruction.

Public schools must show real world relevance in how we teach using skills that must be developed so our graduates will have the necessary qualities that will help them succeed. All form of lecture won't and shouldn't disappear, but the 21st Century classroom must be more about participatory learning rather than passive learning. That will require our teaching staff to be facilitators rather than great sages leading our classrooms and their greatest challenge will be in lesson design and management of learning experiences rather than simply relaying or regurgitating information. Let's hope this transition will produce the engagement in learning that participation brings with both relevance and integration to show real world application to produce greater customer satisfaction and preparation for success demanded by the 21st Century!