Back in 2001, Marc Prensky stated:

the single biggest problem facing education today is that our digital immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. [1]

The current book addresses this problem by providing solutions and case studies.

For the sake of putting things in context, here is some information about Couch. He joined Hewlett Packard, in 1972, as a programmer and software manager. He then got hired by Steve Jobs as employee 54 at Apple. He has been involved in technology and education for over five decades. This experience made him a witness to the changes in the digital world and its impact on how new generations of “digital natives” learn. Couch emphasizes the role of leaders in the design and implementation of a new educational system that keeps pace with change, rather than applying custom patches here and there.

Chapter 1 highlights the fact that technology is no longer considered accessory, but rather a core part of the learning environment. The text reads like a story, including an excellent analysis of how education has changed over the last two centuries. The book discusses the emergence of Taylorism in education--among many systems and theories--at the beginning of the 20th century.

The author lays down the foundations of the future of education, including motivation, collaborative learning, learning styles, and learning spaces, respectively, in chapters 2 through 6.

Chapter 7 discusses the main challenges in dragging our current educational system into the digital age. A whole chapter (8) is dedicated to challenge-based learning (CBL) as a better way of acquiring practical knowledge and developing problem-solving skills among students.

[CBL] provides an efficient and effective framework for learning while solving real-world challenges. The framework is collaborative and hands-on, asking all participants (students, teachers, families, and community members) to identify big ideas, ask good questions, discover and solve challenges, gain in-depth subject area knowledge, develop 21st century skills, and share their thoughts with the world. [2]

Chapter 9 presents some examples of expanding digital education access to poor and remote regions. Once the latter is ensured, the teaching style the author advocates is learning by doing (chapter 10).

Chapter 11 discusses the role of coding in learning. Chapter 12 investigates the role of technology and psychology in removing the unhealthy burdens placed on teachers. The aim is a 1:1 teacher-to-student personalized learning environment.

Chapter 13 details two different models for successfully incorporating technology into teaching and learning: technological pedagogical content knowledge (TCPK) and substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition (SAMR) [3].

Chapter 14 presents the idea of transformative learning by encouraging the use of artificial intelligence to provide adaptive learning to students. In chapter 15, the author enumerates some existing technologies that might prove to be useful in the future of education. Such technologies include augmented reality and holograms.

The book is very informative and easy to read. What makes the arguments convincing is the involvement of the author in several educational projects. Thus, his ideas and suggestions are based on real evidence and practical experience. The historical information is of great value as many lessons can be learned from it. I highly recommend Rewiring education to anyone in education, either teacher or leader, wishing to successfully drag the traditional teaching and learning system into the future.

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