In the 21st century, the most perceptive educational thinkers recognize that something new is happening to learning. Models of providing an education that developed to meet the needs of students of the last two centuries, while not irrelevant, are increasingly being transformed and infiltrated by the introduction and integration of new tools and technologies, and novel approaches to work, many of which are now commonplace in business and consumer spheres. Blogging, wikis, twittering and Facebook, the widespread use of mobile devices like cell phones and other handhelds, the emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking to solve problems, and the “flattening” of the world of commerce are challenging the fundamental assumptions of what an education must provide to its young people in order for them to succeed or even cope in a complex world.

In addition to the way that technology is challenging our notions about how learning happens, new educational approaches and models are emerging and maturing that deal head-on with how to educate kids who are hardest to educate, for whatever reason. Charter schools, career academies, personalized approaches to reaching kids, “conveyer belts,” small learning communities, and other direct challenges to traditional public school bureaucracies and dispensations are reinvigorating the debate about public education.

The Pearson Foundation and Mobile Learning Institute film series “A 21st Century Education” profiles individuals who embrace and defend fresh approaches to learning and who confront the urgent social challenges that are part of a 21st century experience. “A 21st Century Education” compiles, in short film format, the best ideas around school reform and innovation. The series is meant to start, extend, or nudge the conversation about how to make change happen.

The first set of films profile and explore the following:

• Steve Barr and the Takeover of Locke High School in Watts

• James Dierke and Leadership Models for Urban Middle Schools

• David “T.C.” Ellis and Essential Learning at Hip Hop High

• Randall Fielding and Designing Schools for 21st Century Learning

• Stephen Heppell and Empowering Young Learners

• Jean Johnson, Notschool.net and Online Learning for Disaffected Youth

• Doug McCurry and the Success of Achievement First

• George McKenna and Personalizing Public Education

• Alan November and the Myths and Opportunities of Technology

• Larry Rosenstock and Project-based Learning at High Tech High

• Elliot Soloway/Cathie Norris and Educating the Mobile Generation

• Yong Zhao: No Child Left Behind and Global Competitiveness

Each short film (between 10 and 15 minutes) profiles a spokesperson for a new approach to education or education reform. The visual style is informal, shot in black and white, and the final piece results from a series of conversations between the producer and the subject. Subjects are interviewed while walking, working, and in places that are part of their daily experiences and work world.

Some subjects are filmed interacting with students or teachers or having conversations with colleagues. The films in this series are both informative and visually arresting; they avoid the usual staid performances at a dais, conference stage, or speaking from behind the desk; they are designed to raise the level of engagement between our speakers and our viewers.