Running with Robots by Greg Toppo and Jim Tracey
Reviewed by Ed Ladd
Imagine a school where students were not segregated by their age but by competence, where most learning was project based linked to “real world” issues, where students worked collaboratively with other students and content experts globally, where students were taught content literacy instead of content fluency, and the humanities and values were central to the curriculum. More importantly, imagine a digitalized environment in which artificial intelligence becomes a collaborative partner in student learning. Well, you don’t have to imagine this world, Greg Toppo and Jim Tracey in their book Running with Robots present us with a future that is intriguing, challenging, and possible.
There are many strong elements in this book that make for an excellent read. The structure of the book weaves a Rip Van Wrinkle narrative in alternate chapters filled with research and examples of what a school could look like in twenty years. While it may be easy to dismiss some of the projected scenarios, they are more than worthy of our attention and demand some self-reflection on where we are going as educators.