Book Review: Stratosphere - Integrating Technology, Pedagogy, and Change Knowledge

Michael Fullan, in his book entitled Stratosphere: Integrating Technology, Pedagogy, and Change Knowledge (2013; Don Mills, Ontario; Pearson Canada; ISBN-13: 978-0132483148; 100 pages), examines the world of technology and its role in the educational system as well as its effect on teaching and learning. Fullan is a Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He is recognized worldwide as an authority on educational reform and has consulted to school districts, teacher groups, research institutes, as well as governments. While the clear message throughout Fullan's optimistic book is that the primary driver of education reform is pedagogy, he states, "The solution lies in the concentration of the three forces of pedagogy, technology, and change knowledge. If you want to head off destruction, we need to make it all about learning (the pedagogy part), let technology permeate (the technology part), and engage the whole system (the change part)" (Fullan, 2013, p. 74). The path to achieve this is by integrating technology, pedagogy and change knowledge. According to Fullan (2013), there are four criteria that must be present in order to integrate technology and pedagogy to "produce exciting, innovative learning experiences for all students -something desperately needed to bring education into the 21st century". They are: (a) Irresistibly engaging for students and teachers; (b) Elegantly efficient and easy to use; (c) Technologically ubiquitous; (d) Steeped in real-life problem-solving.