Extracurriculars as the Curriculum

This paper is about six years old already, but provides an interesting vision for change in the education system. I probably wouldn't focus so much on online courses as being the solution to all problems, and the writing does have the ring of the high-tech bubble of that time, but this stuff mostly seems attainable and desirable to me.

Extracurriculars as the Curriculum: A Vision of Education for the 21st Century -- synopsis and full paper (pdf). There are also a number of other papers from the same project that mostly look solid and haven't appeared to have aged badly. A quote from the synopsis:

"The education system in our country, based for too long on the pedagogically invalid 'factory model,' is in dire need of an overhaul. Thankfully, technology is on the verge of fundamentally reshaping the American education system. In particular, the technology to deliver full-length courses is rapidly becoming a reality, and the impact will be pervasive. The early signs of this change are already visible. I see technology driving educational change in the following key areas:

• New role for teachers
  
• New role for schools
  
• Centralization of curriculum and instructional development"