U.S. schools will need to hire up to 200,000 first-time teachers annually for the next five years. To that end, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke recently about the need to improve and reform America's colleges of education to prepare the next generation of teachers.

He didn't mince words.

“By almost any standard, many if not most, of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom,” Duncan said at New York's Columbia University.

Duncan's recommendations focused on improved student outcomes as part of every teacher program. He lauded residency programs and partnerships between universities and local school districts that improve teacher preparation.

It's an important topic, to be sure. But it all feels a little like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Public and private education is going through one of its greatest upheavals in history, brought on by the changing economics of global elearning and the disruption caused by online technologies.

In this new brave world of multiple intelligences and individualized learning paths, shouldn't we recognize the pivotal role that technology is sure to play in the next generation of teacher education? How can we ignore the huge migration occurring from on-ground learning to online and hybrid classes?

The use of online learning in the K-12 classroom is growing 30% per year. Every day, we read about the enrollment surge of a new virtual high school.

Indeed, if Harvard's Clayton Christensen is to be believed, by 2013, 25% of K-12 education in the United States will be computer-based. That number could rise to 50% by 2020.

Astonishing figures. Yet there is virtually no discussion of these changing dynamics among our top educators.

Plain and simple, classroom technologies create fear and loathing among the special interests of the educational world. Learning continuity plans and H1N1 threats have highlighted the need for digital learning, but there is continued resistance.

Few people go into the teaching profession to sit behind a computer screen. From the front of the classroom, they want to mentor bright or at-risk kids and make the world a better place. By contrast, movies like Akeelah and the Bee reinforce the popular image of the online instructor as a broken-down, less-than-admirable figure.

Who suffers? The growing number of students, adults, and employees who clamor for top-notch online teachers.

Let's hope our graduate schools of education take up the challenge of elearning. To date, our universities have under-invested in online training for faculty, so there is cause for worry.

Young teachers should recognize that more of their careers will be spent developing online curricula and interacting in collaborative, global networks built on new technologies. Online learning doesn't have to be dull and it doesn't have to dampen a teacher's dream of helping students.

School administrators and Washington must move beyond the traditional classroom paradigm. If not, innovative charter schools along with for-profits like Edison, Insight Schools and others will lead the way with online innovation and next-generation teacher training.

Secretary Duncan is right that our nation's teachers can do better. But let's start talking seriously about elearning in the public square--the pink elephant that's staring us all in the face.