Well education 2.0 is taking inroads with question oriented and on reality based learning. I am working in such multimedia learning environment based on communities based on students interests and practical projects. Teachers don't decide what you do but students search for knowledges which is assessed afterwards.
More here in my new blogpost:
Jurmo.us: education 2.0
What do you think about this new education direction? Do you have any experience with it?
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8 Comments
auburn
Written Feb. 20, 2007 / Report /
I am not a teacher but work for several decades in a public school system in NY State. Tecahers 'teach to the test' and have no more time to be creative and flexible. "The tests" are the state and federal standardized tests that determine if your school or district is appreciated by the voters.
auburn
Written Feb. 20, 2007 / Report /
Please forget I said the above. I am sure there are students and teachers somewhere that "thirst for knowledge" and new ways to convey it. They are likely not in my urban, inner-city district but they do exist somewhere. I must believe that or the situation would be too depressing and sad to continue. I am a school social worker. I see good kids that do not
fit easily in a traditional public school or their family units.
Mous
Written Feb. 20, 2007 / Report /
It sounds a bit like what Sir Ken Robinson is talking about in his TED talk I included at the bottom of my linked blogpost. About the girl that had miserable results and was hopeless but turned out to be a magnificent dancer outside the school system. (ending 5 minutes)
I think the 'thirst for knowledge' mindset is dependent on the learning environment and can work on all people. It is all about finding formula's that would work. Once you have some people passionate about what they do you can motivate more people. It is all about triggering exploration and curiosity.
Do you think there are methods of triggering this new mindset and method in your school? Is there a possibility for change? Or is it just impossible in the US public schools?
rickcurran
Written Feb. 21, 2007 / Report /
I think the digital systems in place for learning such as Virtual Learning Environments like BlackBoard, WebCT etc have a long way to go to get as user friendly as the online sites like MySpace, 9Rules etc. Most are pretty clunky to use.
But there's definitely a move to promoting self-motivated study, certainly within UK Higher Education area that I am familiar with. BlackBoard is a core part of all students life at my local University. There's a definite move to providing more digital resources and a bit less face to face time with tutors. Not sure if that's good or bad really. However, one of the issues with this kind of system is how well it works for non-text based subjects such as Art & Design courses which typically do not get well catered for in VLE systems.
That's my main area of concern, your average VLE's work quite well for courses that are standard academic formats which run on a few lectures a week, Art & Design is typically quite different.
Another issue is cost, a lot of money is paid to use the BlackBoard system at my local Uni, it's perhaps seen as cost saving in regards to less student / tutor contact time. I wonder if open-source VLE's such as Moodle could offer the benefits of a VLE but make it viable to keep a good ratio of student contact time.
Mike
Written Feb. 21, 2007 / Report /
I understand that you want to bring advanced media and technology to students, but you need to realize that there are hundreds of school systems in the US that have over-crowded classrooms, outdated textbooks, 1-computer-per-room, and they are concentrating on upping their education experience for their students before spending time, money, and resources on multimedia immersion learning and other superfluous technological learning add-ons.
Mous
Written Feb. 21, 2007 / Report /
It is indeed a problem that not every school has the facilities. I myself am mostly talking about college education like where I work at at communication and multimedia design. We work as a kind of experimental project based on competence/practice based learning. But multimedia is an easier experimentation platform because of the nature and its foundation on internet these days.
I think it needs a top-down approach and maybe needs to begin at teacher studies. Computers will get cheaper and cheaper and will eventually find their way, but only if the teacher can think out of the power of the technology. If they demand it it will come.
But it is not only about technology but also about mindset. About letting the students free to choose. To make them passionate about what they need to learn. Technology is a tool then to bring order to the chaos but a good tutor/coach can also direct/manage the situation. It is all about trusting the students to find their own paths of exploration. Of course this does not work for every kind of student.
This could create a whole new mindset in the society that is less focused on consuming and more focused on participating and active thinking. You have to strive something to get somewhere.
auburn
Written Feb. 21, 2007 / Report /
I didn't realize you were talking about college level. Please also recognize that some staff and even some administrators in the public school K-12 do "have passion" ------ but the passion is for students passing these tests at a higher percentage so they can look good, keep their jobs and climb the career ladder within this district or state. Speaking as an individual, my "passion" most definitely exists and is spent on finding ways for community agencies to meet the unique needs of our students, including the Probation Department and Child Protective. Students can't learn when they are cold or hungry and it doesn't matter what fancy gadgets you have. Please find ways for your concepts to trickle down and reflect the real world. My district is a little more than 10% ESL (English as a Second Language) and about 11% Special Education. My school has over 1000 students.
Mous
Written Feb. 21, 2007 / Report /
A well, I would like to talk in general in more broader terms so more perspectives could be brought into the discussion :)
Well I think I live in a whole different kind of education system here in Holland with more state sponsorship and control. Although I am aware of some problems with immigrants and learning Dutch. I am not too familior with the US system.
It is indeed a problem with lower levels and strict testing methods to enter other well regarded schools that mostly work with more strict learning paths. But I am aware of some schools that have successfully implemented a more 'free path' based learning but it remains by those experiments. Also on the 'high schools' we have had an introduction of the 'second phase' learning a few years ago with more group projects and selfcontrolled learning allthough the learning methods where still mostly linear and based on books. The teachers were still too much used to old habits.
Is it possible in this generation gap to implement the right new solution for the net generation?
Is this new kind of free learning for everyone? Do we first need to change more parts of society for those net generation people to fit in? Chicken or the egg?