Comments on: Our mental models are the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a digital, global era

By: Jim Gates

Jim Gates — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:22:54 +0000

I’m surprised by those folks who are moving to a 1:1 situation yet cannot describe what it should look like and how it will differ from what they already have. I worry that they’re destined to just have what they already have – but with a lot more computers.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:56:55 +0000

Kirsten-

I so agree with your statement about needing a room,called a classroom, to hold engaging conversations about learning. I have just started a reading blog for the kids I teach…I am mesmerized by their thoughts and reflections. Are they perfect, no, but with time and guidance they will be a lot better and they will have learned to become effective communicators with a little guidance from me…outside of the classroom.

By: Deborah Snowden

Deborah Snowden — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:31:18 +0000

That’s very true, most don’t understand what that means. All I can really say is Powerpoint is not enough.

By: Lauren Germany

Lauren Germany — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:16:06 +0000

In order for us to move toward this idea of education, our current teachers should be able to prepare our students now. Even some of my college professors can’t figure out how to open files from their jump drives to start their power point lecture. We pay thousands of dollars to earn a college education and we have professors that can’t check their e-mail. How are we supposed to move into a technologically-suffused era?? I am currently expecting my first child, and I hope that by the time he starts school, we will have made significant changes in the way our teachers teach, and our students learn.

By: rafi

rafi — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:06:52 +0000

If we magically were given technology to replace every car with an electric one, our electric grid would collapse,Take online learning, people are trying to sell me on ideas of just doing what we’ve been doing just now online.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:59:14 +0000

The problem is that while we may all acknowledge that the current system is flawed, who actually has a better one to replace it? Our education system, transportation system, health care system, system of government, power grid and generation, all fundamentally flawed and in many ways unfixably broken, we do our best to work around the flaws. If we magically were given technology to replace every car with an electric one, our electric grid would collapse, yet putting some electric cars on the road is a wonderful improvement. The same is true with our educational system. We can not change overnight, and complaining loudly about how bad things are does not help the change to happen, and gives fuel to those who would happily tear down what we have to replace it with nothing.

By: dominic giegerich

dominic giegerich — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:17:05 +0000

The other part of that is the mental models of change within the system. Take online learning, people are trying to sell me on ideas of just doing what we’ve been doing just now online.

At the i11i conference we at least slowed down a little and began to stretch the mental models of education, but as they stretch they pop back into place once back in front of our staffs, patrons and students.

Then there are the systems that refuse to move, that we all know need changed (DE, FEDERAL MANDATES, CHAPTER 12) that we can’t move past even though we want to much less mentally addressing them.

By: Betty

Betty — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:04:52 +0000

I am a 62 year old educator who loves technology and can’t get enough of it. I can see how important it is gear up for the world as the babies being born now will see it.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:53:22 +0000

I often wonder as well what education will look like 10 years from now. Thinking back to how my school operated 10 years ago compared with now??? Not much has changed except for how I approach teaching and learning with the students in my classroom. Given the slow progression of change over the past 10 years I sadly don’t expect that much change over the next 10 years. I have my vision of how I can be teaching and it most likely won’t be in the structure of “traditional” public school. Currently I make changes within my classroom domain but I will reach the point where having to be in a physical classroom teaching 20 students during a defined time period on a given day won’t make the most sense. I asked my students yesterday as we were having a discussion about globalization and Friedman’s book, The World is Flat, “Do we all really need to be in this room during this specified time period to be having this discussion?” My students were rather shocked and didn’t know what to make of this. They can’t see beyond their own mental models of school either.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:58:23 +0000

I don’t believe anyone truly knows what education will look like ten years from now but technology will be a big part of it. The work place and your everyday life will require you to interact with technology so to prepare our kids for the future they must be able to use many different technologies.