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Iowa wants to fail 3rd graders (and other thoughts on the Governor’s Education Blueprint)

November 16, 2011 20 Comments

Over the past month I've been reading and thinking about the new Education Blueprint proposed by the Iowa Governor and the Iowa Department of Education (DE) as well as various reactions to that document. If you haven't yet read Trace Pickering's insightful (and also lengthy) response to the Blueprint, be sure to do so. Another important read is school change guru Michael Fullan's recent paper, Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole System Reform.

Here are some additional thoughts of my own. These are not all-encompassing - I have additional questions and concerns - but they do constitute a few important issues that caught my attention. I'm also intentionally not commenting on topics for which I'm fairly ambivalent (e.g., charter schools) or don't know enough (e.g., teacher salary schedules and compensation tiers) and instead will leave those to others who care or know more than I do.

Failing 3rd graders fails our 3rd graders

I'll pick the low-hanging fruit first. Failing 3rd graders who can't pass some reading assessment is a really, really bad idea. It doesn't matter how many safeguards and second chances there are and I understand why the policy is being proposed (both educationally and politically). The bottom line is that, regardless of the 'social promotion' rhetoric and whatever gut intuition parents or policymakers may have, the research evidence is overwhelmingly unidirectional that in-grade retention does far more harm than good. Desired test score increases often never materialize and, even if they do, they usually don't persist past a few years. One of the stronger and consistent findings in educational research is that, in the long run, in-grade retention is at best a long-term wash score-wise and the resultant negative impact on students' psyches and their likelihood to graduate is horrific. The Governor and DE don't get to advocate for research-driven practices in other parts of the Blueprint but ignore that requirement here.

Input-Process-Output

We can visualize a box that represents the day-to-day occurrences within a classroom or other learning environment. That box is the most important aspect of schooling: if what students and teachers do on a daily basis in their learning-teaching interactions doesn't change substantially, all hope of achieving 'world class schools' in Iowa vanishes. WE LEARN WHAT WE DO. There are a variety of inputs (e.g., standards, curricula, teacher quality, funding and resources, school structures, technology infrastructure, laws and policies) that hopefully impact what occurs inside the box. We also look at what comes out of the box (e.g., student knowledge, skills, and dispositions) to see if what we wanted to happen actually did happen. This is a classic Input-Process-Output systems model (that hopefully is accompanied by a recursive feedback loop that informs the system).

IowaBluePrintSystem

There are 85 main bullet points, or action ideas, in the Blueprint. As you can see in my annotated version of the Blueprint, I tried to place each action idea into one of three categories: Input, Process, or Output (coded I, P, & O in the document). You are welcome to disagree with my categorizations (and I admit I struggled with some of them), but the evidence is quite stark that the Blueprint is overwhelmingly focused on inputs and outputs and gives very little attention to the day-to-day learning and teaching processes that occur between students and teachers.

IowaBluePrintPieChart

This is unsurprising. This is traditional school reform stuff:

We'll change some inputs; let's try better teachers and higher standards. Oh, and we'll also change some structures around. How about reallocating some monies, reorganizing traditional schools a bit, and allowing for charter and online schools? On the back end, we'll assess like crazy by changing our tests or using new and/or additional ones.

In the end, we change only a little and, if we're lucky, we see a little change in results. This is the way most states do it, but it's neither the only way nor the required way. Where in the Blueprint is the recognition that we need to do something DIFFERENT in our classrooms? Where's the acknowledgment, for example, that we need to invest heavily in teachers' ability to facilitate learning environments that foster higher-order thinking skills (an increasing necessity these days)? Where's extensive language about better facilitating student engagement in their courses? There's virtually nothing about students' interest in what they're supposedly learning. There's nary a bullet point about student hands-on or applied or problem-based learning or authentic intellectual work (a great program already being piloted by DE, by the way). To the extent that PBL and AIW and similar issues are addressed at all, the Blueprint does so indirectly; all hopes lie with effective implementation of the Iowa/Common Core and the Smarter Balanced assessments. Instead of just holding educators 'accountable' on the front and back ends of the process, how about directly investing in them so that they actually can be successful? The overwhelming emphasis of the Blueprint is on accountability rather than capacity-building. Go ahead and do a search in the Blueprint for the terms training or professional development or capacity; you won't find anything. If DE and the Governor are truly serious about 'world class schooling' in Iowa, they should be focusing heavily on the Process box - the day-to-day learning and teaching processes occurring in classrooms all across the state - and right now they're not.

Low-level testing

Much of the Governor's education concerns appear to be driven by NAEP scores and proficiency levels, despite the fact that most of the items are predominantly factual recall and low-level procedural knowledge AND despite the fact that the designers of NAEP freely admit that the level designations are arbitrary AND despite the fact that the American Institutes of Research notes that most of the nations to which we are comparing Iowa also wouldn't score well on NAEP. If we want our students to be gaining higher- rather than lower-order thinking skills, end-of-course assessments appear to offer us nothing better. So there's a lot of new and/or additional testing in the Blueprint that's focused on stuff you can easily find using Google - or that can be done cheaper by people elsewhere in the world - instead of on the skills and capacities necessary to really foster a world-class citizenry and workforce. We're not talking about assessments like the College and Work Readiness Assessment or what they do in Singapore. Again, when it comes to higher-order thinking skills, there's virtually no proposed investment in the Blueprint for the instructional side and all of our hopes rest on the Smarter Balanced assessments, for which right now we have no idea what they will look like and no idea how they will operate. The Blueprint essentially validates and tweaks and expands current testing schemes, despite significant warnings to the contrary from our very own National Research Council.

Digital, global world. Analog, local schools.

It's a globally-connected world out there, but the Blueprint primarily focuses on globalization as an economic force to which we must respond, not a societal / learning / citizenship issue to which we should attend for mutual benefit and empowerment. The Blueprint also says that Iowa students and graduates need to be internationally competitive but most of what it proposes is vastly different from what other countries are doing to achieve better results. The Blueprint contains no significant investment in teacher capacity-building, no emphasis on early childhood education, no amelioration of the impacts of family and neighborhood poverty on learning, and no recognition of the importance of strategic foreign language learning (particularly at younger ages), just to name a few.

It's also a digital world out there, but you wouldn't know it given the lack of emphasis placed on technology in the Blueprint. For example, only nominal attention is paid to online learning, despite the fact that it's booming nationwide and despite Iowa's meager offerings compared to other states. Even though Iowa ranks abysmally low when it comes to Internet speed and access, there's nothing regarding the importance of universal statewide broadband Internet access for both educational and economic development purposes. Most damning, there's absolutely no recognition of the power and potential of digital technologies to transform learning, teaching, and schooling, despite the rapid and radical reshaping of every other information-oriented societal sector by digital tools and the Web. In the world of the Blueprint, it's as if computers and the Internet essentially didn't exist. Go ahead and do a search in the Blueprint for the terms Internet or digital or technology; the omissions are quite alarming, actually. There's one meager shout-out to the rapid growth in 1:1 laptop initiatives across the state, but no support for giving every Iowa child a powerful digital learning device, for providing technology integration assistance for educators, for upgrading woeful infrastructures, for rethinking policies, or for anything else of substance when it comes to educational technology. It's 2011. Personal computers have been around for three decades and the Internet has been around for at least a dozen years for most of us. Digital technologies are transforming how Iowans and the world connect, collaborate, and LEARN; this omission is both sad and shameful.

A lost opportunity

There are a few things that I'm glad the Blueprint included. Although there is only a single bullet point referencing competency-based (rather than age-based) student progression, if done well that one thing alone has the potential to significantly and positively reshape much of how we do education in Iowa. I also like the willingness to invest in district-level innovation and to give districts some flexibility. The proof of most of this, like everything else, will depend on the legislative language and the resources committed.

As I think about the Blueprint as a whole (and we are encouraged by the document to treat it as 'a set of changes designed to work together'), it feels like a lost opportunity. The Governor and DE had the chance to dream big and swing for the fences. They had the chance to propose impactful, sweeping changes to the current system. They had the chance to create learning and teaching environments that prepare students for the next 50 years rather than the last 50 and to educate the public as to why those changes are necessary. The Blueprint rhetoric is right but the action items fall far short. I don't know if it's a lack of knowledge or vision or courage that's holding them back, and of course there are political considerations with all of this. But the result is a a tweak of the current system, a tinkering at the edges rather than a rethinking of the core. Perhaps it's foolish of me to wish for more.

I welcome all feedback. Thanks.

Data-Driven, Law, Policy, and Ethics, Leadership and Vision, Online Learning, Our Changing World, Planning and Funding, Pre-Service Preparation, Research and Evaluation, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning, Tech Integration, Workforce and Economy

A new resource: CASTLE Briefs

November 1, 2011 0 Comments

CASTLE Brief 03b.pngI'm pleased to announce a new resource today: CASTLE Briefs.

As our web site notes:

CASTLE briefs are intended to help practicing and preservice school administrators with various technology leadership issues. Between 500 and 2,000 words in length, CASTLE briefs attempt to answer the question, "What do school administrators need to know about this technology leadership topic?" Some CASTLE briefs are classic research or policy briefs; others may be more practice-oriented or focus on thought leadership in a particular area.

ANYONE may write a CASTLE brief. Sometimes we will extend invitations to authors but we also accept at-large submissions. We are open to your ideas about content, format, and style but please note that we frown upon commercial advertisements disguised as briefs. Images, audio, video, and other multimedia are welcome inclusions in a brief. We would prefer APA citation style for your references section. All CASTLE briefs will be made available under a Creative Commons attribution-share alike copyright license.

Our first brief is titled  for consideration.

I hope that you will consider contributing to the CASTLE Brief series, either by submitting a brief yourself or at least adding some ideas to the list of potential topics. If you're a professor, note that writing a CASTLE brief would be a great assignment for your students! (hint, hint)

I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops!

CASTLE, Leadership and Vision, News and Events, Pre-Service Preparation, Reading, Research and Evaluation, Staff Development

Is this the year?

September 1, 2011 5 Comments

2011calendarDear principal or superintendent,

It’s a new school year, and that brings new opportunities...

  • Is this the year that you begin the task of transforming your classrooms into learning spaces that emphasize hands-on inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving instead of teacher lecture, rote practice, and fact regurgitation?
  • Is this the year that you get powerful digital learning tools into the hands of students - whether they be laptops, netbooks, or maybe iPads - so that they can start learning how to do knowledge work the way that knowledge workers in the real world do?
  • Is this the year that you finally invest some money in better technology integration support for teachers rather than simply buying more stuff?
  • Is this the year that you decide to confront what probably are brutal truths and survey your students in detail about how engaging and interesting their classes are?
  • Is this the year that your teachers pilot a unit or two where they use no textbooks whatsoever (paper or digital) and instead use wikis or social bookmarking tools with their students to co-curate a set of online learning resources that accomplishes the same (or better) learning goals?
  • Is this the year that your school system investigates what it means to effectively communicate these days and learns about how to present information online - hyperlinked/networked writing, online video, infographics, transmedia, etc. - rather than simply writing with ink on paper?
  • Is this the year that you experiment with some online learning in-house and have each teacher design/deliver a unit so that it is done wholly online rather than face-to-face?
  • Is this the year that you go out of your way - via multiple face-to-face, print, and online information channels - to help your parents and community understand what it really means to do effective workforce preparation these days?
  • Is this the year that you allow your students to give you input into how their own technological skills and interests can be better utilized in their learning environments?
  • Is this the year that you realize that other organizations are using social media to great effect to communicate with the people that they serve and that maybe you could too?
  • And so on...

Is this the year for you? If not, who’s going to do it if you don’t?

Image credit: Make your own planner

[Feel free to add your own in the comments area!]

Leadership and Vision, Our Changing World, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning

My opening remarks at the Iowa Education Summit

July 25, 2011 4 Comments

TrappedI served on a panel, Education in a Digital World, at the Iowa Education Summit today. Here is what I said during my 5 minutes of opening remarks.

Good afternoon,

We have to start with the recognition that digital technologies are transforming EVERYTHING.

Technology is allowing everyone to do more powerful and also more complex work, but that creative power is accompanied by significant disruptive impacts. For example, the same technologies that allow us to have a voice, find each other, and work together also are destroying geographic boundaries. We're seeing to our dismay that offshoring and outsourcing allow everyone, everywhere to compete with each other and with us. In addition to replacing jobs here with folks overseas, jobs also are being destroyed by software. If the Industrial Revolution was about replacing humans’ physical labor with machines, the Information Revolution often is about replacing humans’ cognitive labor with computers. In short, these new tools are radically transforming every single other information-oriented segment of our economy.

Does the workforce preparation that most Iowa schools do reflect our new hyperconnected, hypercompetitive global economy and the impacts of these new technologies? Nope.

More important than the economic concerns, however, is that digital technologies also allow for dramatic impacts on learning. For example, students and educators now have access to all of the information in their textbooks – and an incredible wealth of primary documents – for free. They have access to robust, low cost or no-cost, multimedia and interactive learning resources - texts, images, audio, video, games, simulations - that can supplement, extend, or even replace what is being taught in their classrooms. Via collaborative Internet-based tools, they can learn from and with students and teachers in other states or countries. They also can quickly and easily connect with authors, artists, business professionals, entrepreneurs, physicians, craftsmen, professors, and other experts.

Students and teachers now can more authentically replicate (and actually do) real-world work through the use of the same tools and resources used by engineers, designers, scientists, accountants, and a multitude of other professionals and artisans. They can share their own knowledge, skills, and expertise with people all over the world. They can find or form communities of interest around topics for which they are passionate and they can be active (and valued) contributors to the world’s information commons, both individually and collaboratively with others.

Essentially, our students and teachers now have the ability to learn about whatever they want, from whomever they want, whenever and wherever they want, and they also can contribute to this learning environment for the benefit of others.

But most Iowa schools do little if any of this. Instead, as Collins & Halverson have noted,

schools have kept new digital technologies on the periphery of their core academic practices. Schools … do not try to rethink basic practices of teaching and learning. Computers have not penetrated the core of schools, even though they have come to dominate the way people in the outside world read, write, calculate, and think.

If we were REALLY serious about educational technology, we would do things like…

  • put a robust digital learning device into every student’s hands (or let them bring and use their own) instead of pretending that we live in a pencil, notebook paper, and ring binder world;
  • we'd teach students how to properly maintain and manage those computing devices rather than removing user privileges and locking down the ability to change any settings;
  • we'd show students how to edit their privacy settings and use groups in their social networks instead of banning those networks because they’re ‘dangerous’ and/or ‘frivolous’;
  • we'd teach students to understand and contribute to the online information commons rather than ‘just saying no’ to Wikipedia;
  • we'd understand the true risk of students encountering online predators and make policy accordingly instead of succumbing to scare tactics by the media, politicians, law enforcement, computer security vendors, and others;
  • we'd find out the exact percentage of our schools’ families that don’t have broadband Internet access at home rather than treating the amorphous ‘digital divide’ as a reason not to assign any homework that involves use of the Internet;
  • we'd treat seriously and own personally the task of becoming proficient with the digital tools that are transforming everything instead of nonchalantly chuckling about how little we as educators know about computers;
  • we'd recognize the power and potential (and limitations) of online learning rather than blithely assuming that it can’t be as good as face-to-face instruction;
  • we'd tap into and utilize the technological interest and knowledge of students instead of pretending that they have nothing to contribute;
  • we'd integrate digital learning and teaching tools into subject-specific preservice methods courses rather than marginalizing instructional technology as a separate course;
  • we'd better educate and train school administrators rather than continuing to turn out new leaders that know virtually nothing about creating, facilitating, and/or sustaining 21st century learning environments;
  • And so on...

If we were really serious about technology in schools, we'd do these things and more. But we don't.

Look, we know, simply from projecting current trends forward, that in the future our learning will be even more digital, more mobile, and more multimedia than it is now. Our learning will be more networked and more interconnected and often will occur online, lessening our dependence on local humans. Our learning frequently will be more informal and definitely will be more self-directed, individualized, and personalized. Our learning will be more computer-based and more software-mediated and thus less reliant on live humans. Our learning will be more open and more accessible and may occur in simulation or video game-like environments. And so on. We’re not going to retrench or go backward on any of these paths. 

Here in Iowa we thus need to begin envisioning the implications of these environmental characteristics for learning, teaching, and schooling. We need school leaders who can design and operationalize our learning environments to reflect these new affordances. If we are going to create schools that are relevant to the needs of students, families, and society, we need policymakers who are brave enough to create the new paradigm instead of simply tweaking what we've always done.

Here in Iowa we're currently spending less on school technology than we did a decade ago. Of the 40 states that have some sort of online learning options for students, we are near the very bottom in terms of number of students served. We continue to do the same old, same old and try to sprinkle a little bit of technology on top instead of putting these learning tools at the HEART of everything that we do. We must do better than this.

It's 2011. It’s time for us to be serious about school technology. And right now as a state we’re anything but.

Thank you.

21st Century, Leadership and Vision, Our Changing World, Pre-Service Preparation, Safety and Security, Social Media, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning, Tech Integration, Workforce and Economy

Kathy’s basket

June 22, 2011 0 Comments

TrappedKathy is a teacher. She has a basket.

Kathy puts all of her favorite things in her basket and takes it everywhere so that they're close at hand. Because she's a dedicated science teacher, she keeps her notebook of great teaching ideas in the basket. Whenever she needs a new inspiration, she pops open the notebook and takes a look. She has a video player in her basket, loaded with favorite science videos to show her students. She's got science articles and magazines and other things she wants to read in the basket too, along with some games and other teaching resources. She's even got in her basket the last few letters from her friend who teaches science in California and had shared a few tips for Kathy.

Kathy doesn't just use her basket for professional purposes. She also loads it up with things that are related to her hobbies and personal interests too. Kathy loves to make outfits for her pug dogs, so she always has a couple of sewing patterns in the basket. She likes to experiment in the kitchen, and her recipe book is in her basket. Kathy's latest interest is photography; she's thrown a couple of books into her basket that are helping her improve her shutterbug skills. The most recent photos of her nieces and nephews in Nebraska are in the basket, as is the latest fan magazine of her beloved Detroit Red Wings hockey team.

Kathy's basket is MAGIC. Every day it refreshes itself with NEW sewing patterns for her pug dogs [how 'bout that?!]. When her sister takes more pictures of the kids, they automatically appear in Kathy's basket too [amazing!]. When she opens her teaching notebook, there are new teaching ideas in there also [what?! you're kidding, right?]. New information about the Red Wings, new recipes, new science articles and videos, new photography tips, new letters from her California buddy, new resources - they all magically and effortlessly appear in the basket [unbelievable!].

Kathy's basket is magic. It never runs out of room. The more that gets put in there, the more it expands [okay, now I really don't believe you].

Kathy's basket is magic. It weighs nothing, which is why she can easily carry it everywhere. No matter where she goes, her basket goes too - full of the stuff she likes and needs, all in one place, accessible anytime, anywhere.

Kathy loves her basket! [uh, yeah, wouldn't you?]

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

Kathy has a magic basket. It's called a RSS reader. And you can have one too.

Pre-Service Preparation, Social Media, Staff Development, Tech Integration

What are educators’ professional obligations to learn from social media channels?

June 21, 2011 0 Comments

TrappedPaul Bogush pushed back (in a nice way) on my recently-popular post, If you were on Twitter. First he wrote about how most educators are too busy to be involved in social media. Then he wrote about all of the wonderful things that happened during the time when he wasn't on Twitter. Because he's a good writer, Paul evoked all the right feelings in my heart and head. Of course I want to spend time with my wife and kids instead of being on Twitter. Of course I want to read books and take walks in the woods and get my job done, all instead of being in front of a screen. But even though there are only so many hours in a day, it's still a false dichotomy. As I said in my comment to Paul's first post,

there are countless educators who are finding ways to tap into the connective and learning power of social media while simultaneously having healthy, balanced personal and professional lives. In other words, you do not have to be superhuman to do this stuff. We find time for what we think is important...

All of this time balance stuff aside, I believe that there's a bigger issue worth considering. Let me explain...

Although there is a lot of noise out there on the Web, it's hard to argue that there is little learning value in social media. There are numerous ways in which teachers and administrators could be using blogs, Twitter, Facebook, online videos, podcasts, online slideshows, and other social media tools to advance their own practice. Whether it's subscribing to other innovative educators' feeds, interacting and sharing resources with global colleagues, or consuming and using high-quality peer-created resources, there are myriad teaching ideas, lesson plans, Web resources, conversation spaces, technology tools, reflections on practice, and other pedagogical fruits that are ripe for the picking by online-savvy educators. Peer-to-peer online learning networks can help educators sort the wheat from the chaff and curate what's relevant and powerful.

The barriers to using social media as learning tools usually are more mental, emotional, or logistical than technological. Most of the time we can teach people how to use these tools (or they can pick up the basics themselves) in just a few hours of focused learning.

In an era in which the possibilities for ongoing professional learning are numerous and significant, I wonder how long will it take us for us to start expecting educators to use these social media tools. It's been 30 years since the advent of the personal computer and we're still struggling to get teachers and administrators to integrate digital technologies into their daily work in ways that are substantive and meaningful. Meanwhile, we now have a bevy of powerful learning tools available to us that can advance our own professional learning (and, of course, make our technology integration and implementation efforts more efficient and effective).

  • When will we start incorporating the use of social media learning channels into the broader definition of what it means to be an education professional?
  • When will we renorm the education profession to include the expectation that teachers and administrators will use these tools to advance their own practice? 
  • When will we view educators that opt out of the use of social media for professional learning as an aberration rather than the norm?

In other words, will we ever stop saying that whatever print publications we may subscribe to, a few professional development days spread across the year, and occasional and sporadic attendance at conferences sufficiently satisfy our obligations to be learners of our craft?

Image credit: Internet open

Pre-Service Preparation, Social Media, Staff Development, Tech Integration

Announcing the 2011 Iowa 1:1 Institute!

February 9, 2011 1 Comment

Mark your calendars! The second annual Iowa 1:1 Institute (I11I) will be at the Polk County Convention Complex in Des Moines on April 20, 2011, from 9am to 5pm.

I11ilogoIn our first year we had over 600 happy people in attendance. This year we anticipate 1,000 to 1,200 attendees (did we mention registration is FREE?!). We’ll have 120 different sessions, nearly all of which will be delivered by educators and students in the 40+ school districts in Iowa with 1:1 laptop programs. This grass-roots conference is a must-attend event; the conversations and learning are very powerful!

About the institute

The purposes of the institute are to:

  • help Iowa's 1:1 districts learn from each other about innovative teaching, learning, and administrative practices that are occurring in their districts;
  • build excitement and 'buzz' around 1:1 laptop computing initiatives in the state; and
  • help others who are interested in 1:1 computing learn more about how to get started and be successful.

The institute is open to ANYONE interested in 1:1 laptop computing initiatives in P-12 schools, whether they currently are working in such a program or just want to learn more.

Since the primary purpose of the institute is for Iowa’s 1:1 school districts to learn from each other, registration and presentation slots are initially reserved for educators in those school organizations. We’ll open up any remaining registration slots on February 24. We’ll open up any remaining presentation slots on March 17.

Want to be a vendor?

We’ve got 20 precious tables for vendors. Learn more here if you’re interested in being an institute sponsor.

Can’t attend?

Follow along on April 20 with the #i11i hashtag and/or see presenters’ materials at the 1:1 Laptop Schools Ning.

Questions?

If you have questions, please leave them below or e-mail Nick Sauers, CASTLE’s go-to guy for all things 1:1!

CASTLE, News and Events, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning, Tech Integration

Video – The scrollwheel

January 15, 2011 1 Comment

A video for those of you who get frustrated with others who are less technology proficient. I confess that people who still type URLs into search boxes drive me nuts too!

Happy viewing!

Staff Development, Videos

Upcoming book: What school administrators need to know about digital technologies and social media

January 3, 2011 32 Comments

Chris Lehmann and I submitted our book to the publisher yesterday:

McLeod, S., & Lehmann, C. (Eds.). (in press). What school administrators need to know about digital technologies and social media.

Man with book sitting in chairphoto © 2008 George Eastman House | more info (via: Wylio)We’re really excited about this book. Take a look at the chapter contributors below and you’ll see why [and before you ask, yes, there were many others that we could have asked and, yes, we had to make some difficult author/topic choices given the space limitations of a printed book].

The book is intended to help administrators

  1. gain a basic knowledge base,
  2. think critically about some key issues, and
  3. get some concrete suggestions for instructional and organizational uses of various digital technologies.

Chris and I will keep you posted as this gets closer to print!

—-

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Learning Tools

Interlude

More Learning Tools

Leadership and Vision, News and Events, Our Changing World, Pre-Service Preparation, Social Media, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning, Tech Integration, Tech Tools

The passivity of students AND educators

December 7, 2010 8 Comments

Joe Bower said:

Because school defines learning as passive, learners come to see education as something done to them. When students are stuck in the middle of a problem, they don't try and figure out what makes sense to do next; instead, they try to remember what they are supposed to do. If this is the premise for learning, is it any surprise that learners become less autonomous, more dependent...

Depressionphoto © 2007 Bev Sykes | more info (via: Wylio)I commented:

Well said. Replace 'learners' with 'educators' and this also describes many of the people that work in our school systems. We see a great lack of inquisitiveness, self-direction, etc. from many teachers and administrators too...

We need more 'active learners' at all levels of our education system. What percentage of your students – and educators – are just going through the motions ("just tell me what to do") rather than inquiring, learning, leading, and, perhaps, modeling?

Whatever percentages those are, instead of blaming individuals we need to re-examine our systems and structures that beat down the innate human learning spirit. How’s your school organization doing at that?

Leadership and Vision, Staff Development, Teaching and Learning
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