Situatued Learning vs. Current Learning

Wow...what we already have available to us versus what we are using in American classrooms. When I look at these things I begin to wonder once again why we are not using some of these things in the classroom. How long can we blame the lack of funding for education to not be able to utilize these tools? It gets me so frustrated to think that it is money...something so COMMON that keeps us from preparing our kids for life in the next century. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...gets me so fired up!

Belief Busters!

I just came from working on the Wiki, so I am still very much in this imaginative place regarding the future of education. Last night, Patrick kept saying Form FITS Function. This is actually a biological theory that I learned while getting my Pre-Veterinary degree (bet you did not know I had that one). In nature, the structure of a body limb or organ is in a sense tied to what is has to do; what its job is and how it is related to the rest of the system.

When I think of education through this lens, several questions come to mind. First, is there a state/federal agreement on the function of school? Second, is the function of school the same for all students? Third, why is it that we have the form that we do? Isn't it really tied to function(s) of the past? Finally, will the function(s) in the future be different? If so, what will the form need to look like?

This has become the logic of my thinking surrounding the final project for this course. I think that the future will call for significantly different functions of education. From our readings in this course it is clear that our form will need to be adjusted as well. Education appears to be moving the function discussion in a more personalized direction, yet collaborative and interactive in form. This is truly an exciting time to be emerging as a leader!

Thought Provoking Comments

In last nights class, there were several comments made that left me thinking. For the purposes of this blog, I am going to give the comment and then provide my sequence of thinking surrounding the comment.

The Education System is the R&D of the economy.
This is scary if you think about the tools we are using to research and develop. Are the tests we are using to drive the R&D measuring accurately what we should be assessing to enhance our product or outcomes? When I look closely I am driven to the conclusion that the current accountability model would not effective in measuring whether or not our students are being (in a sense) "produced" with high quality models of instruction.

Is what we are researching (through all of this testing) driving our development of the system. Again, here I say NO! We do not use the current state and national assessments to drive instruction or policy. They have become something that is done out of mandate rather than for informed growth. If we are going to increase development should we not have a system that researches effectively? What would that look like. With R2T on the horizon we may be forced to move in that direction...the big question is will it be more of the same or will we actually be inventive?

Is there a problem with education? There is a problem with testing, unions, and accountability.
Patrick challenged me to think with this question. When we say education, is that not all encompassing? Apparently not. If we begin to separate education from the confines of testing, unions, and accountability we are left with learning. This is where our efforts should be focused; for learning is the true product of education.

I am not so sure that these three aspects of the system will ever completely go away, in fact it appears we are moving in the opposite direction. However, maybe we can shift these entities to also focus on learning. If the testing was individualized and all encompassing, if the unions shifted their narcissistic focus, and if accountability was embraced by all stakeholders, we may be able to stretch the system to center around the fundamentals of growth and development that most call learning.


We need to change how we think as leaders. We need to challenge our belief systems.
We spoke in class about the fact that most of what believe to be true probably isn't. I thought that this quote fit almost perfectly with our "think out of the box" theme. In a sense, our beliefs keep us in our box. The often inhibit our ability to go beyond our comfort zone, and try something new. Sometimes our beliefs keep us from questioning and from being critical thinkers, especially surrounding issues that we are emotionally tied to.

I find that recently I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and to challenge my beliefs about the cyber world I have kept myself limited within. Last week I published my first You Tube, made a movie using iMovie, posted a blog, and chatted in a Wiki! WOW! I was stretched significantly, and will continue to shift my belief system through the remained of both this course and my tenure in education.

All fired up...

Oh my has this week got me all fired up! Between this course and Dr. Crocker's course I have spent the whole week frustrated with both our current education model and where we are moving in this country.

In this course we talk at length about the skills needed for students in the 21st century...experiential learning, collaboration, critical thinking, creative minds....yada yada yada. Then we flash to Dr. Crocker's class, and our discussions about policy and the new "R2T" initiative. We talk about standardized education, national assessments, data driven instruction...yada, yada, yada. How ironic is it that these two streams of thinking are completely contradictory to one another. How do we, as educational leaders remedy this critical conflict of a education model?

I am not sure what the answer is. Maybe that is why we are here; to develop our understanding of the problem and the process to change it.

The video we watched in class echoed much of the recent message sent from the federal government regarding education. This whole concept of competition has emerged as the headliner for educational propaganda! Is this where we should be going? Competition and learning may not be a mixture that I would support. Especially in the form of a race! In a race the whole goal is to leave others "in your dust." To win....to be the first to cross the finish line. It is every man (or student) for themselves.

This does not sound to me like 21st Century learning. It sounds to me like the private sector: the marketplace. While I agree that the education system should prepare student to enter the competitive global marketplace, schools should not be a place where we force our student to compete to learn. Learning is about individual growth, understanding, and personal exploration facilitated in a collaborative, safe environment where one can make mistakes and not be penalized. In a race there is no time for mistakes, you are working against the clock...throwing elbows to cross the finish line first. This is not a model I would recommend for the classroom nor the United States education system.

More Food for Thought

This weeks reading stirred up quite a bit of thinking on my part, and the lecture in class solidified the process. Faverty, Brown, Deedy, Christensen, and Meyer all explore the future of technology in education, and the process of updating an outdated system. For the purpose of this blog I would like to respond to Christensen's article specifically. I would like to use four quotes that spoke to me:

If the goal is to educate every student to the highest potential, schools need to move away from this monolithic classroom model...
Yes! I totally agree, but the question is how. How do we move educators in a direction that students have already been moving. In fact, they are way ahead of us. We have a significant amount of remediation to do with our educator population. How will we deal with the resistance that has kept us where we are at. We seem to be a "past practice" society, that is almost emotionally tied to what "has always been done." I mean, most classrooms are still set up in the standard rows of the traditional school houses. Maybe we should start with moving around a few chairs! The challenge falls on the educational leaders; for they are what will be driving the renovations of the school system. In the enGauge article, the authors give almost a recipe for this renovation process. I found this to be very insightful, but wondered if our school cultures would be ready to recieve this message.

When an educational approach is well aligned with one’s intelligence or aptitude strengths, understanding can come more easily and with greater enthusiasm.
We have been talking about this for years...I believe we call it differentiation. A buzz word that is heard on almost any school campus in America. We are currently struggling to accomplish this goal. Special education was on board since its inception. With the use of IEP's (Individualized Education Plan) students are guarded by the law to ensure a differentiated educational experience. Whether or not these specifications are actually carried out in the classroom setting can be debated, however there is a system in place to assist in making it happen. I have always wondered why general education did not consider IEP's for every student. Although I understand the time demand of such a feat, it seems almost reverse discrimination to hold these high quality control standards for some students and not all.

If the goal is to educate every student to the highest potential, schools need to move away from this monolithic classroom model and toward a student-centric model with a modular design that enables mass customization.
This modular design, while sounding wonderful, does not seem plausible at this point in our educational history. It seems as though this is a top down sort of statement. If we are going to start from the bottom up, there needs to be a significant shift in values, beliefs, and visions of our schools. Again, I believe that this begins with educational leadership. Leaders need to alter the culture at their schools so that they are willing to take risks, without the fear of losing their credibility if not their jobs. Change is uncomfortable, and often scary, for there is no guarentee that it will be better than what we have. This is where trust becomes essential! If educators trust in their leaders, I believe they will follow them wherever they go (even into the cyber world)!

The United States has spent more than $60 billion equipping schools with computers over the last two decades, but as countless studies and any routine observation reveal, they have not transformed the classroom, nor has their use boosted learning as measured by test scores.
WOW! This is startling! 60 billion...where is it? What has been enhanced by this financial invesment. Can you imagine if this happened in the private sector? People would be fired, companies would declare bankrupcy, and someone would have to answer a whole lot of questions. I think stats such as this is why citizens do not push for more money to be given to education. We have mismanaged our resources, and have not shown the public that we can utilize our fiscal allocations effectively. This has lead individuals to question whether or not the public can handle educating the youth in this country. Personally, I do not blame them for asking this question.

Food 4 Thought: Emotional Beings in a Social Work...Inept vs. Adept

As a new professor I have a enlightened take on the difficulty in leaving students thinking. Designing a lecture seems to involve a clear determination of what you would like the take away messages to be. This proves to be difficult when you have so much you would like to cover with limited time. So, today I reflect on what left me thinking...what I took away from our discussion.

I entered our discussion after completing the readings, and was therefore very much in alignment with the inept vs. adept conversation that we had. After going through both the Horizon Report's and the Participatory Culture article, I was once again reminded of the educational inadequacies of our countries educational system. This time the incompetency surrounded the area of technology. Reading about all of the recommended uses of technology in the classroom I began to think about how many educators DO have access to technology and don't utilize it. I have found that it is much easier to complain that we do not have the modern classrooms with all of the high-tech devices, which limits our capacity to utilize these recommendations. However, several of these strategies we could use even if they needed to be modified to fit the technology currently in place.

It has been my experience that teachers often have access to computers in their schools, and do not utilize them. Yes, they may be decrepit and outdated, but can often be used to go online and build presentations. This leads me to question whether it really is the lack of technology that keeps educators from shifting teaching styles. After all, students often have access to sometimes even better technologies in the public libraries if not at home. After pondering this question a while, I have come to the conclusion that even if we upgraded American schools to have the most modern of technologies, who is to say that educators would utilize them, and UPGRADE THEIR TEACHING!

I believe that the difficulties in funding lye in the incompetency of the education system. Why should the states and fed.'s throw more money at a system that is failing? This is often what I hear from private industry people that have something to say about public education. Are they right? Do we need more money to improve the system, or is it a shift in thinking and application of instruction that we need? Articles such as those in which we read for this weeks class make me think it is a bit of both. HOWEVER...I do agree that money is not the root of change. WE ARE!

The other aspect of class that left me pondering was Patrick's statement that "we are emotional beings in a social world." I completely agree, which is obvious by my strong belief in counseling. I have found that it is almost natural for individuals to want to express themselves. Whether it be through words, actions, or lack there of, people want to be validated. They want to know that they are being heard, and that they are respected by those around them. Emotions drive us, and we want to express them (especially those that appear to not).

This form of thinking leads me to ask several questions. How does the education system promote this? How do our classrooms embrace this? In what ways to teachers and leaders allow this frame of thinking to drive their practice? Do those in power respect the emotional self, and/or how do they capitalize on their influence over the the emotions of others? I could ramble on and on here, but ultimately it is questioning such as this that allows us to embrace the social world that we live in. For, to discuss and debate leads to some element of truth and clarity, which we much need in education!

Learnin2Blog C6 Style

Ok...I'm officially a blogger! Wow...what a right of passage in the technology world. I am very excited about this course. I truly believe that the youth of today are the most SOLD population that America has ever seen. Almost every moment of the day our young minds are being influenced by some sort of creative advertising. When one considers the draw of X-Box, On-line Gaming, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc., it becomes no surprise that the education system cannot even compete. Questions that emerge from this frame of thinking include: How does education advertise? How much of the budget is allocated for advertising?

What an irony...at home our youth most often have access to the world at their fingertips, yet at school they are often confined to a hard chair and a desk.

If education is going to compete for the attention of young minds we need to step up to the plate and enhance the technological capacitites of our schools. This includes such things as Smart Classrooms, with Wifi capabilities, Smart boards, Projectors, desk computers, clickers, etc. We are searching for ways to get students to buy-in to learning...however we have lost their attention as consumers. Their cell phones are now small computers, with capabilities largely untapped by the educational community. Youth are always available; between text, myspace, facebook, and now even cell to cell tracking, they are always dialed in. I guess the question then is how do we get them to dial in to school?