In my curriculum class last night we had a big debate about students and families as CONSUMERS. I evoked some Cluetrain theses, such as the free market system will prevail and such….. Major disagreement with the concept. Can schools really go away if people vote with their feet?
After reading the 95 theses, I am much more convinced that education as we currently know it with teachers as the authorities and keepers of learners self-esteem will evolve. As more options become available and if we can educate parents and students alike to become more critical about learning choices, things will change. WE as teachers/facilitators/coaches, or whatever we call ourselves now, need to take a long look at how we do “school”.
Also in our class we were given a hypothetical $50,000. for use in our individual classroom and asked what we would do with it. Unfortunately, most just supported the system as it already exists and did not really think outside the 4 walls of a contemporary classroom. New tech, new desks? Sheesh. We concluded that the 50 grand can pay a teacher more to double the salary as incentive to stay in city schools….ha ha and that might change things…or not.
We also said that if two more zeros were added to the amount and teachers pooled that resource, maybe a major change would result that was not SCHOOL. We could not brainstorm in a short amount of time what could take the place of the warehouse method of learning called school.
I see a huge potential for the community we are building to take this paradigm shift and bust things wide open…especially if we have so many “lurkers” and listeners. Distributed intelligence and creativity.
I am speaking to myself now, but I was thinking so narrowly about Twitter and Twitter apps. to use this in a CLASSROOM and School paradigm, not “HOW CAN I INCREASE LEARNING!!!! There is a good change a’comin…if I and people my age can just figure out how to use these things first and play with them a while, I believe that we can collectively change things for the better.
I am writing about this because I challenge this group to take the concept further when presenting our educational uses. Not just USE Web 2.0 in our classes, but reinvent learning!!!! Outside the box…
We are not even using this Pligg/blog venue to the capacity I am beginning to realize….more later.
Education, Get a Clue (train)...revisited (see original)
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Very interesting. It will take a real paradigm shift to make the change as you've described it. In terms of what I know about Penn State and other schools who are reliant on tuition dollars, they certainly can go away if people vote with their feet. Penn State's satellite campus system is in a very competitive situation, as their tuition rates are way out of line with what local community colleges can offer. They often are offering the same curriculum, and many students are buying the "off-brand" to get their core classes out of the way, and then ultimately coming back to PSU to get the "brand name" degree. PSU loses out big-time from a tuition standpoint when students do this, but there is little to do about it. It would be a very, very big deal for one of the PSU campuses to close its doors, but I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility to think it may happen in the next decade.
Amen on the salary before tech idea. My home school district went through a mystical tech overhaul around the late 90's / early 00's and the result was "a Laserdisc player and computer in every classroom". Needless to say both things were never used by students because there were too many of us, so they only became desk gadgets for each teacher's free time. High-tech work is so slowly being integrated into classes that a big, modern library supported everyone in our schools even five years ago, not one PC in a room.
Funding wise, maybe the best way for your "free market" new-age learning to blossom forth is on the backs of students' own electronics and PCs rather than school-wide funding. I know colleges are doing this, but high schools and vocational schools with even worse budgets need that strategy more than anyone...
Ditto on the school tech story. We were always fighting for the VCRs and the Laser discs never did catch on. They make good wheels for Mousetrap cars....
I like the idea of student electronics to bear the weight of the delivery. So, maybe a close look at Twitter....