Techlearning blog

I used to live in an old house. The great thing about the house was over the years previous owners painted each room the way they wanted. Some even put up wall paper. When my wife and I bought the house we decided we did not like any of the prior owners color choices so we chose to change the paint color again ourselves. There was no telling how many layers of paint were those walls. However, one winter day when we had our humidifier running because it was too dry in the house some of the paint started to peal back to the bare plaster walls. This occurred in other rooms as well. What was once great about the walls of the house (the fact that they were customizable to whomever was currently living there) was now a problem. Years of alterations and customizations and revisions had taken its toll and the house was not going to easily be brought back to a presentable condition.

I read a bill proposal today for an education bill that is going to go before the Minnesota legislature that mandates school districts to construct an action plan for dealing with the achievement gap. Now, I am all for dealing with the achievement gap but I think this bill misses the point. It is just another layer of paint on this house. Schools are too bogged down with lists and plans. Years of traditional education with traditional funding and traditional mandates getting the traditional revisions by traditional governments is eroding what school should be all about. Schools have become a place where information is crammed down the throats of students where they are forced to learn instead of places where the flame of inquiry and skepticism that all children begin life with is fostered and allowed to blossom.

1. Computer always better-no
2. Computer always enhance self-esteem - no (cyber bullying)
3. Govt spending - I have seen some incredible learning occur in environments where the teachers and students had to creatively find ways to cope with narrow budgets and caveats contribute to the extrinsic culture that is sinking our schools
4. Templates - Should we always use templates to measure students?
5. Free resources - again, somehow the distribution of these resource will be linked to some kind of extrinsic system meant to coax some kind of behavior
6. Standards - Any good teacher who is doing their job is already addressing these standards. The problem is how we view them as teachers. If we view them as being what we have to teach there is a problem. A different approach will lead teachers to bring students far beyond these MINIMUM content standards.
7. Wrong question. School is all about learning technology. At one point written communication was considered a technology. Too often the term technology is meant to describe what is new. I don't always use a chainsaw to cut pieces of wood and I don't use an electric hammer to drive in finishing nails. The tools are there and it is our job to show how to use these tools. Beyond that it is up to the students to show us what they can be used to produce. Embeded educational technology often sounds too much like we are giving students frying pans and asking them to make lamps.

Excellent analogy and discussion. What will it take to allow those committed to educate the nation's children in a way that really will prepare them for the future?

Carl, thanks for such a thoughtfful and insightful response. I am at a conference at the moment (hence the delay in responding to your comment), and one of the speakers (Stephen Heppell) berated the approach of trying to what we have always done, but better, instedad of doing something new, which ties in with your point about the paint etc. When I'm back home I'll respond more fully via my own website. Thanks again.

I agree, Louise. Thanks for posting.