After reading Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Allan Collins and Richared Halverson, I am left with many more questions than answers. The following is a sample of my written notes from the margins of my copy. I highly recommend this book.
We have experienced the knowledge explosion. The dust settled. Can we evolve, adjust and survive?
Have computers extended the human mind beyond the limits of the teacher of even the finest teachers?
Is technology disrupting local community building?
Are today’s schools mostly knowledge factories where one attempts to learn what “very esteemed thinkers” believe necessary to prosper?
Will we build schools that respect the students’ innate curiosity and need for solving real-life problems? Will we change only when we start losing our client base?
Will we create an environment where we celebrate failure as a sign of pure learning?
Will we allow students to roam freely between learning spaces? Will we trust students to take control of their own learning?
Can we create schools that create organizations and systems that enhance, rather than stifle, innovation?
Am I part of the problem?
Can we recognize and celebrate all that we are already doing to satisfy our students’ far-reaching demands?
Will we allow parents and students back into curriculum development and implementation?
Are we teaching all students successfully? Can we afford to let our students live a life of confinement until they leave high school?
Can we name and end the barriers of learning?
With improved educational leadership, can the need for classroom management be a thing of the past?
Can all teachers be allowed to inspire?
So many of my students are competitive, scared and lacking confidence. Am I allowing my kids to make the most of their time in the classroom?
Can we continue to teach curriculum that we know is out of sync with what students need to know?
Can we create a system that respects students right to question and investigate their own answers?
How much of my work day is bureaucracy of one form or the other?
Why is school attendance still compulsory? Why can’t kids learn from home?
Why are kids graded by age? Never, in the past year, have I been in a room filled with fellow forty-five year olds.
Why are teachers’ editions of textbooks still used in school? Why is so much of the school day dedicated to tradition, behavior control and consistency?
How come students, parents and teachers do not write report cards collaboratively? Why aren’t all students on an Individualized Education Plan?
Why are Middle and High Schools such pressure cookers?
Can we accept that students are much more tech-savvy and more understanding of the adult world than we are wiling to believe?
Can we pay teachers to pursue their own personalized learning?
Can we allow for more project-based curriculum?
Can we accept that a culture of lifelong learning is what we all need to survive?
Can educational gaming and simulations become more of the day-to-day instruction and not a distraction to avoid at all costs?
Will alternative certificates and “badges” replace standard issue, high school diplomas?
Is High School already an anachronism?
Again, I urge all to read this book. Your students will thank you.
Reference:
Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology. New York and London: Teachers College Press