Q: Why is education resistant to change?
Q: For what does NEA stand?

The calls to action are coming fast and furious: Will Richardson is calling for political action, harnessing the power of the read/write web to impact educational policy. To me, there are three questions. First, what, exactly, does this community as…

I think this community has a real opportunity. As James Farmer said above. This is a global concern not just a US/North America concern, but one that can be/needs to be far reaching, much like ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. We have edubloggers around the world that could be callled into action in key places like Canada, Oz, UK, US, Europe, and Internationally. What we are looking at is a fundamental change in the belief of education and education theory. Count me in!

The framing doesn’t seem quite right to me. Why do some people regard their blogs as being confined to education only in the first place? There has been political activity in the blogosphere happening for some time that is connected to education – censorware in schools, creative commons, copyright law issues, DOPA, net neutrality, free software movement, pirate party. If “edubloggers” are already involved in these issues (many are) then they are already being political.

It’s a different framing IMO. I think what’s needed is for net savvy people to recognise (if they don’t already) that politicians will only take notice when a movement has political clout, ie. numbers that vote or take to the streets. Then political groups like the pirate party, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party#Political_impact , perhaps with a broader platform that includes educational issues directly are formed on that basis. Then when you get x% of the vote the normal pollies will take up the issues too because their future will depend on it.

This is an educational argument first, and a political argument second. If we make a case grounded in sound pedagogy, it will make the subsequent discussions (ie, political, technological, and economic) easier.

We’re not in this to win political battles, but to educate more effectively. However, in this case, it’s clearly necessary to wage a political discussion in order to be able to teach and learn more effectively.

So, let’s get this done.

Cheers,

Bill

I was thinking about a podcast I heard on Business Week about Best Buy’s transformation of their corporate workday, due to technology advances. But the other reason they could transform their workplace is because they did have the “metrics” in place to make sure it was working.

Now I don’t think standardized testing as it exists now is a great metric necessarily, but my point is that isn’t there a way to achieve great change, but still see how it is working over the long haul?

Another point that story brought to mind is that many/most businesses get it. They know their survival depends on being “with it” and web friendly. So maybe that is another place to start–with the business world.

Silicon Valley visionaries most definitely get it. Bill Gates is already donating large amounts of money to transform education. George Lucas has Edutopia. But I believe, by and large, that many businesses across the country do get it.

And parents work in those businesses, of course.

Whatever one’s opinion about the World is Flat, it did speed up this conversation nationally, and has been widely read and talked about.
I think using springboards like that book and Daniel Pink’s book could be helpful too. At our school, we’re considering a schoolwide read-aloud for students and parents of Whole New Mind, as a way to get our community united in this conversation.

I do think it’s important we raise our voices and get the conversation out there.

I also think–this whole transformation is at a fledgling point in schools themselves. Teachers are aware of these changes, but are still in very traditional classroom mode, probably at the majority of schools.

Maybe a “manifesto” of best practices would be a good thing to develop for sharing with candidates?

For example, one huge need I see is time for teachers to learn and plan. One part of my manifesto would be adopting a more college-like model for schools, or regular early release days for training and learning time. Model classrooms in every school. E-learning…and on and on.

I was also thinking about what Dangerously Irrelevant(Scott Mcleod) posted about having a BHAG. http://scottmcleod.typepad.com/dangerouslyirrelevant/2007/01/do_you_have_a_b.html

This sort of movement would need a Big,Hairy, Audacious (and I might add, easy to understand and remember) type of catch phrase.

I applaud this conversation because it feels like while the world is whizzing by, the national and state policies are mired in the slow moving thinking of the past, and that schools are just going to pass them all by as irrelevant before too long.

Thanks for the thoughts.

My idea may seem quite simplistic, but I would like to offer it just the same. Over the past several months I have witnessed a network of educators that continues to grow. How many have gone onto the blog sites of these candidates? How many have blogged to the news sites? If you could get a “grass roots” movement to begin this process, I believe that over time it would be noticed. [Just remember John Kerry and his medals.

Senator Chuck Schummer (D-NY) has said it himself that the Democratic party lacks focus on what they believe. Maybe for once, the public [edubloggers] can lend some help.

In a quick review, both John Edwards and Hilary Clinton have blogs running on their election sites. Neither Barak Obama, Rudy Guiliani or John McCain have one as yet.