Time? If we connect kids to their passion, my hypothesis is they will spend more time. Being a 1:1 school in grades 7-12, what we are finding is that learning continues beyond the classroom. Conversations and interaction via iChat go on non-stop. (We had 2 snow days last week. Teacher and students continued to connect via iChatted and e-mail. VERY COOL!)

We believe at Van Meter that the purpose of an educational system is to find the students passions and strengths, then “coach” them (and their parents) in that direction. We honor all student choices and strive to develop their “passions” and prepare them with skill sets for a “profession”. We work to emphasize service to other and the importance and responsibilities of our freedoms. You may want to read blogs posted by Van Meter Principal Deron Durflinger http://derondurflinger.blogspot.com/ or mine at http://johnccarver.blogspot.com/

1. There will always be school. Remember this is a nation with 2 income parents and parents are incapable or unwilling to be in charge of their kids education….kids gotta go somewhere. What goes on inside these physical buildings? Well, that’s anyone’s guess.

2. There will always be teachers. The role might be drastically different. The environment might be drastically different. In the end, children and young adults will need some guidance on how to be in charge of their own learning.

3. Contact time will decrease. This country assumes contact time will increase learning (increase the school day, summer school, Saturday school). This assumption will be blown up as multiple avenues to learning open up.

4. High school and college will blend for many students.

Ok…that’s off the top of my head. More thoughts but not enough time to articulate right now.

I think another conversation needs to be about collaboration and the role that it plays in the effectiveness of schools. It seems to me that its counter-intuitive to have struggling teachers in front of students without providing MORE support. In some Asian schools, teachers spend as much time during a day collaborating- designing quality lessons and helping all teachers to be effective- as they do in front of kids. What would American schools look like if the average teacher was given time to truly collaborate? ( I realize that this can also be done in plc’s outside of school, and many times more effectively)

Another conversation should be about authentic assessment. Many teachers are frustrated with standardized testing, yet the only means of assessment they use is pencil and paper. There seems to be a huge disconnect here. They argue that they have to prepare kids for a test, so they give more tests. And these tests rarely hit upon true critical thinking skills or analysis and focus mostly on arbitrary information that could be googled in miliseconds. I do believe that conversations about authentic assessment could also drag the frustrations of “standards” and defined curriculum into the mix as well. Who determines what kids should know and can do?

Other conversations to be had could include:

-Interdisciplinary Approaches to learning, as opposed to defined “subjects”

-Teacher issues like lack of autonomy, lack of trust between administration and teachers, teacher willingness to try new things without penalty

- The lack of transparency in classrooms and schools (and how technology can change that)

- Focus on student learning instead of teaching. When we do this, we refocus what is best for kids.

- We have to look at “policy” regarding access to emerging technologies.

Sorry for the long list, but I think there is tremendous potential in schools if we were willing to ask that simple question “What do we want our schools to look like and be?”

I found your comments interesting in regards to the students’ relationships with today’s technology. They have been exposed to it their whole lives, so are they blase about it? They can pick and choose which parts they want to explore or utilize, so why would it be in relation to learning? I guess it’s easy to say that we, as educators, should be tech-savvy and incorporate it in the classroom and our curriculum, but if the student is still not motivated to learn, or does not care, will it make a difference? I know it will to some…I’m just thinking out loud!

Jane

References:
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved January 4, 2010 from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

To Will’s larger point, I see a lot of divides opening up. Even before technology, kids in affluent families had access to museum visits, trips to cultural centers around the world, academic camps, and probably more parental attention than kids in homes where those thing weren’t affordable. Technology makes that gap wider. In our home, we have three computers and, of course, internet access. Plus they have educators as parents. My kids have access to all the world’s information and access to guidance. That needs to be taking place in school, too. I’d actually like to see the possibility for my high schooler to do some classes online at his own pace. I think he easily gets bored. He still needs the socializing in school and his face-to-face classes are small and they’re great for him, but I can tell he wants to do more, but needs a structure put on that. He’d be willing, I think, to take a class online if he got credit for it. Right now, we have an all or nothing option. Everything is either face-to-face or online. Individual classes could be hybridized or the school could be. Perhaps every semester, students take a course online.

Also, I know this gets said over and over and over again, but teachers need time and support to keep up. My son’s teachers can’t even keep their web sites up to date with assignments, much less build a course that can be taught partially online or taken at a student’s own pace.

Looking forward to participating in this conversation at the conference. It’s a good topic!