I also agree that combining some of the questions will help us focus. Not sure what new topics would pop up but I do think assessment and learning spaces would be important. I haven’t looked at the list lately but would trust someone making that decision to round out the conversation.

Lead editors makes some sense. This will be a huge task to create a voice for all of our thoughts.

I would be happy to help in any way. I have authored some books and have some insight into the process. On the other hand, if there are people who are chomping at the bit to do this, that would be fine.

I am just excited to be part of the conversation.

Looking forward to the collaboration.

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But I’m open to lots of different approaches as well!

In my opinion too a question about assessment needs to be in there. Unless we undertake a radical re-thinking about what we want to assess and how that assessment is best done, then any proposals for shifts in learning will always leave themselves open to the response of ‘that’s all very well, but my students need to pass the tests and i’m still going to be judged on my students’ pass rates’.

Approaching the transformation of learning without considering assessment is, i think, potentially naive and may prove to be ultimately counter productive to the generation of a cohesive plan for change. It’s not a very sexy topic to discuss, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a vital part of the whole picture.

You did great work (of course!) in getting this started.

Cheers,
radney

One thing I strive for is to get my students to be active learners who ask questions, as well as to question where the information they receive comes from, whether in book or electronic form. Those skills probably translate to all (or at least most) grades.

I do think it makes sense to think about the questions from a global perspective first (and I also agree that fewer questions than 10 might be a good idea), but we then might want to consider how the skills and qualities we’re aiming for in learners evolve over time, as students develop more of an ability to think abstractly. Even between 9th and 12th grade, there’s a huge difference.

And I completely agree with Will’s concern about assessment. I think it’s crucial that we get away from regurgitation in a world where anyone can look up discrete pieces of information on an iPhone or on Google. However, given that the college application process favors those students who have many many AP exams on their transcripts (this is more of a high school issue for sure), how much do we as educators allow the college board to determine our curriculum in the interest of keeping students “competitive”?

However, my take is that the ten question list is too much. It’s tempting to go with ten just for the round number, but this isn’t a late show top ten list to be read once and thrown aside. These are huge, deep questions, and juggling ten powerful concepts like these is in itself a challenge for me — never mind that it means I have less time and brainpower to devote to each discussion. If you go with Idea 1 and run ten big discussions simultaneously, I simply won’t be able to be involved in all the discussions the way I would like to.

It doesn’t mean we have to lose questions entirely. I like the underlying concept of Idea 2 — let’s dig into one question or a few questions as a first phase, then start up new discussions as the older discussions congeal. Of course, we can always re-visit discussions.

Thanks for taking the lead on this.

I would support all of the random ideas you laid out (with one potential modification noted below) and try to participate as I am able.

On the topic list, there may be a medium that keeps us to a manageable number of items, but allows all of them to be addressed. That would be to have a couple of them as sub-questions under a combined topic. For example, topic 1 could be the role of teachers: what is it and how do we support teachers as it changes? (I am not sure I would combine #9 into it.) We could add a topic Assessments which could address 2 of the 3 additional areas you mentioned. I need some help on possible formulations of this item. For a punt, maybe it is how do we access learning that takes place outside of a traditional framework?

That would get us down to eleven items. And here I will challenge the paradigms. Yes we need a manageable set that is not to big. But let’s face it, 10 is just a number that is convenient and common. Why not make it the #11forEd? Eleven stands out and may help differentiate this effort and any subsequent work. Also 11 items are not really much harder to remember. We would have to go down to 7 to overcome that.