Anyway, I’ve given much thought to the future of alternative educational pathways (http://bit.ly/91JLK7) and one of the aspects of it that I have been tossing around is exactly what will happen if “school” becomes less f2f.

As an assistant principal who deals primarily with student management (i.e. discipline), I think kids are tired of being forced to spend 12 years with the same peer group! It is a fact of life that not everyone will be friends, and yes it is a valuable life skill to learn how to deal with people you don’t like, however, bullying and harassment gets taken to new levels each and every day. Alternative settings that allow students on the fringe to seek out their interests without the fear of ridicule will only strengthen their self-confidence and give them better coping skills when they are older and more mature.

Furthermore, with tracking as it is in schools, not only do students spend 12 years with the same grade level, they may spend it with the same 30 or 40 kids depending on which track they fall into.

I was glad to see the NJ Education Commissioner talk about small learning communities, more specifically, the possibility of easing up on the laws to create Charter schools http://bit.ly/bkGm5Z. This may be another small step toward shifting what schooling will look like in the future.

I noticed on Twitter recently that there’s an Open Source Second Life mashup called Sloodle it uses Moodle (too much Dr Seuss!) -that makes this LMS into a Game Engine. This I understand allows educators and students to co-create simulations for vocational and technical education etc.

How to leverage it for the students and how to leverage the students-they do it!

Invest in students (call it venture learning) whereby groups of students and teachers co-create curriculum together and students are paid for the work they do, either in cash or social revenue sharing and (work place relevant) certification?

That is the students create the much needed and missing high quality digital content in the form of ‘games’ for the curriculum – and the Commons. I temper this enthusiasm with a ‘second that emotion’ for Patrick’s call for outdoor adventure.

I’m off to flesh it out on my blog.
http://www.ruthhoward.edublogs.org/

I’ve been thinking on this, imagining groups of people coming to Tasmania, being stripped of their go-gadgets and embarking on guided nature walks, wilderness adventures and meditation retreats.

(perhaps I should ad a # for Tourism Tasmania!)

I would suggest that as the evolution takes place we cannot remove the face to face community hub that a physical school represents. It may very well have a different face than the current classroom model, likely based around individual student needs and schedules. But we must in some way consider the huge benefit to structured and non-structured real world group interaction, and preserve the community connection physical school represents.

I use web2.0 and social media in my classroom as much as possible, and I continually am searching for more opportunities to do so. I have also guided young people on mountaineering adventures in which their ability to function as a group member was integral to growth and success. As we re-imagine education and shape into it’s new form we cannot forget to balance the use technology, and possibility of decentralization, with the importance and benefits of human connection and belonging.

One of the things I think is causing this shift is the changing work place. Parents are finding that work is no longer done simply at the office, or from 9-5. This mobility has allowed families to begin to seek alternative lifestyles and I think they are now demanding that schools provide the same. Where families used to build their schedule around school, they are now asking that time for schooling (learning) work around their schedule. I know here in New Hampshire many of the kids (if not all) who seek out virtual options do so because they or their family want the flexibility in their schedule that traditional schools can not provide.