Right now, the following items are open in side by side tabs in my browser:<\/p>\n
The webpage for educon21<\/a>, described as more of a conversation than a conference, committed to discussing the future of schools. \u00a0 According to the page, there are five axioms underlying the conference that are guiding principals:<\/p>\n It will be held at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia from January 23 to 25.\u00a0 The conversations very much meet these axioms, concerned with reforming schools in ways that focus on creating networked, collaborative learning spaces.\u00a0 The conference itself focuses on facilitating discussions rather than providing presentations.\u00a0 It sounds like a wonderful place to do some visioning with like-minded people, many of whom are at least in my extended professional learning network.<\/p>\n In the next two tabs are two stories related to using technology to teach math.\u00a0 eSchool News describes<\/a> how colleges are meeting the challenge of math remediation by providing access to self-paced online math instruction.\u00a0 Basically, schools subscribe to an online tutoring program that takes students through learning module and saves lots of money by not having to provide access to full-time faculty.\u00a0 (An interesting aside about this article.\u00a0 The data related to the cost of remediation comes from a study by Pearson.\u00a0 And, guess what, Pearson has an online math tutorial subscription site!)<\/p>\n In an article from Washington Monthly, Kevin Carey speculates<\/a> about why it is that, despite saving lots of money using technology, college tuition is going up.\u00a0 He features Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium, a 700-computer-lab that run math tutorial modules complete with quizzes and tests.\u00a0 Students progress at their own pace: “Instead of marking progress by time\u2014<\/em>the number of hours spent in proximity to a lecturer\u2014Emporium courses measure advancement by evidence of learning.”\u00a0 And while that seems like a worthwhile reform, it was implemented mostly due to budget and space problems rather than a concern for the learner.\u00a0 Tech is an engineering bastion and all those engineers have to take linear algebra.\u00a0 There just wasn’t enough class space or money for full-time professors so setting up 700 computers in a local mall and hiring grad students was the cheapest alternative.<\/p>\n I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s like there are two parallel conversations about education and technology going on right now, and I’m involved in both of them.\u00a0 One is about how technology can support changing the way we do education and the other is about how technology can offer solutions to current problems without making any real change in education.\u00a0 The latter conversation offers efficiency as its goal and does put the student at the center of learning but not quite in the way that the educon21 folks have in mind.\u00a0 It’s more about delivering content than it is about student learning.\u00a0 And, in a world of high-stakes tests, content and product seem to trump pedagogy and process every time.<\/p>\n Both conversations can and will continue to go on at the same time for at least the foreseeable future.\u00a0 I worry that if we spend too much time figuring out how to use technology to solve budget and space problems and deliver content efficiently then we’re distracted from considering how technology can be part of the transformation.\u00a0 But then I interview teachers faced with mile-wide, inch-deep standardized curriculum that has to be covered before the test, and I’m not sure if the system is ready for the kind of transformation that is being discussed at educon21.<\/p>\n And, I find myself struggling to identify what my responsibility is to my pre-service teachers.\u00a0 I’m trying to model a more student-centered collaborative learning experience that includes an emphasis on tapping into the network.\u00a0 But I’m preparing them for a very different kind of classroom where they will face often overwhelming demands on their time, energy and passion.\u00a0 How do I lessen the cognitive dissonance for them and help them find some middle ground?\u00a0 Or is is that there isn’t middle ground?\u00a0 Is it time to break the cycle of tinkering toward utopia<\/a> as Tyack and Cuban suggest has happened throughout the long history of education by making a clean break and giving up everything the way Mike Bogle<\/a> suggests we should do in his eloquent rant against the establishment:<\/p>\n We must forget everything we think we know; and approach learning as though we\u2019ve never done it before; never been taught, and never taught others.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Certainly in an environment where “the test” is overshadowing everything else, such a break would be refreshing, wouldn’t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Right now, the following items are open in side by side tabs in my browser: The webpage for educon21, described as more of a conversation than a conference, committed to discussing the future of schools. \u00a0 According to the page, there are five axioms underlying the conference that are guiding principals: Our schools must be … Continue reading Living With Cognitive Dissonance<\/span> \n