I took a few days off to go camping in the Adirondacks with my son Tucker last week. It was a much needed respite, and despite that fact that we officially need a bigger tent (he’s 6′ 2″ now), we had a great time hiking, fishing, and tree adventuring (highly recommended.) I’m surprised, in fact, […]
The WTF Economy? (As in “What’s the Future?”) Read More »
If you want to keep abreast of what is happening with technology in education across developing countries, Mike Trucano from the World Bank writes an interesting blog which focuses on the policy aspects across many regions. The Bank’s reach means he is across a lot more than most, and while his focus is around national
1 to 1 Is Not The Answer Read More »
If you asked my students, they would probably tell you that my classroom has been a seriously miserable place over the past week. We are currently grinding through a unit on ecosystems – and while studying the natural world should be interesting and exciting, our required curriculum is loaded with trivia. Students are expected to
Tacit Expertise vs. Explicit Knowledge Read More »
Recently I was speaking with the superintendent of a small rural district in the US about her frustration with moving real changes forward in her district. “My biggest problem,” she said midway through the conversation, “is that I have a staff that doesn’t read. They’re not really paying attention to what’s happening in the world.”
“Reading” the World Read More »
Several weeks ago I wrote a column about the change, specifically about the accelerating rate of change we are seeing in the world around us. It continues to both puzzle and bother me. What puzzles me is how so many people seem oblivious to it, and what bothers me is the insignificant role the education
Changing How We Talk About Change Read More »
Given the large sums of money being thrown at the latest iteration of “progressive education” mediated by technology, it’s as good a time as any to take a quick look at just what a “progressive education” really is. As Audrey wrote last year here in her first overview of AltSchool, Progressive education plus progressive technology
“Loving Learning” in Progressive Schools Read More »
How many times have you heard the chant, “pedagogy first, technology second?” I could not count the times it has been spoken about in vigorous terms in workshops that I have run in countries across the globe, yet I truly lament the reality we too often find in our schools. Recently I visited a school
Toward More Ambitious Practice in Schools Read More »
Let’s start with a simple truth: If I had to choose between spending an hour in a school-wide professional development session covering a mandated concept being rolled out to our entire staff or spending an hour in my classroom learning on my own, I’d choose to learn on my own every time. I love the
Agency and Autonomy in Learning: Starting Points Read More »
Convictions in the Atlanta Cheating Trial. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
The printing press changed our relationship with knowledge and helped spark the Protestant Reformation, which one could say helped bring about the Enlightenment and all of those scientific advances (such as modern medicine) that we now take for granted. The Internet is once again changing our relationship with knowledge, whether we like it or not:
Why Curriculum Constrains Learning Read More »
Do the stories that we tell about education technology demand we ask more questions? Do they prompt us to rethink what teaching and learning looks like? Or does education technology simply re-inscribe older stories, older practices? And do the stories that we tell about education technology, particularly when those stories are tinged with judgment, shame,
The Stories We Tell about Education Technology Read More »
At a time where there is so much talk about transforming our schools, maybe it’s time we transformed our ideas around change. In a recent McKinsey article, Gary Hammel argued that the reason 70% of large scale change initiatives fail lies in beliefs about who is responsible for launching change and how that change is
Are You Leading Change or Building a Platform for Change? Read More »
“Create places that promote conditions of wonder and curiosity and that catalyze the imagination of children.” As a space designer for the past two years, I’ve spent a great deal of time in schools looking at spaces through a lens of both an educator and that of a designer. As you might expect, the physical
Making Learning Modern: Redesigning Classrooms Read More »
Two recent news articles from different parts of the world should have us thinking hard about the future of the teaching profession. First, from Australia, a report that there has been a 12% fall in applications to study teaching at that country’s universities this year. Greg Craven, the vice-chancellor at Australian Catholic University says, not
Urgent Memo: We’re Losing Teachers Read More »
In the midst of the ongoing dialogue around modern learners and modern learning, I was wondering how far the conversations within your school community have reached. To what extent have you been able to engage parents and your wider community in the dialogue, and what has been their response? I think it would be fair
Who Knows About Modern Learning? Read More »
