With all the talk around modern learners, it’s probably time we got up close and personal to understand a little more about their motivations, behaviors, and attitudes. First up, let’s be clear. Modern learners aren’t defined by an age group or demographic but rather by their habits, dispositions, and most importantly their ideas about the rapidly changing world in which they now live. They identify by how they function within that modern context. They’re motivated by unlimited access to the world around them and a freedom to learn, and consequently, their behavior is in stark contrast to learners of old. These are not young people who come to us tabla rasa, empty vessels to be filled with prescribed, testable lumps of knowledge. Rather they aspire to be designers of the changing world. They are producers and contributors, not just passive consumers. Ten years ago, at a small research and development operation at ideaslab in Broadmeadows, Australia we spent several years … [Read more...]
Why Start With Why Not?
Have you noticed the "new" trend in thinking about schools? I put "new" in quotes because, of course, it really isn't new at all. In fact, you might call it a renaissance of the thinking that we've always known to be true about bringing kids together to learn with adults in shared spaces. Maria Montessori knew it. John Dewey knew it. Seymour Papert knew it. Deb Meier has known in for half a century: Learning happens more deeply when kids are in charge, when they have choice, when they have freedom and agency. And now, it's becoming much more common to see examples of these schools, new and old, becoming the focus of our conversations around education. The Albemarle Tech: The Center for Creativity and Invention, a new school in Virginia this fall, is a: Full time experience without learning time limitations, curricular divisions, or traditional grading practices. Students will have the opportunity to imagine, design, collaborate, and complete projects both within their own … [Read more...]
Accountability and the Tyranny of Metrics
I think it might be high time we called “accountability” and its kissing cousins “metrics” and “performance indicators” to account. For educators, that draws a focus to assessment, where maybe it's time we asked if high-stakes standardized testing has finally reached its use by date? I mean what do you think it will take before we see public acknowledgment that the damage such ill-conceived tests have done to our kids and their learning, far outweighs any real or perceived benefits? Will it be when we have evidence that supports the depth and breadth of the damage to our learners? In my mind, there is no doubt we already have that, in fact, an overwhelming amounts. Our recent Whitepaper, 7 Strategies to Win the War on Learning references a significant number, and the thousands of downloads would suggest it's already provoking a wider conversation. Will it be when we see policy action at a senior government level that acknowledges the need for alternatives? That is also already … [Read more...]
EdTech is Driving Me Crazy, Too
There's a growing sense that we've reached a breaking point with technologies in the classroom. France is banning all mobile devices from middle and high school next fall. Privacy concerns continue to mount around Google Classroom and other school wide "solutions" that attempt to manage the daily interactions between teachers and students. And now, as AI and VR and AR begin to attach their tentacles to education, concerns about how to marry tech and teachers are reaching new heights. Good times. Yet, as someone who celebrated his 17-year blogging anniversary this week, I'm still in the camp that says humans and technologies can work together in powerful ways in classroom learning contexts. The problem, however, is that most of what ed tech is selling us isn't really about learning; it's about teaching. I was reminded of that once again this week when I walked up to the booth of a big name vendor at a small regional conference and asked the rep what seems to be the toughest … [Read more...]
Agency and the Rise of New Power
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Deputy Headmaster Rohan Brown abruptly cutting a student’s hair that was front page news, but rather what came next. It was a day in early March when school photos were being taken, and as the young lad walked through the front gate of Trinity Grammar, a prominent boy’s school in Melbourne, Brown noticed the length of his hair. As he had done on other occasions, he pulled a pair of scissors out of his pocket and snipped a lock of hair. Only this time, it was captured on a fellow student’s iPhone, posted on social media, and within days Brown was dismissed, after more than thirty years teaching at the school. However, that was not the end of the story but rather the start, with several weeks of student-led protests, meetings, and online petitions to “Bring Brownie Back” which reached out to drive strong parent support. Within weeks Brown was reinstated, the Headmaster resigned together with several School Board members. Now in light of the massive … [Read more...]
Why Change School?
Why Change School? Part 1 It's been almost six years since I wrote Why School? which happily ended up being a best-selling TED Book but, unhappily, didn't allow me to retire to my island paradise due to the $2.99 Kindle-only cover price. I'm still humbled when I look at the Amazon reviews that people have left over the years; for many, the case for doing a serious refresh of this thing we call "school" resonated deeply. People have told me as well that the essay (it's still hard for me to call it a book) kicked off a lot of serious conversations about how our work in schools needs to be seen through a different lens given the profound changes of the last couple of decades. I'm grateful for that. As I reread it this morning, I was struck by how much of it still applies today. Abundance continues to explode. Literacy continues to become more complicated. Learner agency is expanding at an even faster rate as new information, new tools, and new people enter our learning lives. I'm … [Read more...]
How Do You Discover and Develop Talent in Your School?
“It’s hard to find good talent these days.” It’s a catch-cry becoming more and more familiar as the demands of our exponentially changing world force a quite radical shift in the way companies attract, retain, and build talent. Over the years, the Human Resources Department grew from what was previously known as the Payroll Department, and in doing so, its role expanded as novel ideas such as professional development and staff well-being started to take precedence over the traditional bureaucracies associated with hiring, firing, holidays and sick pay. But Human Resources never accurately defined the secret sauce of the people business and today the modern corporation has moved on, and talent has taken center stage. Today's workplace is all about Talent Discovery, Talent Development and Talent Management as (finally) companies recognize that they are only as good as the talent their employees bring onboard. Of course, this was just a question of establishing priorities, and … [Read more...]
If You Really Want to Change School, You Need to Change the Lens
Over the last dozen years, one of the things I've become most interested in is the ways in which schools define their value in the world. In fact, it's one of the first things I try to suss out whenever I visit a school or a district or a board. What matters here more than anything else? What makes this place "successful?" It won't come as a shock to hear that in most places, what matters is results. Specifically, results that are measurable and that easily turn into data that can be compared year over year. To achieve "success" as a school, the numbers have to show it. Higher graduation rates. Better state test scores. More consistent attendance. Gains in SAT, ACT, and AP test scores. Being "data-driven" has a purpose; it's an efficient way of telling a story. Real estate agents love it, even if it may be the wrong story to be evaluating and telling. I say that last bit because another thing I've become deeply interested in is how little state test scores, attendance, SAT, ACT, … [Read more...]
How Does Your Practice Reflect the Modern Context?
For all of the discussions we have shared in these posts and beyond in our Changeleader Community and in Change School, the cold hard facts are that many educators are reluctant or rather, immune to change. The irony of this comment is that for the most part, anyone reading this post has already self-selected as an exception to the rule, and certainly those that are part of the previously mentioned communities, by their very commitment to the dialogue there, are in fact contrary cases. But let me be even more specific. What puzzles me most is how we can now be so aware of the increasingly rapid changes in our world around us, yet be so oblivious to the implications they have for classroom practice. We’ve often written about context as the Modern Learning lens that provides relevance to practice, but I’m yet to be convinced that there has been much shift in classroom practice that has impacted the learning experiences of students on any real scale. Our "adoption" of … [Read more...]
Wanted: Professional Learners
What if one primary goal we had in schools was to develop kids as "professional learners"? As in people who make money because they are learning. That's the intriguing phrasing that one of my favorite workplace bloggers Jane Hart uses to describe what people formerly known as employees need to be to thrive today. In the modern workplace there is no longer such a thing as a job for a life – only a life of jobs – so it’s up to everyone to continuously update their knowledge, skills and productivity and become an independent, modern, professional life-long learner. Much about that resonates for me. The idea that there is a growing sense of self-determination that learners possess, able to choose the what, the why, the when, the how, and the with whom of learning. The idea that learners have to be well versed in the learning affordances of modern technologies. That your paycheck depends on your ability to learn. And, I'll add, the idea that being a productive, caring, … [Read more...]