Christian over at think:lab has been exploring Learning D.N.A. and asked us to come up with 3 questions. Happy to carry on this conversation, I decided to voice some of the questions I have been thinking about. Hopefully, this can help to add a student’s voice to the debate over Learning D.N.A. and the future of education.
- How can the school of the future teach students with a variety of learning styles? There is much talk about how computers are changing the way we learn and interact. Indeed, I couldn’t agree more. However, in their present capacity computers appeal almost entirely to auditory and visual learners. How can integrate the great collaboration and tools which computers into our schools while still allowing kinesthetic learners the same degree of gain?
- How can we create a more dynamic education system? Right now, I am not at all challenged by my current classes? However, I have no option for change. My school will not even allow early grade advancement. It is not unusual for a student to be out of place, it is the norm. How can we create a system in which the education conforms to the student, not the other way around? Think of web 2.0 sites, what if the home pages and rankings were run in an entirely different way? Say, when you Digg an article, it goes into the que. Then, it may get thousands of Diggs (good grades), but would still only advance up the popuilarity list one spot at a time, every day. The system would completely fail. Articles would stay on the top of the list for months and years. Just think, we’d be reading about a bug which was patched 9 months ago. Well, that is how the education system works. Regardless of how well an student (article) does, it still advances only 1 year at a time. Learning 2.0 must be just as dynamic as web 2.0.
- How can we put students throughout the education system? The best way to learn something, in my opinion, is to teach it. Why don’t we put older students into the front of the classroom? Why don’t we give student councils control equal to that of school administrators? Why don’t we trust students? If the wisdom of crowds works, why can’t we try the wisdom of students?
Hopefully, the discussion can continue as we visualize, plan, and create the schools of the future. If Ethan Bodnar and Paul Hillsdon would chime in, I’d love to hear their questions. Let’s keep the conversation flowing. After all, this is our future we’re talking about.
0 Responses to “3 Questions”