Saturday, October 24, 2015

"Get on with it!"

Sugata Mitra's talk on learning and our schools was thought-provoking. He is but another voice calling for the transformation of our obsolete system. I wonder when and where the tipping point will come. When will parents and, more importantly, students refuse to support and engage in the current format of learning? We're still in the midst of "amendments" and "updates" and "improvements" as evidenced by the Common Core, SBAC, and factory model curricula.

Mitra convinces his audience of the ability and capacity of children to learn without teachers and money. It seems that we've got to find a way to get internet accessibility to our most underserved globally if his dream is to be realized. I worry that we may prioritize technology over access to food, shelter, and healthcare or that our poorest will be left behind. Perhaps Mitra might argue that creating a "school in the cloud" will enrich the lives of all and assist in fighting poverty and starvation. I'd like to hear more about that.

I'd also like to hear more about how his idea will strengthen historically marginalized people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

He presented strong evidence for his premise and gives us all something to seriously ponder.

2 comments:

  1. I love that you posed the question "When will parents and, more importantly, students refuse to support and engage in the current format of learning?". I honestly thing many of our students are refusing now. I think many of the behavior issues we deal with in our classrooms are rooted in a lack of relevancy and engagement. I keep thinking of that quotes "If students don't learn the way we teach, then we need to teach the way then learn." I don't think we are currently very successful in that at all. Edtech integration seems like it would move us a long way in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that you posed the question "When will parents and, more importantly, students refuse to support and engage in the current format of learning?". I honestly thing many of our students are refusing now. I think many of the behavior issues we deal with in our classrooms are rooted in a lack of relevancy and engagement. I keep thinking of that quotes "If students don't learn the way we teach, then we need to teach the way then learn." I don't think we are currently very successful in that at all. Edtech integration seems like it would move us a long way in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete