Education is fundamentally an endeavor grounded in guesses. Well, that may be hyperbole, but our curriculum is a guess at what our students may need to know for their future. We really can’t know what they are going to do, how things are going to change, or what we missed that we should have taught. Read More
Category: Schools
Elevator Pitch on Changing Nature of Education
Education really has changed in recent decades. My reasons for concluding this is true are many, varied, and too complicated to detail here. It is tempting to blame education for the changes in society that we observe, but that will gain us nothing and the blame is not deserved. All schools serve the learners who Read More
Elevator Pitch on Digital Equity
It is an unfortunate reality that there remains a digital divide in the United States; disadvantaged students have less access to technology tools, and even if they do have access to the tools, they are more likely to be used for efficient instruction of procedural and declarative knowledge rather than more effective or efficacious purposes. Read More
Elevator Pitch on John Dewey
John Dewey, the American philosopher is often credited with differentiating traditional from progressive education. In general, traditional education approaches the curriculum as a known collection of content, and teachers select a path through the content, ensuring students learn by rewarding expected answers and correcting inaccurate answers. Progressive education, on the other hand, is designed to Read More
On Working in Schools
When I was an undergraduate student, the university had recently begun a project which found students in education programs spending time in schools early in their studies. Faculty realized a small fraction of their students discovered during their student-teaching, just before they graduated, that they did not like working in schools as adults. Even those Read More
Elevators Pitch on Change in Schools
Some schools lack the structures necessary to change what happens in classrooms; schedules, departments, prescribed curriculum, and other systems are obstacles that are too great. Schools are social organizations, thus inherently political; changes in how teachers interact with students can be affected by the demands or threats of those who are more powerful. Some teachers Read More
Elevator Pitch: School IT Decisions
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More
An Old Adage Revisited
“Those who can do. Those who can’t teach.” We have all seen this quote and observed (accurately) that it doesn’t show the great wit that many who toss it around think. Poems have been written about it; keynote speeches have been given about it. Books and articles have been written about it. We all despise Read More
Why Reform Produces No Changes
Educational reform tends to follow a cycle that is familiar to many: First, an initiative (supported with little or dubious evidence from the learning sciences) is introduced and implemented (with little or dubious support and rationale). Second, problems with the initiative appear. These can originate from poor or incomplete implementation or support, discrepancies between the Read More
Assumptions That Are Likely False
• curriculum comprises well-defined information and skills that represent necessary human knowledge • the purpose of schools is to ensure students get the information and skills into their brains, thus become educated • educators know how to deliver instruction so the curriculum is transferred into students’ brains • the most efficient instruction occurs from simple Read More