Top of the show recommendations:
This week, I’m sharing stuff I like around the home
- The Week (best digest of all that is happening in one publication)
- Senseo Coffee maker (no mess and a consistent cup of coffee… every time)
- FlipVideo camera (small, convenient and decent output)
- Roomba (it really works and it’s sort of fun)
Episode Notes: A look at if we’re even in an education crisis and who says we are and the limitations of a techno-centric view of schooling.
Educational crisis
- In the 80s, it was the DOE publication A Nation at Risk that sparked “crisis” in US education.
- “There seems to be a pattern: when the country feels insecure, let’s fix our problems with trying to reform education (let the kids fix it)”.
- “NCLB which attempts to judge all things evenly (built on a concept that was the Houston [Texas] Miracle…later found to be a fraud…but not many people will talk about that…”
- “…and I still agree with Harry Wong and other who have said that you can’t fix a society’s problems with education.”
- “Here’s the problem: you have to dig really deep below the words and scary headlines and stats to see if there is really merit to how a school or a district or a state or a nation is doing in education.”
So what about technology?
- “Well, it gets in the way and probably will continue to cloud the resources and energies and we “prepare our students” for the 21st Century…”
- “And I’m thinking: people are really viewing education as a business and how fast a business should be run…”
- “Instead, learning isn’t fast; learning is much like the plateau where “better” learning happens over a long period of time…For who ever said that somehow you needed to know a lot more facts than you did 20 years ago…isn’t the better ideal that people, our students, their parents, our colleagues and us…all can think and ponder and wonder and reflect and articulate …”
Yeah, but…some practical upshot:
Download and participate in a FOSS community
Read about community
- Opensource Democracy (Douglas Ruskhoff)
- Open Sources: Voices from the Opensource Revolution (O’Reilly)
- Linux Journal, Linux Format
Show length: 32:33
Download this episode here, listen to this episode using the badge on this page or subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.
Next Week:”Episode 17: Teach me Moodle, okay?”One approach to staff development as we consider how to teach (not so much train) teachers Moodle.
On TalkShoe: Sunday, 06/15/2008 07:05 PM EDT’ 06/15/2008 07:05 PM EDT
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