Monday, November 28, 2011

Technology - Changing the Rules to the Game of School



I've had the privilege of connecting with Brandt Redd around education data standards work.  This is a video of his presentation at the iNACOL VSS Conference.  It is encouraging to see the work supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (and many others) addressing some of the critical success factors for Approaching 100% by 2014 that I wrote about back in 2007, and refined in the 2010-2011 edition of Approaching 100 Percent.  Some common themes include:

  • assessment AS learning, abundant assessment (and tight feedback loops)
  • student motivation and ownership of learning
  • learning maps 
  • teacher as most scarce resource and the need for a structure that takes advantage of abundant resources  and advance the teaching profession,
  • why the classroom-centric "game of school" is designed for something different than fulfilling today's measures of success, and
  • economic concepts that leverage innovation to 'change the game' 
In the book I contend that technology alone will not do the job; innovation in organizations, professional practices, government policies, and economic models also need to be part of the solution.  The liklehood and timing of success depends on many factors pulling in the same direction to overcome what I call "cultural inertia."  Brandt's presentation, the role of technology as a catalyst in 'changing the game'.  He does a good job of describing our system of education in the U.S. from a gaming perspective, and the work of some key initiatives helping to move toward an improved system able to meet the needs of every learner.  

...see more from Brandt at his blog.

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