The Transformation of
Learning
The following is an
excerpt of an article sent by ESSDACK Director, Dr. Mike Cook, to
superintendents. This is not the full article, but identifies many of the
challenges school districts are facing as USD 331 moves to provide blended learning
with the use of Edgenuity, meet new Kansas College and Career Readiness
Standards, implement Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs and our district’s commitment to do so by implementation of Project Lead the
Way and many more initiatives currently under way. The teacher is a vital part of the
learning, but we are in a transition of learning to teach in new ways.
(Appropriate credit for the author and journal is listed at the end of the
article.)
Today’s Internet connectivity makes accessible the sum of
all human knowledge and over two billion people who can teach it to you. Let’s
pause for a moment to think about the impact of that innovation. It’s huge
beyond reckoning. In fact, when measuring shifts in human history, researchers
such as Robert Darton from Harvard University have said this is one of the four
most fundamental changes in information in human history, ranking it with the
creation of alphabets for writing, the development of the first books and the
invention of the printing press.
With the advent in just the last few years of a truly
interactive World Wide Web where people of all ages and all interests can
create and share their ideas, a time of real educational transformation is at
hand. As billions of people from all parts of the globe begin to communicate,
collaborate and connect in fresh and creative ways, their use of technology is
challenging the traditional structures of business, journalism, politics and,
ultimately, education. What happens to journalism when everyone has his or her
own printing press? What happens to politics when constituents can have their
own voices heard by large Internet audiences? What happens to businesses when
their consumers can easily converse widely about their products? And what
happens to schools when the sum of human knowledge and thousands of potential
teachers are available at the click of a mouse?
Educators are just beginning to face these questions. For
the first time, more than just the privileged few in our society have easy
access to knowledge in the form of a digital library overflowing with relevant,
diverse, high-quality information. No longer are teachers the sole arbiters of
knowledge. No longer do classroom walls limit the reach of students’ work. No
longer is learning restricted to small blocks of time over weeks or months. It’s
a time where the learner has become empowered, and the monopoly that schools
had on learning up until the 1990s is far behind us, and fading in the rear
view mirror.
These changes do not mean that we should abandon proven best
practices of schooling that support teacher growth and student achievement, or
that meaningful face-to-face relationships between teachers and students are
any less important. Students still need to learn many of the same basic skills
as they always have. But it does mean that many of our long-held beliefs about
schooling are being challenged by new technologies that allow learners to
create networks of trusted mentors in meaningful communities of practice, and
to share widely the fruits of their efforts.
In short—it’s a brave, new, interconnected world—and we have
to figure out how to teach in it.
This is an excerpt
taken from the following Journal and author:
PERSPECTIVES: a Journal of Research and Opinion About
Educational Service Agencies, Volume 19, 2013 (4); How 21st Century
Service Agencies Create 21st Century Schools: Using research and
data to target services and meet the diverse technology needs of member
districts by Rob Mancabelli.
