The End of Education Is the Dawn of Learning
Trung Le,
FastCoDesign,
Sept 26, 2010
Nobody is sure what is happening to education, but more and more people are convinced it's changing, and all of them are happy about that. See Thomes Frey, for example. Today's case in point: Stephen Heppell. This interview with the "Yoda of learning" outlines his thoughts on educational change. But it begins to sound more like more of the same, not breakthrough. "I have a simple rule of three for third millennium learning spaces," he says. "1. No more than three walls so that there is never full enclosure... 2. No fewer than three points of focus so that the 'stand-and-deliver' model gives way to increasingly varied groups learning... 3. Ability to accommodate three teachers." Open concept, small groups and team teaching? They were trying that on me in the 70s! Not that it's all bad, but it seems like quite a stretch to represent this as 21st century learning.
An unfailing sign that someone is more showman than shaman is that his ideas are fundamentally conservative but tied to the trending and topical. Thus we see Heppell talk about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti in the second-last paragraph. Yes, as he says, "I think we have made learning too expensive." But disaster-hopping and name-dropping won't fix the problems. People who want to write seriously on an issue should be prohibited from linking it to what's current in mass media. It's just pandering, and diminishes whatever they are talking about. Via Zecool.
An unfailing sign that someone is more showman than shaman is that his ideas are fundamentally conservative but tied to the trending and topical. Thus we see Heppell talk about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti in the second-last paragraph. Yes, as he says, "I think we have made learning too expensive." But disaster-hopping and name-dropping won't fix the problems. People who want to write seriously on an issue should be prohibited from linking it to what's current in mass media. It's just pandering, and diminishes whatever they are talking about. Via Zecool.
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