28.1 Embedding student expectations  (Page 4/7)

Will children progressing through elementary, middle and high schools with such strict and intellectually limiting curricula be prepared for the types of activities that Cole described? If we could somehow begin embedding student expectations earlier and develop curricula for k-12 with more modern expectations and better standards, I think we can get there. Of course this is more of a talk about education reform that open education, but might they not converge at some point or have they already begun to?

I must admit that one of my first thoughts was what “pbach” said about faculty. I was thinking more along the lines of how a university would train faculty to be able to assess assignments and keep up with the many platforms that students might choose if the faculty member isn’t well versed in those technologies. I wondered about what a faculty development program might look like and whether something like it would gain momentum. I also wondered what it might take to get our administration fired up about truly student centered learning like what Cole has described. Results that this type of learning works and that student thrive in an environment where they get to take control of their learning would be a start. Maybe then tenure will be given to faculty based on their positive impact on students instead of how many journal articles or book chapters they publish in a year. With so many of them going online and so many people self-publishing, I think the whole structure needs to be looked at to keep up with the future.

6. brettbixler - november 6th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

There are other forces at work here we need to consider.

First, there are shrinking budgets. These lead to a search for efficiencies, but can result in a decrease in quality. That’s where educational technologists need to step in and make things work well.

Second, the pace of change is ever increasing. Building courses with static activities was OK 10 years ago, but today they just don’t hold up. Experiences quickly become artificial and don’t transfer to the real world.

Also, there is an increased dissatisfaction with the quality of the higher ed experience. This is coming from students and business and industry folks who hire college grads.

We have to build not educational experiences, but places where sound ed experiences can take place, where learning activities can bloom spontaneously and those involved can reflect upon them, add to the next round, and help continuously build the next set of activities - a Garden of Knowledge if you will.

7. new publishing with the embed cole camplese: learning&Innovation - november 6th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

[...] would really appreciate it if you took the time to bounce over to read the post and leave a comment for us to chew on and discuss. Besides, if you are interested in open content [...]

8. cwc5 - november 8th, 2008 at 11:09 am

I completely understand the notion that a certain percentage of faculty will be afraid to participate, but that isn’t my core argument. I’m not even saying that students today have new expectations for the use of technology in teaching and learning. We know they do and I think, to a degree, faculty know this and have made huge strides in the use of technology in their classrooms in the recent past. What I am really wondering is if the shifting awareness of big media to allow us to legally reuse their content will cause shifts in the environments we currently take advantage of in the academy. It just seems we are a bit like the newspaper industry — waiting for someone to get that we don’t really need to change. That isn’t going to happen. Time moves forward.