First of all, thanks to all of you who chimed in as to how to go about crowdsourcing this idea. Some great ideas that I’m going to try to navigate here in an attempt to offer a consensus plan. And just for the record, I’m struggling a bit with what the role of “Manager of a Crowdsourced Project” is since I don’t want to be the final arbiter or any of the decisions made by the participants but also feel like we’ll be spinning our wheels without some attempt and creating a process. There is also the danger of taking an eternity to agree on a process. So, with that said, and with the knowledge that not everyone is going to be happy, here are some suggested next steps:
Idea 1: A couple of people floated the idea of asking for “lead” editors for each of the questions, setting up a separate space each of those questions, and opening it up to having people come in and add their thoughts. The “leads” would then make a concerted effort to fashion those thoughts and ideas into a coherent draft, and then put that draft up for review. At that point, people could revise, edit, etc., and we could also add a space for dissent or at least a conversation around competing ideas.
Idea 2: A number of folks noted that most of this flows from the really big question of “What is the purpose of school?”Perhaps we should tackle that one first and then set up pages for the other questions?
Idea 3: A few people suggested a combining or re-ordering of the questions. I do think that, for example, that questions 1, 2 and 9 could be merged into one, which would allow for some of the runner-ups to be included. I’ll throw in my own personal bias here: I think there has to be a discussion around assessment somewhere in here. I don’t want to open up a whole ‘nother round of voting on questions, however, so if it’s easier, we can just go with what we have.
Some other random ideas to consider:
- I’ll offer up the tag #10forEd to track all of this. That ok?
- We could have an Elluminate series of discussions around each of these questions. Interested?
- Shelly Blake-Plock is interested in exploring some historical contexts of all of this. Could be an interesting addition to a finished piece.
- Can we shoot for Monday as a deadline for hashing out the process?
Seems people are pretty interested in seeing this turn into some type of “real” document that schools can use as a starting point for conversations. At some point, we’ll have to get really clear on our intents as well, and we’ll have to define some process for the actual crowdsourcing piece. But I’m thinking we can move this forward without too much delay.
Thoughts?
Hi Will,
Count me in! I like the idea of starting with the purpose of school and then branching into the other questions through the “Idea 1” plan. That could give us a common ground to explore as we get ready to examine the more specific topics in the other questions. It might lengthen the whole process a little bit, but I think it will be worth it. I also just read Shelly Blake-Plock’s post about the historical context of these shifts, and I think his research could be a great addition to the finished product. Maybe an introduction? I’m up for Elluminate discussions or whatever else. Thanks for initiating this conversation!
Hi Will,
Thanks for taking the lead on this.
I would support all of the random ideas you laid out (with one potential modification noted below) and try to participate as I am able.
On the topic list, there may be a medium that keeps us to a manageable number of items, but allows all of them to be addressed. That would be to have a couple of them as sub-questions under a combined topic. For example, topic 1 could be the role of teachers: what is it and how do we support teachers as it changes? (I am not sure I would combine #9 into it.) We could add a topic Assessments which could address 2 of the 3 additional areas you mentioned. I need some help on possible formulations of this item. For a punt, maybe it is how do we access learning that takes place outside of a traditional framework?
That would get us down to eleven items. And here I will challenge the paradigms. Yes we need a manageable set that is not to big. But let’s face it, 10 is just a number that is convenient and common. Why not make it the #11forEd? Eleven stands out and may help differentiate this effort and any subsequent work. Also 11 items are not really much harder to remember. We would have to go down to 7 to overcome that.
I intended specifically to address the number of questions and am pleasantly surprised to see that conversation already started, Terry. 🙂
However, my take is that the ten question list is too much. It’s tempting to go with ten just for the round number, but this isn’t a late show top ten list to be read once and thrown aside. These are huge, deep questions, and juggling ten powerful concepts like these is in itself a challenge for me — never mind that it means I have less time and brainpower to devote to each discussion. If you go with Idea 1 and run ten big discussions simultaneously, I simply won’t be able to be involved in all the discussions the way I would like to.
It doesn’t mean we have to lose questions entirely. I like the underlying concept of Idea 2 — let’s dig into one question or a few questions as a first phase, then start up new discussions as the older discussions congeal. Of course, we can always re-visit discussions.
This is a great idea. Some of the questions I am more interested in than others and this will allow me to participate more on those. I can’t wait to see how this plays out. You have the ability to involve a very diverse group of educators with this and the conversations are sure to be fun.
It occurs to me that the purpose of “school” (and the answers to several other questions) may vary, depending on the age of the students. As a high school teacher, I see my role as somewhat different than that of a 3rd grade or 7th grade teacher. Not entirely different, but different.
One thing I strive for is to get my students to be active learners who ask questions, as well as to question where the information they receive comes from, whether in book or electronic form. Those skills probably translate to all (or at least most) grades.
I do think it makes sense to think about the questions from a global perspective first (and I also agree that fewer questions than 10 might be a good idea), but we then might want to consider how the skills and qualities we’re aiming for in learners evolve over time, as students develop more of an ability to think abstractly. Even between 9th and 12th grade, there’s a huge difference.
And I completely agree with Will’s concern about assessment. I think it’s crucial that we get away from regurgitation in a world where anyone can look up discrete pieces of information on an iPhone or on Google. However, given that the college application process favors those students who have many many AP exams on their transcripts (this is more of a high school issue for sure), how much do we as educators allow the college board to determine our curriculum in the interest of keeping students “competitive”?
Have you considered starting public Wave discussions on the various questions? I would like to participate in this, if others are interested. I would also like to participate in Elluminate sessions on the topics.
You did great work (of course!) in getting this started.
Cheers,
radney
I think this is a really interesting project and i’m particularly interested to see how a global perspective is reflected or emerges from the process.
In my opinion too a question about assessment needs to be in there. Unless we undertake a radical re-thinking about what we want to assess and how that assessment is best done, then any proposals for shifts in learning will always leave themselves open to the response of ‘that’s all very well, but my students need to pass the tests and i’m still going to be judged on my students’ pass rates’.
Approaching the transformation of learning without considering assessment is, i think, potentially naive and may prove to be ultimately counter productive to the generation of a cohesive plan for change. It’s not a very sexy topic to discuss, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a vital part of the whole picture.
I like the idea of beginning all together by looking at the purpose of school, which does after all underlie all we do, and then branching out to the other questions. I agree that adding in an assessment piece makes sense. I also agree that the more questions there are, the more potentially overwhelming this project could become (though of course each of us can be as active or inactive as we choose). Thus, I would support combining some of the questions. However, rather than adding back in some of the runners-up, I would suggest we add in just the topic of assessment and leave it at that.
But I’m open to lots of different approaches as well!
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Will,
I totally missed this post last week. I am anxious to get at it. I agree that we could all participate in some discussion about the purpose of school. That would ground us for the subsequent conversations.
I also agree that combining some of the questions will help us focus. Not sure what new topics would pop up but I do think assessment and learning spaces would be important. I haven’t looked at the list lately but would trust someone making that decision to round out the conversation.
Lead editors makes some sense. This will be a huge task to create a voice for all of our thoughts.
I would be happy to help in any way. I have authored some books and have some insight into the process. On the other hand, if there are people who are chomping at the bit to do this, that would be fine.
I am just excited to be part of the conversation.
Looking forward to the collaboration.