(Cross-posted to “The Pulse“) One of the most challenging pieces of figuring out how to move education forward in a systemic way is an “unlearning curve” that we teachers and educators have to go through to even see the possibilities that lay before us. So much of our traditional thinking about personal learning and classroom practice is being challenged by our ability to publish and connect and collaborate primarily because of the opportunities afforded by the Read/Write Web. For instance, in a world where literally any place can be a classroom, we have to unlearn the comforts of four walls that we’ve become accustomed to. When we can share our work with wide audiences, we need to unlearn the idea that student writing and projects are simply ways to assess what they know.
There is no curriculum for unlearning, and, of course, in many ways it’s simply learning to see things differently or to at least be open to it. To me at least, the key is attempting to understand how these technologies can transform our own learning practice (and, I would guess, our unlearning practice as well.) If we can get started on that road, it can become much easier to re-envision our classrooms and our schools.
So, with that brief introduction, here are 10 things that I think we need to unlearn:
We need to unlearn the idea that we are the sole content experts in the classroom, because we can now connect our kids to people who know far more than we do about the material we’re teaching.
We need to unlearn the premise that we know more than our kids, because in many cases, they can now be our teachers as well.
We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process.
We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills.
We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning.
We need to unlearn the notion that our students don”t need to see and understand how we ourselves learn.
We need to unlearn our fear of putting ourselves and our students “out there” for we’ve proven we can do it in safe, relevant and effective ways.
We need to unlearn the practice that teaches all students at the same pace. Is it any wonder why so many of our students love to play online games where they move forward at their own pace?
We need to unlearn the idea that we can teach our students to be literate in this world by continually blocking and filtering access to the sites and experiences they need our help to navigate.
We need to unlearn the premise that real change can happen just by rethinking what happens inside the school walls and understand that education is now a community undertaking on many different levels.
Certainly, there are many others, and I’m sure you have your own unlearning ideas; feel free to add.
(Photo “Old Classroom” by shuichiro)
Technorati Tags: learning, unlearning, education
The idea that these changes are necessary because of web technologies is ridiculous. Don’t real progressive educators just roll their eyes when you say these things to them? Everything here has been true for 50 years, except the global collaboration bit, which I don’t think is true now either.
Tom makes an interesting point. Phrases like “In this day and age” seem very out-of-place as the bulk of these suggestions are rather timeless.
That aside, I do agree that these technologies will make it harder for the old voice of education to survive. And I welcome this. I welcome technologies that allow progressive ideas the opportunity to make their unremovable, global, and defendable mark (e.g. a rational post or response to an irrational post). Global, non-censored arguments can help shape a sane world. And it is thanks to prudently implemented technology that these can exist.
I’m with Will here – although you could say most of these are non-technology related, I think it’s technology that has the potential to convert them from mere rhetoric to reality. This becomes apparent when you unpick any one of them. For example, let’s take the students don’t all learn at the same pace. Now, this can be done in traditional terms – you don’t let them move on until they’re ready. But it becomes more sophisticated when you throw technology in to the mix – students can self pace, they can subscribe to content through RSS, they can be recommended content, etc. Okay, we’ve all heard the hype around personalisation, but that doesn’t address some of the downsides such as the loss of collaboration if everyone is studying different stuff at a different pace. But with a much wider globally distributed set of learners, you can always find people doing what you’re doing (43things style), so you can have the self-direction/pacing _and_ have the collaboration – only technology enhanced versions of these things makes that possible.
Martin
We need to unlearn that school/college/university is the only main option for learning.
Martin says:
“I think it’s technology that has the potential to convert them from mere rhetoric to reality.”
I disagree. The conversion to reality is in the student/teacher relationship. Technology is a tool. Martin’s language appears to highlight this fact when he says –
“But it becomes more sophisticated when you throw technology”
I agree with this, but level of sophistication is not the same as the difference between rhetoric (it not happening) and reality (happening).
In fact, I think it is dangerous to believe that technology is what allows this “conversion” to happen. It puts technology on a pedestal where it does not belong.
[…]I think when we are trying to help old teachers adapt to new technology, we have to keep in mind that they’ve seen so many educational fads come and go. If we want this change to “stick,†we have to help them see that this change is different from previous fads. We also have to help them unlearn the traditional methods and power structures. Will’s list of things to unlearn is a good place to start, and he says it better than I do. Read his post and see what I’m talking about.[…]
Will:
I took the liberty of adding many of these to the School 2.0 Manifesto (http://school20.wikispaces.com/school+2.0+manifesto). I think they have added some significant thoughts.
Cheers,
Steve
Christy,
We need to unlearn that technology and Web 2.0 are educational fads that will come and go.
These tools are as basic to the millenial generation as paper/pencil/worksheets/textbooks have been to previous generations.
Will – I love it – “The UNlearning Curve!”
Thank you for your insights once again.
I was thrilled to see this topic on the blog. I am studying to become a teacher so reading what you have to unlearn might help me learn things right in the first place.
“We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning.†I think this will be key in helping my students become physically educated individuals. When children get out of my classroom and the school, the type and amount of physical activity they do will depend on them. If they can find an activity they love be themselves, in my class, they will be more likely to carry it over into their adult lives.
“We need to unlearn the premise that real change can happen just by rethinking what happens inside the school walls and understand that education is now a community undertaking on many different levels.†Maybe 5% of living a health lifestyle happens inside the school. Children’s eating habits depend on their home life. Their physical activity time in school is not enough to live healthy. They need to be active at home and in their communities. I will focus on teaching my students how to live healthy lives outside of class because 50 minutes is not enough time to get healthy.
I really appreciated your thoughts on “unlearning.” While I have been teaching at the university level for several years now, my background is not in education. I am currently a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction and have learned so much about education and educational technology. Since my background was not in education, my views on personal learning and classroom practice were views that I developed through my own experiences as a student. I had not gotten them from a classroom on how to be a teacher. I think that helps me to be more receptive to seeing things differently and will allow me to embrace the possibilities that technology provides. However, I do agree with Peter in his statement that technology is a tool. Technology in and of itself is not going to make people smarter or learn more. Technology is a tool that can be utilized to assist people in their life’s journey of exploration and discovery.
I also agree with Molly’s statements about teaching students how to deal with decisions outside of the classroom. There is alot of technology available for physical education/physical training. For example, heart rate monitors are very popular. However, simply placing a heart rate monitor onto your chest and seeing your heart rate response is not going to tell you how to safely and effectively develop a cardiorespiratory exercise prescription for yourself. Technology is a tool that can assist the student in understanding better what a teacher is teaching.
However, with that said, I do believe that the read/write web, in conjunction with quality physical education, may be instrumental in helping students/all people become more physically active and fit because of the interaction and support it might provide to the individual.
I am hearing a consistent NEED in all ten of your “unlearning” needs- We, as “educators”, NEED to reconnect with our humility. Granted, I may have known everything when I was a teenager, but I certainly don’t anymore. To not admit that & SHARE it with my students, so that we can all learn together, would be one of the greatest failures in my life!
As a preparing ELA educator, I like the theory that students are not just contributors of their local communities, but also to their global communities.
By getting more acquainted with technology our students enjoy, we can share in that amusement and, hopefully, learn something from it.
I have to disagree with some of Tom’s dissenting views on this post. First of all, you ask if progressive teachers roll their eyes at all of these ideas. Maybe so, but what percentage of teachers are truly progressive, especially in the world of NCLB? Maybe 5-10 percent, if that (at least in my experience)? Also, you insist that these concepts have been around for 50 years. So, does that mean they don’t bear repeating? (See my first point for the answer to that.) These concepts may not have been born out of the development of web 2.0, but they are more urgent. I would also say that web 2.0 also makes it easier for teachers to change their practices and empower students like never before. Kids are already using the unprecedented access to people and information that the web provides, and this is creating a fundamental change in the way they go about learning. Teachers need to shift accordingly. Finally, the global collaboration is here and is happening as we speak, all over the world. I don’t really understand the dissent over this point. Perhaps you would clarify?
Your list makes me rethink many of the notions I had when entering into my studies as an English teacher. Although unlearning is much more difficult than learning, ELA educators need to take this important and necessary step in order for students to truly benefit in their classrooms.
Thank you for putting into words all of the thoughts and concerns that are swimming around in my head.
Brilliant!
I think this is so insightful.
I added a link to this from my ‘School 2.0 Participant’s Manifesto’ post
http://elgg.net/dtruss/weblog/151400.html
I love the concept of ‘unlearning’.
I’m reminded of Mark Prensky’s
Adopt and Adept
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1423&issue=dec_05
“…technology adoption… It’s typically a four-step process:
1. Dabbling.
2. Doing old things in old ways.
3. Doing old things in new ways.
4. Doing new things in new ways.”
In a way, ‘unlearning’ is about bypassing steps 2 and 3. It allows us to move forward at our students’ pace… not ours.
Dave
The notion of “un-learning” in itself bothers me.
I’m taken with all the ways in which you posit “un-learning” as a term to positively build accord with educators seeking ways out of the bureaucratic process of learning however ……
There seems to be something implied that we need to remove learning and replace it with another form or action or indeed terminology to re-authenticate that which went before, for the better good of those who had experienced it.
I’m more of the opinion that one occurs and the other shapes and finds function for it. No sooner than it takes shape then the other finds ways to reframe the former.
It is grounded in human behaviour or some would say in networked technology that is begining to think for itself. maybe it’s what some are defining as technology-driven user learning experience, complete with an anonymous avatarian dependent user interface – faceless yet inextricably desirable.
Number crunching and money spinning.
Personally, and with great respect to your ideals of what constitutes a healthy learning environment, my take is that “un-learning” is reductionist in inference, conditional and seeking to forge new traits in individuals to challenge their present reality. All good if indeed the learning that’s incurred is in no ways sought of by the imposing value or system seeking it’s removal.
Particularly in an environment which learners themselves regard the experience as redundant.
My take on learning however is that its grounded in a reality, often subject to ridiculous variants in context where individuals may break ranks, cross floors, disrupt and interject and generally appear to be “un-learning” if I dare coin the term for only this one occasion.
I’m all for new ways of working but not at the expense of learning experiences irrespective of how I choose to frame them in the now. Garunteed in ten years from now I’ll have reframed them differently again as will others.
Divorce has taught me so much about what marraige entails. Death has unravelled much about life itself.
To find ways to “un-learn” either would be negating something quite beautiful and sublime all in the same instant.
The concept governing the casting of the shackles that threaten to stifle learning is in my opinion more on the money. Not learning in itself – no matter what the result nor how tedious the process.
The process of learning sure can be seen in as much ripping down the sand castle as building it however one does not follow the other – not always anyway.
Finding ways to “un-function” however, both as a term , as a refernce point would be more in line with other pedagogical referencing floating in this vast e-ther of debate. I dont find “un-learning” at all strength based in it’s form however “un-functioning” as well holds inference.
That might mean we would be giving up at a more base level and grounding ourselves as humans first before struggling to cast off what we had constructed to define ourselves as in the first place.
For me the whole premise of learning is fluid – learning is NOT the antecedent foe of “un-learning”
We may well be seeking escape from servile information architecture inculcating captive audiences with falsely attributed research authenticated learning traits re-inforced with behavioural indoctrination, classist belief systems,and controlled networked knowledge portals.
I’m as tired of my current conditioning as an Online Networked Information Technologist as I was as an Artist. As an Educator however I’m piecing the two together and learning that I’m neither.
Only the “ism’s” remain the same. The acronym’s differing slightly however the drive to discover more without “un-learning” is more my goal – for now.
I’m getting as sick of “ism’s” as I am of
I can certainly sympathize with the idea that we need to unlearn that everyone can, and should, learn at the same pace. I have four children, two of whom probably learned at the same pace as everyone else, and two of whom were absolutely bored to tears at the pace of learning in their classroom.
As a non-traditional student who has returned to school and is studying Adolescent English Education, I understand the need to unlearn many things that we have traditionally thought were important in teaching our students. Maybe the fact that I am older, puts me in an even greater position to understand that today’s classroom is nothing like the classroom that I was part of many years ago. I think that’s both a good thing and a scary thing. I just blogged on my own blog for a class I am taking at SUNY Cortland that the thought of my students knowing more than I do is very scary to me. How can I teach students who are already way past me?
The other thing you mentioned was not putting up roadblocks for students to use the sites and tools that they need to learn. I think sometimes we fear the “bad” things that our students can access so much that we keep them from all of the good things as well.
Mr. Richardson, your words are inspirational to me and my peers, being future educators. From what I’ve read in your book and other books for Karen Stearns’ Technology in the Classroom course, my eyes have been opened to so many different facets of education. You mention that parents can’t assume they are smarter than their children anymore, I look at my father and his problems with our own computer. By using Internet technology like blogging and wikis, my own education has no limits now, and if students are taught use these faculties from a younger age, then the cohesiveness of the classroom will eventually reach an awesome pinnacle. Keep up the good work and inspiration! Also, for my class, I am the head of a wiki project and you and other ‘gurus’ of educational technology are the focus of our topic. If you are interested in reading what we have written, or care to edit or change anything, I greatly encourage to check it out! (http://web.cortland.edu/wiki/index.php?title=ENG307)
Thank you, Mr. Richardson, for that insightful post on the “Unlearning Curve”. You put down in print what I have been thinking about and want to emphasize to my students when I have my own classroom. I firmly believe that the students can be OUR teachers as well and that education is a community undertaking on different levels. We need to use and get everyone involved–parents, people in the community in jobs, the elderly, etc…and I especially like what Rosie Sherry added that we need to unlearn that school/college/university is the only option for learning. School is a minute part of students’ lives and they learn far more outside the classroom so the need to help them self-direct their learning is critical. Again, thanks for the inspiration!
Might I add to this Ivan Illich’s ultimate dictum? Unschool.
I would just like to say that I agree with everything you have said. While I can sympathize with those who are used to the “old” ways of teaching, as an up and coming English teacher, I can surely appreciate the “newer” ways. Things are always changing, and while it may be scary to think that there is another way of teaching, it is most definitely needed. “Unlearning” the idea that teachers are sole experts in a classroom, is probably one of the best points you make. We live in a technology based world, whether we would like to admit it or not. Many teachers, especially those who have been teaching for some time now, are not as up to date on computers and the internet and the many different ways that information is readily available. In these instances, the students may actually know more than the teacher. In no way am I saying that teachers should lose their authority in a classroom, but I do think that some teachers need to give their students more credit.
As you said in the beginning of this post, we live in “a world where literally any place can be a classroom”- I couldn’t agree with you more.
I think we have come full circle. The things we are discussing here we have discussed many years ago & I felt was really the direction of education 10-20 years ago. It seems that the direction of late is so preoccupied with test scores & measurable results. Those are important things but should not be the sole goal of education. I think we have been sidetracked from our real purpose as educators over the last decade especially. I’m glad to see that we are once again heading in the right direction.
More than anything this piece is a reminder of a concept that you stress again and again, that we as teachers should never stop learning, no one should stop learning. Your fourth lesson is reinforcement for every item on the list and they do not only help educators and students, but it is possible that everyone can benefit from it.
I agree with you on so many levels Mr. Richardson. I think that the teacher as the “fountain of knowledge” is extremely outdated. It is so important to learn from our students, and those who we can connect with through technology in our classroom!
This is an exciting time!
The philological confusion over how this little word “learn” is used, has probably contributed more to the unsuccessful educational experience of so many children today, than any other single issue. (I read the UNICEF report in full this week, so I have no qualms about accepting that uncomfortable reality.) In fact there’s a wonderful irony about this, because it’s precisely a lack of knowledge (learning) about the philology, that has allowed many educational voices to abuse the word. The word’s origins are in Old and Middle English and are closely linked the German “lehren,” which means… to teach. In a utilitarian culture, all the word “learning” seems to indicate today are stages in a process of knowledge accumulation. In a civilised culture, it has always carried far greater significance, relating it to wisdom, experience and (what a surprise) …respect. Speaking for myself, I have no wish to unlearn anything. It cost me, and those great teachers who taught me, too much to gain it in the first place!
(We need to unlearn the idea that we are the sole content experts in the classroom, because we can now connect our kids to people who know far more than we do about the material we’re teaching.)
One of the attributes of a great teacher has always been that they introduce their pupils to the great minds of the past and present. I’m all for technology fuelling that one.
(We need to unlearn the premise that we know more than our kids, because in many cases, they can now be our teachers as well.)
All great teachers have always learned from their pupils and encouraged their pupils to learn from each other. However, this implies something a little bit more than a child teaching a teacher the crude functionality of a given piece of hardware, or software.
(We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process.)
Every great teacher not only understands this, they build it into the very structure of their teaching.
(We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills.)
Engaging with different cultures in whatever way was practical, possible and achievable is something all great teachers have always done.
(We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning.)
Gaining a grasp of the differing needs, motivations and incentives that control your pupils is something any great teacher appreciates and does.
(We need to unlearn the notion that our students don’t need to see and understand how we ourselves learn.)
Any great teacher models learning for their pupils.
(We need to unlearn our fear of putting ourselves and our students “out there†for we’ve proven we can do it in safe, relevant and effective ways.)
That depends if you ever had that fear in the first place. I developed a rule of thumb working with secondary schools on anything innovative or involving change. Find out which department takes the children out of school on trips, and start with them, because they are already the fearless ones.
(We need to unlearn the practice that teaches all students at the same pace. Is it any wonder why so many of our students love to play online games where they move forward at their own pace?)
Any even half competent teacher gets this one!
(We need to unlearn the idea that we can teach our students to be literate in this world by continually blocking and filtering access to the sites and experiences they need our help to navigate.)
This, in some ways, goes right to the heart of all of this. Navigation isn’t much use if you don’t know where you are going, and they need our help to show them where they MIGHT go. That is a radically different thing from showing them were you want them to go, which is the sad reality for very many children caught up in a system redolent with politics masquerading as learning.
(We need to unlearn the premise that real change can happen just by rethinking what happens inside the school walls and understand that education is now a community undertaking on many different levels.)
A good school is a genuine community, not the vapid construct of current social engineers, and always has been. A truly great school, is a unique community, and its pupils and teachers know and value that for their entire lives.
I am not a teacher but I really liked the message of the Unlearning Curve. In particular I liked
“We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process.”
I work with university students who, as part of their course, are required to maintain reflective learning records and to plan for future development. To start with most of the learning “claims” come from University based situations but with a bit of encouragement they start to reflect on learning in different contexts and situations…. and this can be very powerful.
As a home educator, determined upon this course of action as a result of a preference for the theories of knowledge which seem most able to withstand serious criticism ie: that the mind is not an empty bucket into which knowledge may be poured, but must be actively engaged for rational criticism and creativity to occur, I would heartily agree with WR’s attack upon certain learning memes, particularly those which underpin the classroom ethic.
(I might though, have described the process of “unlearning” rather as “subjecting entrenched memes to criticism”, in order to avoid some possible confusion over the term “unlearning”.)
One of the key features of active engagement in learning is a personalised environment. Home educators have been providing this sort of environment for their children for years, and most of them will tell you that it is unquestionably even easier with access to the web.
Schools, to us, look like outdated instituations which cannot really manage the personalised learning that they so frequently at least nominally espouse.Joe Nott, for example, is ever hopeful that great teachers in schools can do this and that to manage personalised learning. Most HEors, many of whom have children with unusual educational needs, will wearily shake their heads at such wishful thinking, and then just get on with it, without any regretful backward glances.
What you say is exactly why I will be home educating my son.
I want him to grow and learn at his own pace, using the community around him, not within the confines of the four walls of a school and a bland curriculum decided by the government of the day.
I’ve just spent two days with headteachers of secondary schools in England who are trying to get their thinking around how to transform learning in their new schools and these comments reinforce the belief that this has to start with reframing the mindset within the extended school community. That’s risky – and of course learning is a risky business. I’d like to offer that as an additional point;
teachers / educators / parents need to unlearn the notion that we can make learning a risk-free enterprise – how does an infant learn to walk without taking risks? Remember Rousseau’s Emile, it’s the degree of risk that is important. What teachers like me need to understand, then work with, is the fact that the locus of control has shifted to the learner, so the pedagogue can not longer control the level of risk, but rather influence the decision of the learner as they assess that risk.