From the “Doing the Wrong Thing Right Department,” George Siemens on the LMS:
“You’ve made a process efficient that would make an awesome, productive employee in the 1960s, but you haven’t developed the mindsets, the networking capabilities and so on that you need for an individual—not just an employee, but a member of society—in 2020. To make a process more efficient that shouldn’t be done at all is a waste of time.”
How many things are we trying to do “better” that we shouldn’t be doing at all?
More, do we have the mindsets as school communities that push the curious, creative, agile, persistent dispositions that it’s becoming more and more clear will determine our kids’ ability to flourish?
Trying to do “better” is easier than trying to do “different.” Different means uncertainty.
But “different” in school also means understanding (or at least trying to) how the lives our children will lead will be “different” from the ones we are currently leading.
You doing that work?
There are some real rumblings happening between many of the current-traditional norms that have long defined education and newer (or even exotic) forms teaching and learning. The fact of the matter is that we must do different, or should we go further and say “do different better.” There is a trickle down effect where the business world (and I mean this to pertain to most careers) that now demand different either due to technology or mindset. This is turn is making more universities restructure how they teach and what they look for from students. As test scores and remembering answers become less valued (raw score data) become less valuable to universities, particularly chase schools, developing different critical thinking, critical questioning, collaborative proficiency, and conceptualization skills will become paramount. As the 60s were mentioned in the post, I must refer to Dr. James Berlin who came from this period in time who I believe insisted that we observe society and structure education to meet the educational needs of the time in his book and the history of rhetoric. This can of course apply widely. My work revolves around gaming theory and its value for education, industry, and personal lives. Similar ideas can be seen at mindmeetsgame.com. So yes, that certainly falls into “different,” and it continually gains momentum in this day and time. Great post!
Mind Meets Game
mindmeetsgame.com
The question ” Are we trying to do “better” rather than trying to do “different.” really made me think hard for a couple of hours and still I am not sure I know te answer. The thing is, “doing better” involves only one option(or few options), and we do not have to implement many changes. All we need is to try to do something we got used to doing every day a little bit better. On the other hand “doing different” involves too many options and it is a hard choice. This decision even comes harder when we realize that we are talking about teaching our children and helping them build a better future.
But should we try to do differently? I think Yes, for sure we should!