Jan 2 2010 Supercoolschool
Face it. We used to be dependent on schools (public, private, or charter) to bring together the people and the resources that would make it possible for large numbers of kids to learn things. As time went on, schools made sure they had certified teachers and then “certified” learning in a host of mysterious ways (like A-F grades). Finally, the schools were themselves “certified”, thus closing the loop in a very tight way.
The only real challenge to that was homeschooling but for many reasons, historically, that didn’t account for many students.
We have a new set of realities to face. Now we have entered the “What if” age of education.
What if . . . any individual or group could organize a virtual school? They could certainly provide the content necessary for learning; and provide it in an endless variety of ways to a seemingly unlimited number of learners.
What if . . . there were lots of ways that learners could demonstrate their knowledge and abilities? Frankly, watching a kid on a YouTube video analyze the mathematics and physics of a skate board park she had designed and built would give me a much better clue as to what she knows than if she shows me a report card where she has a single letter grade from a teacher I don’t know in a school I have never heard of.
What if . . . it were possible for kids to learn and not have limits put on their expectations by class syllabi and teachers?
What if all this were possible today?
Would we still “need” schools? Would the public still be willing to pour billions and billions of tax dollars into public school systems with mediocre results?
What scares me is that this IS possible and possible today. If you need proof, check out www.supercoolschool.com. “Get started within a couple of clicks and create your next generation online school – educating others has never been easier!” With a couple clicks of a mouse you can try it free for a 30 day trial!
While there is much that I think needs to be changed in schools (public, private and charter) today, I am truly afraid of schools letting themselves become obsolete because of their inability to change. I am afraid of the ramifications of losing millions of talented teachers and administrators.
Someone remind me why I shouldn’t be afraid of the presence of the wonderful possibilities for learning that I described.
We need to remember what Jarvis said in What Would Google Do? Do what you do best, and outsource the rest! If schools and teachers are no longer the best content resource for anything (and honestly they aren’t in the age of the Net), then where is the real value? I think it’s in the ability of teachers to form long term relationships with learners (at least 3 years) and to take the responsibility of guiding kids to learning opportunities and then documenting learning no matter when, where, or from whom it occurs.
Challenging and exhilarating opportunities!
What if . . . the future is here?
