Part 1
I've got a task for an upcoming presentation- what are five emerging trends in education that will impact educators over the next five years? While there is a 'five' thing going on here, I think it's a good question. Everyone seems to have an opinion about the next best thing or how kids are different today, but I'm not so sure that DI, Individual Learning, 21st Learner initiatives are anything new. In fact they sound like the same stuff I learned in University 25 years ago and can probably be traced back to at least John Dewey.
I accept the world is different today than it was when I was a kid, but let's be realistic. The world is different for each generation. And that's a good thing. Except, this time the rhetoric seems to be different. Change appears to be being thrust on us and we are passively accepting it. For example, in the 60's (so I'm told) we were the agent of change. Going to moon, feminism and pushing back against authority were all initiated by us. Now we seem comfortable of abdicating this role to Google and other external technological forces.
I'm getting tired of hearing of hearing that we don't really need to remember anything, you just go on Google for getting the information you need. And, I'm getting scared that this is exactly what is happening.... this writer included. Finding lots information on 'Net seems to be the acceptable answer, rather than understanding the information and synthesizing a coherent response. Take for example a project one of my son's just completed. He had to show his understanding of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by a series of pictures. So, out comes the PowerPoint and a search of Google images. Throw in some Phantom of the Opera music and you've a multimedia project that basically says nothing, but looks really good. Even he realized this was a waste of time. It didn't represent 5% of what he knew and felt about the plot, character and themes of the book. Sure he got an 'A' on the project, but it was a mindless exercise that didn't really demonstrate any understanding of the novel.
We seem to be in an Age of Distraction (I'm sure someone has already said this, so no claim on original thought for that one). Educators seem happy to take this situation of unlimited access to information and use it as a call for building critical thinking. The argument goes something like with access to all this information, we need kids to be able to think critically about what they read. No kidding... that has never changed. What's changed is that we seem to think that basic concepts are somehow already understood. For example, you can't magically understand Newton's Laws. You need to spend time hearing about it, thinking about it, calculating with it and playing with it. That's building a foundation of concepts.
You don't get that with technology. All you get is distractions. A cool flash program demonstrating Newton's Laws is fun, but it doesn't get to deep learning unless you truly understand the three laws. Just because I can read the three laws on a web page and play the shoot the monkey app doesn't qualify me for having a deep understanding of how forces interact in our universe. I think many educational thinkers would disagree with that. They would argue that the act of letting kids go find the information and represent that in any form they wish would be enough to qualify as learning. I think Not!
We need to go deeper and push learners harder to get them developing cognitive patterns that the brain can comfortably pull up and reuse in a variety of different contexts. Sure, this means accessing information, but it also means focusing on patterns in language and numbers, observing the world around us and interacting with peers in a variety of settings. And yes, sometimes it means just sitting on your own and working really hard to solve problems and read quietly for extended periods of time.
So rather than capitulating to the larger information forces pushing and pulling it's way through the Internet, lets consider a few statements that may help give us a deeper understanding of how we take control of the changes happening around us.
1. The Internet is changing our brain
2. Everyone wants everything quick, easy and entertaining
3. Deep learning will need to be taught and learned....it will be difficult
4. Listening will be the most important skill to learn by grade 12
5. Everyone is an expert ... or at least they think so
Hmmmm, let's start with this in Part 2.....
