Saturday, December 1, 2007

Education: On Demand

I keep thinking of Buckminster Fuller's admonition:

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Our current education system is essentially an industrial model. Think of school as a factory - students as raw materials - graduates as finished products. We 'warehouse' students and force them to adhere to strict schedules - Language Arts at 9:05, Math at 10:00. It just doesn't work for most students, and the consequence is usually disengagement.

I believe the new model will feature what could be called Education: On Demand. We have the technology to create and deliver mini lesson modules on any conceivable topic, wirelessly and on demand. It makes no sense to me to have a million teachers individually writing lesson plans to teach addition of one digit numbers, or order of operations, when we could have beautifully crafted and professionally-produced video lessons available on demand.

Students don't need Math at 10:00AM - they need Math when they have an authentic problem to solve. How many chairs do we have to set up for the assembly? If two people do the work how long will it take? What if ten people do it? Then Math becomes purposeful and real to students. No one asks, "Why do we need to learn this?" The need to know creates the motivation to learn, and engagement becomes intrinsic.

To my knowledge, no one is pursuing the notion of Education: On Demand as a new model for public education. Private business interests and dedicated individuals are leading the way in creating an "On Demand" infrastructure and producing digital instructional media. When this connects with a handheld device, I predict the new model will shatter the old "Education: On Schedule" approach and the schoolhouse walls will come tumbling down.

2 comments:

CJ Fearnley said...

Consider looking at Buckminster Fuller's book Education Automation: Feeing The Scholar To Return To His Studies.

CJ Fearnley
Synergetics Collaborative

Random Phrump said...

Yes, thank you for the link. It was good to read it again. And thank you for the opportunity to explore some of your writing.