A Vision For Learning

From Education to Learning

Education is transitioning from education structures rooted in the industrial age to learning structures reflecting the informational age in which we live.  Education structures such as grades, grade levels, stand alone courses, physical buildings (to name a few) are being replaced.  Creating new structures involves more than renaming old structures.  We must create a new learning ecosystem that is radically learner centered and places the learner and the learning experience at the center of education. 

The new learning ecosystem welcomes significant contributions from institutions and programs that are rapidly developing to meet the learning needs of students.  Barriers of time and space in the learning process are no longer significant because of rapidly developing delivery models for learning.

Theory of Change

There are two important facets of the current education structure that will change in order to transition to learning structures.  First is learning itself.  Learning will be dominated by the learning experience.  Learning experience is defines as the best learning opportunities provided in the best learning style for the student through the most appropriate delivery model. One of the old school structures, curriculum, will not be as important in the new learning ecosystem.  A “Learning Experience Platform” will be the vehicle in which learning is managed for learners.  Learning experience platform is defined as the social, cultural and community interactions in which learning takes place.  Curriculum, learning management systems (LMS) and other education structures that survive the transition to learning structures will work within the learning experience platform. 

The next item in our theory of change is structural change.  Structural change is defined as the process of accessing the new learning structure utilizing the needs from the old, education structures.   It is unlikely that education structures will be replaced by substituting one for the other in one easy stroke.  Currently, schools and districts operating within the educational structure have needs specific to the old structure.  For example, alternate pathways for students who are not successful in the current system are a need created by the old structures.  The transition will occur when the needs of the education structures are fulfilled by the strengths of the new learning structures. 

Vision of the Future

The future learner will have the opportunity to choose multiple learning opportunities in multiple modalities of instruction (courses, seminars, MOOC’s, projects, internships, create your own course etc…).  Learners will be engaged in their learning by choosing the delivery model as well as the decision making about the what and where of their learning.  Learning spaces will include schools, but will also include nontraditional spaces…basically anywhere their learning experience takes them.  Managing the learning experiences within the new learning ecosystem is an opportunity for growth.

Being Taught not to Know

“It’s not that you white people can’t know certain things, it’s that your taught not to know”

--Omaha Indian as told to author Jim Harrison

What does it mean to “not to know” something?  An egregious example of not knowing is when one willfully decides not to know.  For example, a student may turn their head every time one of their classmates gets bullied; an employee will ignore the obvious law breaking perpetrated by  their boss.  In this case a person is consciously making a decision to ignore the environmental cues that are obvious to his/her senses.  Another way of “not knowing” is when a person actually is not aware of a fact or situation.  For example, in almost anything dealing with quantum physics I simply do not know the material therefore I “do not know”. Because “not knowing” is beyond their life experience or current knowledge, “not knowing” is beyond their consciousness.  The interesting aspect of this type of “not knowing” is that a person can go blissfully through life not knowing things outside their life experience. What are the ramifications of this kind of “bliss” in education?

Let’s apply the second type of not knowing to our learning environment.  There are many things that educators are “taught not to know”.  What would education look like if we tried to view as if it was the first time we experienced it?  I have pondered this a lot and I have decided that for me (at least) it is nearly impossible to “see education for the first time”.  I come with so many preconceived notions, based on my experience, that I have mental blocks.  I have made some headway in trying to articulate aspects of education that I am taught “not to know” when I think of educational structures. Educational structures are the aspects of the educational experience that we are not even aware effect our education.  All of us have learned how to wait in line in school; we have learned to be obedient and wait our turn in class; we assume that grades and grading are a given in a learning environment; we believe that all students learn in a single physical space and that children must go to that space to “learn”, all of these are important structures that limit future possibilities of the learning experience.

Let’s consider what learning can be for our learners (students) if we peer around one structure that undergird our current educational system…the physical school.  Quick, when you think of school what do you think of?  You probably thought of a physical building that has individual rooms that are periodically filled and emptied with children who come and get the daily does of knowledge in different subjects.  You might also picture busses waiting outside of the school to take children home.  School is a place where information is transmuted from older adults to younger children.  I would like to do a thought experiment…let’s change the vocabulary of school and see if that has any impact on your impression of learning.  Instead of going to school a student is periodically checking into a Learning Center.  How does that simple vocabulary change affect your impression of learning?  A Learning Center implies a physical space where learning is facilitated throughout the day and evening, not just from the strict time boundaries that undergird our current system.  A Learning Center will not have the neat rows of classrooms and hallways because learning can (and does) occur in different spaces at different times for different groups of students. 

Educators must reflect on what we have been taught “not to know” so we can move learning into the future.  Until we can recognize structures that are taken for granted we will continue to muddle the learning experience for our kids.  Educators (I believe) are not in the group of people that willfully decide not to know.  In most cases their experiences and training have taught them “not to know”.  Moving forward, we must recognize this fact and work to change the invisible structures that prevent us from offering the best learning experiences for our kids.

The "Idea" of a New Education System---Duff Rearick

I am proud to include Duff's reaction to Chapter 6 of Experience and Education.  I particularly like the Duff's insight into the i"idea" of progressive education and implementation.

Dewey Chapter 6 --- The Meaning of Purpose

Duff

“… a slave executes the purpose of another.”

Plato

               Plato’s words have and continue to haunt education, school and its purpose. Why does our education system exist?  Is it as Dewey suggests to perpetuate our democracy?  Is it as an industrialist might suggest to fill the roles of an existing work force?  Is it to grow thinkers?  What is its purpose?

               Dewey in Chapter 6 targets the purpose, the why.   He contends that without knowing the why, the purpose of an endeavor we are simply slaves to someone else’s thinking. We in a sense give up learning for control.  We give up thinking for ease or comfort.  We accept being told what to do. We become institutionalized.

What is that the purpose of learning, of our education system?  Do we have the patience, planning discipline and courage to wait upon transformative shifts?  I wonder? 

               Dewey believes that purpose begins with an impulse, an idea, a desire, and a recognition that something should be done.  This impulse over time becomes a passion.   

Dewey writes that for an impulse to become a purpose, a true why it must filter through the consequences, the context in which it occurs.  To Dewey ever purpose is unique. 

The purpose is a function of intelligence, of thinking an art that takes time.  It is at the inter-section of desire, consequence and thought that we find the why, our purpose.

 Ideas move from an impulse to a purpose flowing through the organization arriving at the teacher and child. It is at this point that experiences can be tailored to build upon experiences and in time meet the purpose, the desired outcome, assuming one is defined.  To Dewey not defining the desired destination is a critical error.

               Dewey’s thoughts are logical, make sense and are a bit abstract.  The question becomes the how of implementation and the time for transformation.  How do you implement such an idea, a purpose and how long does it take if you are truly looking for transformation of thought, language and system?  For the answer we look to history.  Has anyone ever followed Dewey’s formula?

               In 1750 according to his writings Thomas Jefferson began thinking about western expansion of the then non-existent United States.  He had an impulse, an idea.  The idea was there, a passion indeed some suggest a myopic focus grew.  He studied everything possible about what lay west of the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River.  Jefferson dwelled on this passion for 52 years.

               By 1802 Jefferson was President, the impulse had been processed through the consequences of not acting.   He hired as his secretary a young army officer he had known for years, Merriweather Lewis.  This young man, Lewis was of character and great courage.  He had the tools to implement Jefferson’s idea.

               As Jefferson and Lewis dialoged in a variety of ways the idea was tested.  They put their purpose through the ringer of consequence; the context within which they lived.  The hurdles were daunting, the unknowns substantial.

In time this purpose became a transcontinental journey for discovery. They defined an outcome, a destination, to go from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and to safely return.

               By 1803 Lewis was deep into planning the how of implementing this purpose.  Indeed it appears that was his sole function.  He was remarkably through. 

Interestingly, Jefferson did not control the process.  Instead he set parameters, outcomes and coached Lewis.  It was his coaching that stood the trials of the two-year journey when Lewis and Clark were on their own.  Lewis needed all the coaching he could get as the journey progressed.

After 2 years of planning in 1804 the trip began.  The plan was through.  As all plans go it needed to be adjusted before ever getting to the Missouri River, their start point.  The end result of the Journey of Discovery is now history   But, without the impulse in 1750, driven by amazing patience, selecting the right person, guiding by coaching, following an extensive plan and being flexible as unknowns appeared  the United States might still be clinging to the Atlantic Ocean.  Jefferson and Lewis transformed the world.

What does this history lesson have to do with Dewey?   Simply it took 56 years from impulse to transformation.  It took time, patience, a persistent drive and courage.

There is today a re-birth of a dormant idea, that of progressive education.  The idea shifts education to a learning process tailored to a child’s experience.  A learning process focused on experiences leading to experiences ending at a defined outcome.  Dewey wrote of this idea in 1938.  So, why have schools, the education system not transformed if his ideas are sound?

The answer is simple, the idea is clear it is the implementation that is complex.  In education we have an impulse an idea.  This leads to energy that drives us to act before we have clearly defined our contextual purpose.  We move forward without sufficient planning.  We move forward without the patience.  We wonder why nothing happens, why the system remains as it is.

Transformative ideas start with an impulse whether in the system or the classroom with the teacher.  These impulses become ideas and grow into a passionate purpose.  Idea people, teachers and leaders briefly transform learning for their children. Then an obstacle appears and the idea goes dormant.  This is when, just like Lewis and Clark as you traverse the unknown with flexibility, discipline and patience.

Dewey is right.  His ideas in 1938 ring true today. The question is do we have the courage to create the passion, to plan, the discipline and the patience to wait upon the transformation?   

The Purpose of Education (Chapter 6 in Experience in Education)

Chapter 6

The Meaning of Purpose

Thus chapter discusses the purpose of education.  Dewey expands on the theme of experience and says there are three aspects to keep in mind when we talk about the purpose of education: observation, knowledge and judgment.  Observe the conditions from which a learning experience “resides”; knowledge of what has happened in similar circumstances in the past; and judgment that is used to help the person signify what is important from the first two which will lead to a future outcome.  This is the “book report” part of this essay.  What becomes interesting is when Dewey talks about the significance of what we observe about schooling/education.  This is no small thing. 

In an effort to untangle the significance of education and schooling, let’s try to look at schooling as if this is the first time we have seen it.  What would we “see” if we were from our sister planet in a far away galaxy?  We would notice that we place our young people in buildings that resemble another cultural icon of our times…prisons.  Once we open the doors and walk inside these buildings (assuming we have the proper identification to get in) we would notice that we further break the students into smaller groups and place them in smaller compartments, called classrooms.  Once we step inside the classroom we notice how orderly the room is including rows of desks.  There is an adult in front of the class telling students information.  In some classrooms we see students in groups working together under the supervision of the adult in the class.  When asked what is happening in the classroom, the adult tells our interloper that the students are learning and that they will be tested on what they learn at a future date.  When asked why this information that is presented to them is important, the adult in the room will say that the students will use it later in life.  After the classroom visit, our intergalactic traveler visits what they are told is the “boss” of the school.  Once inside the principal’s office he asks the principal where do the kids live?  The principal explains to our friend that schools are based on where you live and that each community has their own school.  It is further explained that kids must attend the schools that serve their community.  When asked what is taught in the school, the principal explains that a group of people from outside the community determines what is important, and therefore, what must be taught. 

I am going to stop at this point and discuss the implications of what we have learned so far.

So what, at the basest level, is the purpose of education/schooling?  As I try to dig deep into this question I arrive at one point.  Schooling is for the benefit of society.  The benefit does not come from the content of what is taught/presented in the school.  Rather, what is important is the structure of schooling and what the structure says about society.  (For example, waiting in line for classes, placing our youth in buildings resembling prisons, sitting in rows waiting expectantly to be enlightened, and being subservient to authority.)  This is what society wants from school. This is the true purpose of schooling/education.  Of course John Dewey argued extensively against this type of school structure, as do many people today. All of the “controversy” surrounding curriculum or teaching methods takes a back seat to indoctrinating students to be subservient to authority.  I am not going to argue whether this is good or bad in this blog post, I am just claiming that this is what society gains from “schooling” over the past 130 years. 

The bigger question that is implied is what will the structure of education (or schooling) look like in the future?  One could argue that the structure of schooling will not change.  However, I believe that we are in the midst of a significant structural change right now.  Currently our educational structure is based on the organization of society that occurred at the end of the 19^th century.  As society accelerated into the industrial age, everything about society incorporated the industrial model which was emerging.  What people forget to realize is that this transformation took a long time.  We like to think that this transformation occurred in just a few years or a couple decades.  The actual reality is that the change started in the late 18^th century and did not codify until the early 20^th century.  This is reflected in education (or schooling) as comprehensive high schools became ubiquitous in the early 20^th century.  The structure of industrialization became embedded in schooling and it worked for the needs of society.  I am not forgetting the valid criticisms of the industrial model (including the racism of segregated schools); what I am saying is that the structure served a purpose.  The structure reflected a factory which implied conformity to rules and acquiescence to authority.

I believe we are now in a stage of transition to a new structure.  The foundational pieces are in place. Organizations are being created that can offer learning experience to students, schools and families that move beyond the current industrial model of school.  These new educational platforms will allow students access to learning experiences that were unthinkable a few years ago.  The new structure of education will involve schools becoming a place of facilitation where students access the many different ways of learning available to them.  The new school structure will not have teachers and buildings like we know them now.  There will be various platforms of learning that students will access.  These platforms will become the learning content and instructional spaces for students.  “School” will be a place of access of new learning, not a place of transmission of knowledge.  Education thought leaders that understand this transformation will position schools to be in the vanguard of societal change.  There is a significant change occurring in the structure of learning…do we have the courage to direct this change?