The Wrong Question: “What do you want to become?” A Better Question: “Who do you want to become?” The first question implies that you “arrive”. It also implies finality. There is a destination that tells you, and everyone who knows you, that you have “become” what you want to be…period, end of story. Once you get to your destination (I…
Category: Mass Customized learning
The Schooling Paradox
A Problem: The Schooling Paradox There is an intriguing paradox in education that I want to spend some time discussing in this blog. Educators engage in an intellectual world of ideas while also navigating an organizational structure called school. Ideas for better learning options (or opportunities) often clash with the reality of the structure of school. We envision what the…
Covering the Curriculum
“I am so frustrated because the teacher went over three things today in class even though she knew that most of us didn’t learn the first one!” –My Daughter A Quick Exercise What does curriculum mean to you? Please take some time and make a list of words that immediately come to mind when you think of curriculum… As you…
Mass Customized Learning and “Normalized” Structures of Schools
The problem, as I see it, is that all of us involved in the designing of the MCL experience are subconsciously enmeshed in the current system. Our professional default mode is away from freedom (both physically and intellectually) and toward traditional, normalized structures.
Finding Humanity in our Learners
There are amazing things you can learn about a person when they are interviewing for a job. The job applicant usually starts the interview nervous and it is difficult (at times) to get beyond the nervousness so you can really learn about the person. I vividly remember one job interview in which all of us conducting the interview were having…
The Essential Component of Personalized Learning
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins –Ben Franklin There is one misconception that I hear repeatedly from educators when they discuss mass customized learning or personalized learning, and it gets right to the essential component of mass customized/personalized learning. But let’s remember this about misconceptions…they can prevent educators from helping their students, advancing their schools, and furthering…
2 Filters of Uncompromisingly Learner Centered Schools
“Vigor and creative flow have their source in internal strains and tensions, it is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music” -Eric Hoffer Eric Hoffer was considered the “workingman’s philosopher” and is best known for his 1952 book The True Believer. The above quote is a result of a line of thinking that Hoffer undertook…
The Logical End to a False Premise
Currently, the news cycle is being dominated by a “college admissions” scandal. A good synopsis of the scandal can be found here. The gist of the scandal is that wealthy people were doing things to guarantee admission to elite schools for their children. The details are sordid, but basically significant sums of money were changing hands to cheat on the…
The Cult of Innovation…and How to Overcome it in Education
Recently I spent time with a school district leadership team. As I listened to the significant work they were doing within their schools to make learning better for students, I kept hearing things like, “Well, this is not that innovative” or “It (what they are doing) is not that big of a deal”. I wanted to shout (and did tell…
Finally…The One Question About Mass Customized Learning Answered!
Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8, working in a partnership with The Pennsylvania Leadership Development Center, created the Mid Atlantic Mass Customized Learning Consortium four years ago. The consortium is open to all organizations involved in learning throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Membership consists of those education leaders who will work to transform learning in their organizations to assure students (learners) receive learning at…