Introit

On Fads

Are new teaching methodologies and new technologies considered "fads"? Is that a fair identification of their worth? I think not.

Recently, I participated in a discussion that centered on new trends in teaching methodologies, largely based on what technological advances are now at our disposal in independent schools. A fellow particpant responded, in a strong tone, that "there is a danger of succumbing to the latest gimmick so that plain and simple learning and teaching no longer take place, and are replaced by a fad. Sometimes it is best to keep it simple and not become distracted by too much that only gets in the way."

My question back at the participant went something like this: "What is plain and simple learning, without distraction?" The answer, after many iterations and false starts, is that plain and simple learning equals teacher-centered instruction with students in traditional arrangements of desks (rows). The teacher guides the instruction, the teachers says how to do every task, the teacher says what's right or wrong, the teacher..., the teacher..."

Although I admittedly use more technology in the classroom than the average person, I remain somewhat incredulous at this exchange. Do we still believe that learning cannot occur with technology? And why do we use the terminology of "plain and simple"? It makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, with students in their early-industrial-era rows, perhaps Shaker in style, staring at a teacher and a chalkboard, with a coal-fired stove heating the room.

When it comes to it, I think that, in most cases, folks are so overwhelmed by the advances in technology that they're scared to welcome it into their classrooms. Why scared? Because Web 2.0 technologies are so powerful that, by their very nature, they force the teacher to re-think instruction altogether. That's not a comfortable place to be for many people.

Education has come face-to-face with just how disruptive technology has become, and this disruption is about to create the next stage of evolution in how students learn...and how teachers teach.

So, is what we're experiencing a "fad"?

No. It's a revolution.

Push versus Pull

For many years, independent schools have been very good at pushing students toward success.

What if we turned the tables? What if, instead of pushing students toward success, we pulled them?

In other words, what if we used their own intrinsic interests to help pull them toward achievement and leadership?

Push versus Pull. The verb makes all the difference, doesn't it?

Culture and Early Adopters

Getting to know a school's culture is one of the most time-consuming (and challenging) things to do. In most cases, it takes several years to get a good sense of the place. There are artifacts and rituals to be recognized and navigated, personalities that are associated with power and politics, and the like. School culture can be tremendously complex, and that makes it difficult to manage change, when change is needed (as opposed to evolution, which differs from change in that the time frame is far longer, allowing for minor tweaks along the way).

Ask yourself this question: who are the "early adopters" among your faculty and staff? When a new technology is unveiled, or committee work is proposed, who becomes genuinely excited about it? Who begins to employ new methods or technologies as a means of doing a test-drive in the classroom? Do these folks constitute a critical mass? If not, who are the linchpins within the full school community, those who would help you in your change effort? Could you assemble a team of four to six individuals, all "early adopters", whose sphere of influence would help you to accomplish your goal(s)?

Look at the following chart and consider the political base that the early adopters can bring to your school. If they buy into your vision and share your excitement and enthusiasm about it, they will influence a larger group to follow: the "early majority," who represent the pragmatists, or those folks who say, "this is not a bad idea, and these folks we respect are really excited about it; let's latch on and do it." With the early majority in your corner, the remainder of the buy-in will take care of itself.

What's a Wired Education Look Like?

The October 2010 issue of Wired contains a thought-provoking article on "Wired University." For the fun of it, but also based on sincerity of convictions, the authors offer what they term "the neoliberal arts." The courses include:

• Statistical Literacy - in which students learn how to parse polls, play the odds, and embrace uncertainty
• Post-State Diplomacy - in which students learn how to practice statecraft without states (they learn how to understand new leaders and constituencies)
• Remix Culture - in which students learn how to analyze and create artworks made out of other artworks
• Writing for New Forms - in which students learn how to adapt their message(s) to multiple formats and audiences: human and machine
• Waste Studies - in which students learn how to become smarter consumers, investors, and conservers
• Domestic Tech - in which students learn how to apply hard science and engineering to everyday life, including making, repairing, and upgrading everyday physical objects

Irrespective of whether you believe these courses to be realistic, they represent the authors' foray into re-evaluating extant curricula and what purposes those curricula fulfill. Technology has finally become the disruptive innovation everyone thought it would be some fifteen years ago; now it has enough strength to force change simply because it exists. Moore's Law is very real!

Is your school re-evaluating its overall curriculum, including proposals for new courses that might make sense for students to have in this day and age? How are you blending the traditional with the modern?

The Forever Recession

There are two recessions going on.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

From Seth Godin, an apt post. How is your school responding to the "other" recession?

Trends in Productivity

Continental Airlines recently ran a print ad that featured Robert McGarvey, who is a blogger for the airline (yes, such a thing does exist!). McGarvey attended five technology conferences is four cities over the course of a month, and shares his discovery of trends highlighted at these conferences:

• Anywhere, anytime, any device -- a new "connectivity mantra." Wireless carriers, he writes, are scurrying, trying to make this promise a reality, although they're not quite there yet. Soon they will be, though. Question: what does this 'mantra' mean for independent schools, in terms of curriculum design and execution in the classroom?
• Cloud computing. The "shift to the cloud means that the generation-long hegemony of desktop computing has been shattered. [...] A local device pedigree (e.g., operating system) becomes less relevant." Question: what does this development mean for IT departments in our schools?
• Smartphones with EQ. The time is coming when your smartphone may be able to exhibit a degree of emotional intelligence, perhaps detecting that we are angry, and respond by initiating "a calming meditation session." Perhaps far-fetched, but folks are working on it! Question: Were it to become a reality, what might that mean for schools in terms of allowing students to keep their phones "on" during the day?
• Mobile workforce. "By 2012, 1 billion of us will work somewhere other than a traditional office." Society is becoming progressively more mobile; it will continue to increase exponentially. Question(s): should schools assume that education is immune to this trend? How might we capitalize on it? What does that mean for bricks-and-mortar mindsets?
• Travel trends. "Travel is getting more personalized [via devices and new platforms], better suited to your needs." The reasoning behind the belief in 'disruptive travel trends' is the population growth in India and China, and the approaches to travel that such population growth (and entry in the workforce) means. Question: how might schools approach the issue of travel abroad for their students and faculty?

Overarching question: what do these trends mean for productivity in the independent school workforce?

Rethinking Institutional Advancement

Institutional advancement is now more important than ever for independent schools, yet I believe that the traditional understanding of the term “advancement” is changing.

Going forward, advancement must be the locus of innovation; it is no longer “just” fundraising. There must be creation of substantial revenue sources: ones that, over time, will not only complement traditional fundraising programs, but rival—and perhaps exceed—them. The recession has made clear that endowment growth needs to be the primary driver of advancement energies, and these new revenue sources will be directed to support such growth.

The position of Director of Institutional Advancement, then, will be a hybrid of Chief Operations Officer and Business Development Officer. As such, this leader will manage a portfolio of complex projects, all of which involve teams of various constituencies (alumni, business leaders, parents, teachers, and even students) that report directly to the leader, insofar as each project is concerned. In short, independent education is being changed and shaped by the combination of a remarkable recession and tremendous advances in technology, both of which are forcing the necessity of innovation.

Visual Thinking

Clive Thompson writes a worthwhile article in the October 2010 issue of Wired magazine, "Think Visual." His thesis, based at least in part on Dan Roam's book, The Back of the Napkin, is that the best way to solve complicated problems might be to draw them. Roam argues, as Thompson says, "that our culture relies too heavily on words. Our school systems--and political systems--are designed to promote people who are verbal and eloquent. And text tends to encourage us to describe our problems as narratives or linear lists of facts. But dynamic, complicated problems--like global warming and economic reform--often can't be boiled down to simple narratives. They're systems; they have many little parts affecting one another. In those situations, drawing a picture can clarify what's going on" (66).

As Thompson writes, however, "Unfortunately, picture-drawing is considered childish, which is partly why visual thinking has taken a backseat to verbal agility. But that may be changing, because the Internet has boosted the utility of imagery." He cites the example of Roam, who "drew a series of witty napkin pictures" to describe the recent health care debate. "Within a few weeks, nearly 300,000 people had viewed the images; many emailed Roam thanking him for finally explaining the reform" (66). You can view a video with Dan Roam here, where talks about rethinking PowerPoint.

How might schools incorporate this level of visualization in extant curricula? At what point might we stop considering picture-drawing childish and consider it as a go-to resource? Such an approach would underscore the importance of learning styles, something which continues to make many folks uncomfortable and even suspicious.

Kenntnis and Internships

Leonard Sax allocates ample space to the Kenntnis v. Wissenschaft argument in Boys Adrift, building on Richard Louv's work, and it has occupied my mind for the better part of several months now. Both German terms mean "knowledge," but the former means "knowledge via experience" whereas the latter means "knowledge through book-learning" (basically). Sax's argument is that the American educational system has lost sight of the beneficial role that Kenntnis plays in the development of the child.

There are some independent schools that offer senior projects or internships, both of which are Kenntnis-oriented, yet I often wonder why more independent schools do not pursue them as viable and authentic capstone experiences for our seniors. One hears much talk, for example, of the importance of experiential learning and how we need to offer it to our students, but moving from talk to action would appear to be a step that we cannot breach. It seems a classic example of what Bob Sutton and Jeff Pfeffer call the knowing-doing gap, specifically when he talks about the smart-talk trap. The latter represents those leaders who are so comfortable with talking about ideas that they cannot (or will not) move to the next step, that of executing an idea. I'm sure that we all can think of at least one school leader who is famous for talking on and on about everything, but who never (or rarely) executes anything.

How might you help to introduce a Kenntnis experience to your students? Would internships work, based on your location and access to industry, etc.? As Washor and Mojkowski ("What do you mean by rigor?" 2006/07) write, internships refer to "deep immersion in a subject over time, with learners using sophisticated texts, tools, and language in real-world settings and often working with expert practitioners who serve as mentors...encounter[ing] complex, messy problems [and realizing] how hard it is to do something well." (As cited in a recent issue of Educational Leadership)

Isn't that what we say we want for our students?

Collaboration and Team Concept via Game Design

Fascinating video on the website of The New York Times. There's a middle school in NYC in which kids are actually building games, not just playing games, with an eye to expanding their educational horizons. They take courses, for example, in game design. They learn how and why systems work; they work in collaborative "pods" that include up to four kids, each of whom has to take a specific role so that the team functions well.

We don't have to offer game design in all our schools, but the concept of collaboration is an important one for our students as they prepare for a work place that demands the ability to work in teams and for employees to be flexible in their roles.