Call me a cynic… but does anyone else suffer allergic reactions to education 2 statements such as those accompanying the upcoming EduCon 2.0 get together (picked up via Will), which I’m sure’ll be fun, but…
The Axioms / Guiding Principles of EduCon 2.0:
1) Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2) Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
3) Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4) Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5) Learning can — and must — be networked.
Now, besides all that stuff about conferences / conversations starting from questions rather than statements, about attendees bringing differing perspectives and so on, I have a few issues with these ‘oft repeated slogans, if you’ll excuse me a minute.
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1) Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
Really, must they be? Is inquiry driven honestly the only way to look cool in online learning (although apparently this is not an ed tech conference… hmmm… wonder how that’ll work out in reality) … reminds me of my dad saying he’s part social constructivist, part behaviorist… aren’t we all :) And ‘thoughtful’ and ’empowering’ rank alongside words like ‘free ‘ and ‘valuable’ in terms of meaningless head-nodders.
NB: I’m not averse to meaningless head-nodders myself, but am still allowed to critique them in others ;)
2) Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
Oh, come on, co-creation is soooooo the parsley round the lamb. What’s wrong with frickin ‘teaching’, ‘facilitating’ or plain old ‘educating’ (which seems to cover a few of these more broadly ;) Oh, and incidentally WE HAVEN’T GOT ANY CHOICE BUT TO ‘CREATE’ THE 21ST CENTURY CITIZEN. Duh!
3) Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
I have to say that this was initially what got my ire, although the more I look at the other points the ire gets redirected! Saying this is basically the same as saying ‘buildings must serve people’ which is bad enough as it’s utterly obvious, however, what this statement is really about is a repackaging of ‘pedagogy before technology’ a.k.a. ‘let’s ignore the technology, as it should just meet the needs we have’ a.k.a. ‘let’s not worry about the buildings, just get on with the living’. A dangerous route that all to often has something not dissimilar to Blackboard at the end of it.
4) Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
No shit Sherlock ;)
Although I might add stuff like express, enjoy, and engage (see, I can do buzz words too :). And also, ‘learn’.
5) Learning can — and must — be networked.
Absolute codswaddle, Gardner anyone?, who says that perfectly decent learning can’t take place for many many people in dusty old rooms all on their lonesome, or that exams and essays don’t cater for at least a significant % of learning styles and intelligences.
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Oh, I dunno, the real, overarching issue I have with all of this is that it’s humming to the choir and ignoring the difficult, unpleasant, messy and sometimes just darn impossible questions that make up the reality of successful teaching and learning in any different context, be they C18th or in a fully networked school in 2008.
Oh and look ma, no cats.
