Though we may not always follow it perfectly or completely, we tend to try to make our classrooms fair: fairness in learning, fairness in assessment, fairness in reward. But what are the grounds for fairness and equity in education? In this article, I argue that they represent the conditions necessary for a dynamic, active and living society. Posted to Huffington Post, December 15, 2010.
"Whenever Human Rights Day comes along," writes Konrad Glogowski, "I think of Article 26: Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."
If lurking were disallowed I wouldn't be able to do half the things I do. I frequently follow along in groups, conferences, committees, etc., in lurker mode. Yes, it irritates active participants sometimes (sorry about that, SCC-ISO people). But it's how I need to manage my time if I am to participate in the event or discussion at all. And don't think it isn't participation - think of it as being akin to the role of scrutineer. My very act of watching has an impact (the desired impact) on the outcome of the proceedings. So I'm with Jenny Mackness - lurking should be tolerated, and people who don't like it should deal with their control issues.
Curt Bonk has made a library of e-learning videos (YouTibe versions) available. The 27-video series "Video Primers in an Online Repository for e-Teaching and Learning" covers, writes Bonk, "topics for both novice and more expert online instructors and educators. Those watching them can learn how to engage learners with Web 2.0 technologies, build instructor presence, prepare highly interactive and relevant online activities, access free and open course resources, plan for the future of e-learning, and much more. See below for links as well as show descriptions." They took about a year to produce and the experience, he writes, was like writing a book. I can believe it.
Technology, they say, eliminates the middle-man. Fair enough. But from a certain perspective, everyone can be seen as the middle-man. That's why major publishers, instead of seeing themselves as the intermediaries between author and reader, see see schools, colleges and universities as the intermediary between themselves and students. What does this mean, in practice? How about degrees handed out, not by some university, but by Thompson, Pearson or Kaplan (which such reorganized and rebanded its learning units this week). Far-fetched? Well, it would be, except that, as this story reports, Pearson is already doing it.
If you think about it, you realize that this is correct. And when you realize that this is correct, you begin to rethink what you're doing. What is it? This: "Higher Education is actually a 'bundle' consisting of a library, some professors, a social life, a transformative experience, a curriculum and an accreditation. Most people want the accreditation and would be willing to sacrifice the rest." meanwhile Jack Uldrich predicts that a student without a degree will sue for admission into law or medical school strictly on the basis of test results.
I watch that video of fifteen year old student protester Rodney Owen McCarthy, and I think, "That's me. That's me!" Well, me of 36 years ago, and with better technology. But you get the point. "We are no longer that generation that doesn't care, we are no longer that generation to sit back and take whatever they give us. We are now the generation at the heart of the fight back," he says in the video to an enthusiastic crowd at the Coalition of Resistance National Conference in Camden, U.K. Rock on.
Good stuff from Will Thalheimer as he extracts data from 14 studies on how much people remember and what causes them to forget. As he notes, "Rules-of-thumb that show people forgetting at some pre-defined rate are just plain false. In other words, learning gurus and earnest bloggers are wrong when