Edevolution

I sure hope that we can avoid the edvolution trap.

Great project and job by the Middle Schoolers who created the video that communicates their demand for change.

And a great article from Tina Barseghian on Mind/Shift to report on the students project. Barseghian quotes the students teacher as saying, “I’ve learned a lot about teaching in the last three months,” he writes. “Educational needs aren’t the same as when I was in middle school twenty years ago. The modern educator is a facilitator, an organizer, and a guide – the modern educator is NOT a teacher. We are no longer (or should no longer be) in the business of giving information. The information is out there, easily grasped. It’s our job to present it to the students in a way that makes them want to learn themselves.”

Avoiding the edevolution trap is a very difficult thing to do. The students demand change and rightfully so, they present a great video and many educators will watch. But many will watch their presentation and think that the key to change is more gadgets and iPads. Now I am a gadget and an iPad guy, but don’t fall into the edevolution trap. The trap of missing what the real changes should be. The students on their own blog make an appeal for change, change the way the room is arranged. No problem there, change the furniture, change the equipment, change whatever, but don’t fall into the trendy trap of changing everything except for what really needs to be changed.

So, what is it that needs to be changed? The way we allow students to learn, thats what needs to be changed. What is the real cry for reform, revolution, edevolution? Set us free, set us free to learn in the way that is best for us. Set us free to use the tools that are best for us. Set us free to learn with the methods that are best for us. Customized blended learning environments are radically different from standardized in the box environments. When you set the learners free in the environment that is best for them no two classes make look the same. Don’t fall for the trap that every learning environment must be the same. Just replacing overhead projectors with document cameras in every classroom does not meet the demand for change. Creating customized learning environments with the proper tools and methods does facilitate the cry for change.

Set the students free. Set them free to learn in the best way with the best tools and the best methods for them.

In case you have not seen the article on Mind Shift, you can read it here.

The edevolution blog is here.

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