I wanted to take a quick moment to share the following article from Dale Stephens, founder of Uncollege.   I had the pleasure of interviewing Dale a while back and was glad to learn about the Uncollege endeavor and introduce the organization to the UM audience.   Since then I’ve been loosely following Uncollege and sometimes enjoy some of the insightful articles published on education and more.  This was one of those times.   The focus of the article is specific, but of course, because I am who I am, I am seeing a broader significance in the idea he is touching on here.  Maybe you will see it too.

There is a whole lot of controversy over whether computers and Television can be useful “learning tools” and often folks point out how shows like Animal Planet or sites that offer virtual classes are proof that these are beneficial tools.  My argument was always this – that like any other tool, it can be useful or harmful.  A hammer can help you build a house but it can also hit you in the head and render you brain-dead.   I think that is an eerily accurate analogy for how we use media.  Use it wisely…but more importantly, let us never allow artificial media replace real life experience.   Artificial is never ever more nutritional than natural and *whole* experience.

There is a very significant difference between active and passive participation.   We learn so much more when we are actively involved.   Let us also acknowledge the importance of ‘teaching back’ which the following article touches on.  Teaching back is not a new concept.   This is the third prong in the ancient Socratic method of education – the Trivium.  Grammar – the discovery, Logic – the understanding and Rhetoric – the communication or ‘teaching’ of the concept.  This third step not only communicates the idea to others, but it helps to solidify the concept for ourselves.   You know that you truly understand something when you are able to help another understand it clearly and explain it concisely.   Alas it’s a perpetual experience.  The more you discover, the more you understand, the more you communicate it outward, and thus the more more you understand it and perhaps even discover more, understand more, tell it more… etc. etc and so on.

Dry and idle experiences such as classroom, text book information being force fed to large audiences does not allow this opportunity for balanced and true education.   Similarly, a program or virtual class that offers information in the same way – just shot out at you, bears the same flaw.  Information is simply flung upon you and you are left to absorb what you will.  This is the discovery step and then it stops there.   Some, as in virtual ‘school’ may offer some benefit in the logic step, but very little in the rhetoric.

These steps are important for true learning.  True learning is important for true knowing.  True knowing is important for personal freedom and personal freedom is really the most important aspiration of all.

Now, as the article exemplifies with the introduction of a new software program designed to teach coding – it is certainly possible to use this balanced three-step principle via computer.  I will acknowledge that but no more than I will acknowledge that many find programs like Khan academy useful in discovery and maybe understanding.    It’s a hammer.  Use it to build a house, but be careful not to hit yourself in the head!

I still remain steadfast in my belief that while many new virtual tools can be somewhat useful – nothing artificial can ever replace a real, whole and natural experience.   Like a live gathering of peers interested in learning a concept, getting together to discover, understand and teach each other.

The best example I can think of is my sons and their interest in Chess.   They learned a great deal from playing the computer, for sure!  They also learned from a Chess instructor that we hired for a few weeks.   I won’t deny that.  However, there was a clear and evident difference in the speed and depth of what and how they learn, and how well their skill sharpens when they get together with their Chess club buddies where they play, discuss moves and strategies and learn from each other.   The former options were suitable, but the latter – the realness of playing with peers and learning from each other by explaining their moves and discovering over and over again – that was where it all really happened.   And that is how we all learn everything in our lives, for real.

Anyway, here’s the article that spawned this most recent prolific preponderance from yours truly…  enjoy!  Thoughts and comments welcomed!

 

Does Education Scale?

by Dale Stephens of Uncollege.org

In Silicon Valley, one often hears the question, “Does it scale?”

What a technologist wants to know is how a specific technological innovation can be applied in a broad manner to affect a wide range of people.  If Google only searched two websites it wouldn’t be terribly useful.  But because Google scaled effectively to search the entire Internet, it became extremely engaging.

When technologists think about education, they ask that same question.  What has brought projects like the Khan Academy to prominence is that they scale: a single video can be watched by millions of people.  While it’s wonderful to give millions of people access to knowledge, I think we should be careful when scaling education.
Often educational experiences aren’t scalable.  I don’t think you can replace the learning that comes from an intimate five-person discussion about Shakespeare with watching a video from MIT, the Khan Academy, or anywhere else. I don’t care who makes the video, or how great a teacher the person is, having people to support and challenge your ideas is irreplaceable.

I get frustrated when people talk about OpenCourseWare or the Khan Academy as revolutionary.  Don’t get me wrong, both are doing wonderful things for education, but they still follow the same pedagogical model as the classroom—a one-to-many model. The student is a recipient of knowledge and only passively engaged.  Certainly there are steps in the right direction—Khan now offers exercises and some interaction.  However, a revolution is when students become active participants in learning, improving, and sharing knowledge.  A revolution is when students start to teach.

*************

My friend Alex Peake, a fellow Hackademic who skipped college entirely, has built a game called CodeHero to help you learn how to code.  What I love about CodeHero is that Alex has made the player an active participant in the game.  Not only do you play the game, but as you play the game, you actually help build the game.  That’s revolutionary.

Alex has figure out the only way to effectively scale education—by turning students into teachers. As you progress through learning you are expected to share your knowledge. When we expect people to share knowledge, we take education offline and into the real world. It’s wonderful to have knowledge available from MIT and the Khan Academy, but it’s not the same as people geting together in the real world to discuss what they have learned.

I’ll share more about projects creating real-world learning groups soon, but I want to mention one last thing about CodeHero: they are raising money on KickStarter!

With one week to go, they have raised over $35,000—over one-third of their goal—and they need our help. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform, you can help them by donating as little as $1, but they will only get the money if their entire goal of $100,000 is met.  If you donate $42 you’ll get a free copy of the game to help you learn how to code.

If you’re interested in learning programming or computer science, I encourage you to check out CodeHero on Kickstarter and consider donating. Even if you aren’t interested in learning to code, I encourage you to check it out.  CodeHero is a worthy cause and Alex is a smart guy.

Those of us trying to change education have to support each other—I backed Alex on Kickstarter with $300.  There is no financial incentive in this for me, I just think CodeHero is awesome.

Keep on hacking,
Dale

Share and Enjoy