The Today Show had a short piece on SAT test prep provided by the Princeton Review. It is an example of the “business logic” commercial vendors bring to education. It is also the kind of thing those of us who see potential value in online content and services hate because it exemplifies the motives of some online content providers.
The report focused on the variable pricing model applied by the provider. The logic of an online provider charging different rates to students in different parts of the country would not occur to those of us who practice education. The cost of providing online access would be the same – why charge different amounts for the content. The logic that was defended was that the cost of a face to face local provider of the same service would be different in different parts of the country – why shouldn’t the cost of online access be adjusted accordingly.
This link will provide access to the Today report (as provided by the Huffington post). A direct link was not available.
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I seem to be generating a series of posts in which I comment on the arguments of rich educational philanthropists (see previous post on Mark Zuckerberg). I understand there is a gut-level, negative reaction to what Zuckerberg and Gates have to say because a) it is assumed they are not educational practitioners and hence have little to offer and b) they are supporting educational practices (e.g., charter schools) that public school teachers regard as a threat. A more productive approach might be carefully analyze the issues raised [see previous post].
This Gates post suggests that teachers receive very little feedback (regarding what they do well). Would most educators really disagree with a focus on better feedback? I see the potential of individualized instruction systems to provide evidence of specific student strengths and weaknesses [dashboards]. Rather than suggesting such performance data are a way to question the competence of educators, why not label it as a way to identify the specific assistance required by individual students.
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I doubt he cares but I am in with Mark Zuckerberg’s focus on the personalization of education. That Mark (not this Mark) surely gets more attention for his views, but mine were formed far before that Mark ever touched a computer. My interest in individualization goes back to my first research interests in mastery learning and eventually to my opinion of how best to use technology in education.
Here is what I do not get. Why does Mark (Bill Gates) seem to think the vision we share must somehow be implemented outside of traditional public schools. Why are they using their vast financial resources to fund alternatives as a way to push this agenda (see The Prize)?
Maybe the answer is that they are impatient and believe existing schools discount their vision for reasons of self-protection. Like so many stereotypes, this perspective is always true of some people – teachers and administrators in this case. I consider myself a supporter of traditional schools and value more individualization. I see value in multiple instructional tactics and also see value in group work to develop social and cooperative skills.
The “my way or the highway” approach to modifying education is destructive and has politicized the process of change. The examination of how we all best meet the needs of individual learners has become mixed up with positions on unionization, what fuels the U.S. economy, and who should make money in providing resources to learners. Too many people with self-serving ideas and impatient personalities are trying to force or protect agendas that are destructive.
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I am beginning the process of updating our Kindle book. Author revision is a great advantage over our earlier experience working for a publishing company. You can work on your schedule when you feel changes are necessary rather than waiting for the company controlled publication cycle.
Authoring a Kindle book is not a trivial matter. I really like the capabilities of iBook Author, but the decision Apple has made in limiting access to those who own Apple hardware makes this a nonstarter. Kindle does not really offer anything similar to those who prefer the Kindle platform. There are some interesting new capabilities for the inclusion of multimedia – to compete with iBooks I assume. However, the basics of formatting a Kindle book includes some significant challenges.
This is the third time I have reworked our content. What is frustrating is that each time I have to translate my content to the unique Kindle epub format in a different way. I would rather spend my time working on the content. I prefer to write in Google docs because I work from so many different devices and locations when creating. I then have to use other software to convert to the product I can upload to Amazon. In the last iteration, I used Apple Pages. One of the tricky things about Kindle is creating a clickable Table of Contents. The goal when the Kindle book is created is to allow the reader to peruse the Table of Contents and conveniently jump to the topic they want to read. This amounts to internal links (not external links to content on the Internet). Apple’s most recent version of Pages (5.x), took the capability of generating such links out (bookmarks). The rationale for this deletion is not obvious to me.
Google docs has a great way to create a Table of Contents, but I am yet unclear as to whether or not it provides clickable access when converted. Kindle docs are pretty much html plus other files. There are ways to generate the types of links I want in a form of post processing, but the process is not easy.
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Remember the name of that online thing? I seem to be asking this question more and more. I was working with the students in my grad class and discussing the section of our book that concerns what we describe as “exploratory environments“. I have longed been intrigued by the potential of an open environment that allows exploration and even construction. It took the group a while to figure out what I was trying to remember and even when identified not everyone knew what the rest of us were talking about. I was trying to recall “Second Life”.
I thought Second Life had great potential for learning, but I remember it as being hijacked by those who supported it (by purchasing virtual land). I remember the demise of the education potential happening in two stages (although the stages were related). The first was the “teen online” portion of the virtual world. The second was the growth of “sex oriented” themes throughout. Sex sells would be an apt summary. I just remember the popularity of the service among many of the tech support people at the University and I always wondered if they persisted in their commitment.
As things seem to happen, I have this thought in class and then encounter something soon afterwards that is related. I also wonder why this seems to happen. Perhaps the brain is just prepared to attend to things that are still kind of active in our memories. Anyway, I just found this story from ReadWrite describing a new development from Linden Labs (the company that developed and maintained Second Life). The story explains the efforts from the company directed toward virtual reality, but also includes a history of the company and Second Life. Makes a good read if you are interested in exploratory environments.
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I wonder if this recommendation should come with some type of warning or a request for parental approval. The behavior and language would certainly not be what educators would allow among their students and certain not encourage others to emulate. How do you explain this to students?
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