Blurts

Here is a summary of survey results from Tech&Learning summarizing what middle and high school students want in an ebook. Highlighting and notetaking – I am impressed.

Today was the Susan G. Komin Race for the Cure event in Minneapolis. It has been a family mother’s day tradition now for many years. Cindy with brother Scott and Jena.

I remain of the opinion that the presentation of information is a necessary part of education. Lectures, books, web content, etc. are efficient ways to offer content which students then must process at a personal level to learn. This processing may involve discussion, hands-on activities, discussion with peers, etc.  Education is not an either/or thing and those who believe that a lecture is an efficient way to begin the process of learning are not always suggesting that all class time should be spent in this way. I am also hoping that those who oppose the lecture are not assuming that the total learning experience happens in the classroom.

If these data are accurate, it is now reported that the Chicago turn around only holds for the Illinois test and not for the NAEP.

I have just been reading a student paper discussing some of research concerning the effects of mastery learning. A similar criticism was raised. If the treatment group concentrates on a given set of objectives and the control group is taught by teachers who are not focused on those objectives, one finds similar results. An exam over the objectives shows an advantage for the treatment group. A general exam does not. So, which group learned more?

Isn’t this the general concern with NCLB – teachers stealing time from content topics not covered on the exams to focus on the content to be covered. I don’t think this is what Secretary Duncan means by “time, time, time“, but this is what happens when you only teach to some of your goals.

Warlich’s recent post is focused on the topic of open curriculum. The post contains a complaint (not from Warlich) contending that:

The textbook industry is almost the enemy of education today…

I am thinking the situation is a little more complicated than this. If the issue is cost and educators feel that these companies are asking too much. Say so. Typically, the process of competition has something to do with this, but my impression is that there are fewer and fewer competitors. By the way, typically the decline in the number of competitors is not a sign that there is a lot of easy money to be made.

Perhaps the complaint is that the books do not contain the right content or take the proper approach. I do think book companies WANT to make money. For them, this seems to translate as find out what content and processes are required in a few large states with global adoptions and generate your book around these priorities. If the objection is to the content, I guess I don’t blame the companies unless one wants to suggest that their motive is not to sell books.I would blame the priorities in the states that influence the book companies. Need to name some names?

Will consortia of teachers author their own content? I don’t know. I am guessing that most will not do it for free and most won’t bother to ask the present folks who tell the book companies what they want in a book. What I would predict would be that some educators will submit some things – perhaps some unique things they are proud of. The question then becomes will these be the things that are necessary to meet the same expectations we know have for the book companies.

I say these things having had the experience of searching for specific things I feel would be useful for my college classes. Typically, I try Merlot. My experience to this point is that the repository approach is no where close to meeting my needs as an instructor. I typically have more luck just using Google to see what I can find. The problem is that I am looking for things I don’t already have and those who offer things for free have little incentive to fill voids that need to be filled.

The instructional design folks probably have a plan, a process, or a model for what needs to be done. Does the open source community have the self discipline to develop content and a curriculum using such rigorous approaches or is the assumption that things will just come together. The Warlich article makes reference to a Legos model. I am saying make certain you buy the set with all the pieces necessary to build your rocket ship.

Not saying that a rigorous approach would not be possible. I think the most likely approach would involve a state effort that fronts the money for planning initiatives and then makes certain that all necessary tasks are addressed. Perhaps such states might attempt to defray costs by agreeing to sell materials to other states not willing to take the plunge. But, that sounds like a publishing company and that is where this all started.

While I am an academic, I am not fond of graduations. I do like the speeches. It is the time required to watch hundreds walk across the stage that gets old. Garrison Keilor spoke at my oldest daughter’s graduation. One of the “lost boys” spoke at the undergraduate of my youngest daughter.

Larry Page gave the commencement speech at Michigan. It is only about 16 min. long and tells a personal story. The comments about his father are touching. His comments about his personal achievements are insightful. The personal histories of those who have shaped the world of personal technologies has intrigued me for years. I feel like I have experienced their histories as part of my own.