Topics GeographyHeadlinesInfrastructureKatrinaNeighborhoodsPeopleRecreation
|
Looking more closely at the 10,000 hours every student spends in school, a few more ideas emerge.
Study hall, library sessions, physical education and an assortment of
enrichment activities consume 2,000 of those hours. 1,000 hours are
spent on testing to see if the material presented has actually been
absorbed. About 3,500 are spent in workshops and review sessions which
leaves about 3,500 hours during which teachers actually present new material.
What if Disney, Universal, Pixar and Microsoft packaged those 3,500 critical hours into a series of first class training modules including video, computer
assisted learning, pod casts and teaching aids? What if they built the instructor led and computer assisted workshops to guide development and progressively build real world
skills from the lecture materials? What if homework was delivered
across the Internet, graded immediately and not accepted until 100%
correct? What if each module
included its own computer
based testing to evaluate and record each student's mastery of the materials. What if there were
community resources, tutoring, and counseling to help students
struggling with a particular module?
The teachers' role would change dramatically. Instead of having to
tackle the entire job of education on their own, they would have plenty of
help. The studios would provide tools and processes to help teachers
monitor progress, identify problems and
provide enrichment. These guides could include computer based tools,
videos, on line resources, and individual counseling for the teachers
themselves. Instead of being overwhelmed by
a class of twenty or thirty students, teachers would have time
to provide individual assistance. Individual assistance would be their
main purpose as they monitored each student's progress and intervened
with motivation and guidance when required.
So many ideas leap out of this basic concept. By far the biggest is the
change in emphasis for educators. Under the old system they toil alone
as lesson planners / lecturers /
testers and graders. (It's like the pre-Industrial revolution craft
system when what we need is a modern, automated Lexus assembly
plant) Under the new system educators act like factory managers,
constantly monitoring progress, providing personal
attention and acting as coaches and counselors for students as they learn.
|