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Making good use of the time


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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.

  • A sample module : With 1,750 modules to present the core K-12 curricula what would a single module look like? :: Continue reading...
  • Engineering :
    A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty :: Continue reading...
  • Industrial Training : The big software companies all offer training in their products. My :: Continue reading...
  • Keeping it interesting : What would keep students awake as they watched their movies? Partly it :: Continue reading...
  • Khan Academy : Here is an example of how it could work. Khan is already doing it by modularizing lessons, first for his nieces and nephews but now courtesy of grants from the Gates Foundation and Google for all of us. Millions have now sampled at least one of the fifteen hundred modules. :: Continue reading...
  • Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum : The :: Continue reading...
  • Nine months per year? : Why is school only open 9 months a year? :: Continue reading...
  • Students : The standardized curriculum would be well suited to students with different backgrounds and abilities. :: Continue reading...
  • What would it cost : What would it cost to produce the equivalent of 1,750 two hour movies. :: Continue reading...
  • What would you do with the time gained? : The chances are excellent that once you put the curriculum into a state of the art form with built in learning efficiency and using 12 months per year you'll have extra time in the schedule. What can you do with the extra time? Some students may want to accelerate their journey to get to college earlier. Counselors can help determine when that is appropriate. Other may appreciate more activities that will create well rounded students. :: Continue reading...


  • The Goal Freedom


    Created : 6/26/2006 8:40:32 AM Updated: 4/14/2007 2:08:46 AM

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