Comments on: Remaking education in the image of our desires http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/ learning, networks, knowledge, technology, community Tue, 2 Apr 2013 01:35:56 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Bassa DesCollines http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-83639 Bassa DesCollines Sat, 19 May 2012 17:05:23 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-83639 I found a wealth of information in your post. Thank you first for your analytic view on that summit. I am particularly concerned about two issues that you raised. First, how do you define good teachers in the midst of this change fever? How important are standardized tests in assessing how good a teacher is? Can we really talk about change in education without giving the tools to the teachers to affect that change? To me, if we agree that education starts at the bottom with students and teachers as the two main agents, then any change needs to focus on them. The next concern that I have relates to increasing educational costs (college tuition & fees). The combined effects of the economic downturn and the decline of state and federal funds to colleges and universities have contributed to huge increases in college tuition, and they don't seem to stop. How then do we, as a nation make higher learning affordable in such condition? In essence, are we saying that will be educated those who can pay (or repay)? I found a wealth of information in your post. Thank you first for your analytic view on that summit. I am particularly concerned about two issues that you raised. First, how do you define good teachers in the midst of this change fever? How important are standardized tests in assessing how good a teacher is? Can we really talk about change in education without giving the tools to the teachers to affect that change? To me, if we agree that education starts at the bottom with students and teachers as the two main agents, then any change needs to focus on them.
The next concern that I have relates to increasing educational costs (college tuition & fees). The combined effects of the economic downturn and the decline of state and federal funds to colleges and universities have contributed to huge increases in college tuition, and they don’t seem to stop. How then do we, as a nation make higher learning affordable in such condition? In essence, are we saying that will be educated those who can pay (or repay)?

]]> By: Robin Heyden http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-83638 Robin Heyden Sat, 19 May 2012 12:44:46 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-83638 Thank you, George, for this extremely thoughtful post. Very helpful insights into the thinking of VCs and the business of education. Lots to be worried about here. I appreciate Chris Whitside's comment that businesses are made up of people, taking care of their families, who mostly (as individuals)are attempting to do good work that has a positive impact but there is danger in corporate scaling for change in "education markets". A lack of understanding of the complexity? Tamping down disagreement or minority opinons? Lack of concern for the learner? Thanks for bringing the ASU Skysong summit to us. Thank you, George, for this extremely thoughtful post. Very helpful insights into the thinking of VCs and the business of education. Lots to be worried about here. I appreciate Chris Whitside’s comment that businesses are made up of people, taking care of their families, who mostly (as individuals)are attempting to do good work that has a positive impact but there is danger in corporate scaling for change in “education markets”. A lack of understanding of the complexity? Tamping down disagreement or minority opinons? Lack of concern for the learner? Thanks for bringing the ASU Skysong summit to us.

]]> By: Kalwin Kephas http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-83637 Kalwin Kephas Thu, 17 May 2012 11:25:07 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-83637 It is interesting how you put the story into a thought provoking perspective. Especially, when placing the U.S. on the scoreboard comparing to the rest of the world in the Harvard Business Review. What is it that raised China to the top? I wonder if their attitude toward education is entreprenueral. It is interesting how you put the story into a thought provoking perspective. Especially, when placing the U.S. on the scoreboard comparing to the rest of the world in the Harvard Business Review. What is it that raised China to the top? I wonder if their attitude toward education is entreprenueral.

]]> By: Laurence Lachapelle http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-83199 Laurence Lachapelle Wed, 02 May 2012 16:45:41 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-83199 Thank you George for expressing some of the worries I had about the gap between business people and educators. As an instructional designer working in the public higher education sector, I see that the disconnect you describe between educators and entrepreneurs is real, and that it goes both ways. While not many start-ups have learning specialists in their team, few educational institutions hire professionals to help in projects involving educational technology. I would love to do that kind of consulting one day, but I fear that the gap is still too deep right now to try it out. I am happy to see suggestions of interesting initiatives in your post and in the related comments ; it gives me hope! Thank you George for expressing some of the worries I had about the gap between business people and educators. As an instructional designer working in the public higher education sector, I see that the disconnect you describe between educators and entrepreneurs is real, and that it goes both ways. While not many start-ups have learning specialists in their team, few educational institutions hire professionals to help in projects involving educational technology. I would love to do that kind of consulting one day, but I fear that the gap is still too deep right now to try it out.
I am happy to see suggestions of interesting initiatives in your post and in the related comments ; it gives me hope!

]]> By: Hans de Zwart http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82716 Hans de Zwart Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:20:18 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82716 Very very interesting post George. You've been much more eloquent in making explicit the unease that I also felt when encoutering VCs in the education space for the first time (at SxSW this year: http://blog.hansdezwart.info/2012/03/12/classroom-2020-vcs-and-the-education-revolution/). Thank you! Very very interesting post George. You’ve been much more eloquent in making explicit the unease that I also felt when encoutering VCs in the education space for the first time (at SxSW this year: http://blog.hansdezwart.info/2012/03/12/classroom-2020-vcs-and-the-education-revolution/).

Thank you!

]]> By: Chris Whitside http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82414 Chris Whitside Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:24:05 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82414 Another thoughtful post, thanks George. Something I need to keep reminding myself when discussing the overlap of business and education is that we're talking about moving targets. At the same time education is transforming to be more student-centered, business is also transforming (slowly) to be more human-centered. Yes, many businesses still exploit markets with offerings that provide more profit than value but we shouldn't be surprised. Business people, like most people, still really care only for themselves and their families. But people are constantly growing in their ability to care about the world. People and the businesses they operate are now beginning to take more collaborative, world-centric and, by extension, long term views of what's good for the world and business. Very hopeful initiatives like Creating Shared Value and Systemic Innovation are creeping into business discussions. So let's seek out, celebrate and do business with people nurturing such enlightened business models, and try not get stuck on the static view of how some companies do business today. Another thoughtful post, thanks George.

Something I need to keep reminding myself when discussing the overlap of business and education is that we’re talking about moving targets. At the same time education is transforming to be more student-centered, business is also transforming (slowly) to be more human-centered.

Yes, many businesses still exploit markets with offerings that provide more profit than value but we shouldn’t be surprised. Business people, like most people, still really care only for themselves and their families. But people are constantly growing in their ability to care about the world.

People and the businesses they operate are now beginning to take more collaborative, world-centric and, by extension, long term views of what’s good for the world and business. Very hopeful initiatives like Creating Shared Value and Systemic Innovation are creeping into business discussions.

So let’s seek out, celebrate and do business with people nurturing such enlightened business models, and try not get stuck on the static view of how some companies do business today.

]]> By: Bill Seitz http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82369 Bill Seitz Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:12:26 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82369 I suspect the big players in the space are counting on "enterprise sales" (e.g. sell to schools/governments) as their business model, and have the funding to support a long and expensive sales growth process. So they're not going to challenge that level of the game. They'll "disrupt" some other piece of the market, but "sustain" the sugar daddy. Personally, I think schools are "fighting the last war", and we need much more variation in what schools try to accomplish and how they do so. So I *do* think we need a "product" mentality, but the buyers need to be the parents and students. We need a chaotic market approach to let people find the best school *for them*. We let grown-ups buy houses and cars and guns, I think letting them pick schools for their kids isn't an unreasonable model. http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/FractallyGenerativePatternLanguage I suspect the big players in the space are counting on “enterprise sales” (e.g. sell to schools/governments) as their business model, and have the funding to support a long and expensive sales growth process. So they’re not going to challenge that level of the game. They’ll “disrupt” some other piece of the market, but “sustain” the sugar daddy.

Personally, I think schools are “fighting the last war”, and we need much more variation in what schools try to accomplish and how they do so. So I *do* think we need a “product” mentality, but the buyers need to be the parents and students. We need a chaotic market approach to let people find the best school *for them*. We let grown-ups buy houses and cars and guns, I think letting them pick schools for their kids isn’t an unreasonable model.

http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/FractallyGenerativePatternLanguage

]]> By: David http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82323 David Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:10:37 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82323 Each of us is taking one small approach to education and giving it a 10-year-effort; much like academics focus on a field of study for a few decades. One academic does not make a university any more than one startup can change the future of education. My father has been a professor at a state-related university for almost three decades; he has devoted his life to higher education --- but that does not mean that his single contributions constitute an entire academic institution -- nor would he ever claim that he single-handedly has "changed education" or even changed his university. But individually, we as entrepreneurs, just as the teachers and academics who so faithfully instructed us over the years; we will give it our best effort with the hope that collectively we can make a dent in the universe. Each of us is taking one small approach to education and giving it a 10-year-effort; much like academics focus on a field of study for a few decades. One academic does not make a university any more than one startup can change the future of education. My father has been a professor at a state-related university for almost three decades; he has devoted his life to higher education — but that does not mean that his single contributions constitute an entire academic institution — nor would he ever claim that he single-handedly has “changed education” or even changed his university. But individually, we as entrepreneurs, just as the teachers and academics who so faithfully instructed us over the years; we will give it our best effort with the hope that collectively we can make a dent in the universe.

]]> By: Cameron http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82209 Cameron Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:14:35 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82209 I'm torn. I think the technology has great potential to improve learning and teaching, but increasingly what I'm seeing is academics and administrators looking to outsource elements of their teaching to commercial enterprises. And let's face it why not? There's "no promotion in pedagogy". Higher education is on based world's best practice research and mediocre (incidental?) teaching. In the short to medium term we may see an increase in time for research and an incremental improvement in some teaching areas. But until students start prioritising teaching quality over university brand names I can't see anything much changing. It may be that the unthinking and naive jump to outsourced teaching will trigger the disruption. I’m torn. I think the technology has great potential to improve learning and teaching, but increasingly what I’m seeing is academics and administrators looking to outsource elements of their teaching to commercial enterprises.

And let’s face it why not? There’s “no promotion in pedagogy”. Higher education is on based world’s best practice research and mediocre (incidental?) teaching. In the short to medium term we may see an increase in time for research and an incremental improvement in some teaching areas.

But until students start prioritising teaching quality over university brand names I can’t see anything much changing.

It may be that the unthinking and naive jump to outsourced teaching will trigger the disruption.

]]> By: Tom http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/04/19/remaking-education-in-the-image-of-our-desires/comment-page-1/#comment-82176 Tom Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:50:24 +0000 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/?p=5550#comment-82176 If we can't preserve public education during this transformational period in techno-sociological change, then we will have failed the next generation- public education that is free, equal and accessible. If we can’t preserve public education during this transformational period in techno-sociological change, then we will have failed the next generation- public education that is free, equal and accessible.

]]>