betterness

Grazie Umair – perfect timing.. was hoping for a succinct invite/summary of your book – betterness [$2.69 on kindle, kindle app free] –

and here it is – in your July 4 post on being radical.

What I’m experiencing, is these incredible one-on-one convos with people.. and in essence, what they all keep asking is.. is it legal for me to think for myself? 

This is huge.. but I don’t think it’s about getting more people to out right ask that.. it’s about helping people realize – that that is the question they are already asking.. if they just listen to themselves.

If people would realize that.. that the (one of the) question(s) is – is it legal for me to think for myself, talk to myself…?

Their gut will see how ridiculous it is… where have we come to that we need even ask that.

I believe that realization will create the boldness – the radicalness – needed for this quiet revolution.

By the way.. I’m thinking.. that most kids get this. They are growing up in a time where they can find out whatever they want whenever they want.. they can connect to whoever, whenever.

They are actually being very polite in still playing the – go to a school building 7 hours a day – and then do what I choose after hours.. or after I graduate.. because they know and use and live more options.

We just keep (with good intent) changing up our verbiage, and believing that things will be different. beefing up our work-load, our expectations, and believing that things will be different.

What if.. the core of what we are changing the verbiage about and beefing up our workload for – isn’t what we need – isn’t what we (our souls) are really after..

We need to pause long enough to figure out what we are really after first. [Sit on the blue car like millman in the way of the peaceful warrior] I think most will find out – that our obsession with better test scores [which is how many determine teacher salary – how we have been spending most of our 7 hours a day in the classroom – how we have been spending most of our edreform-ish funding – and what we are molding or selling to the human spirit – et al] – is not really what they want to pursue.

There is no safety in the organizational structure of our current [even the current edreformed version] measuring/labeling/credentialing system. that assumed safety net – that that’s how we’ve always done things.. let’s just start doing it better – is a myth, no? We have so much research that creativity, curiosity, that people knowing what to do when they don’t know what to do, is what is needed, is what will make us indispensable.

Today especially, how we’ve been doing things, even beefed up and verbiagely cleaned up, is the greater risk.

umair haque (@umairh)

7/5/12 6:03 AM

Remember when I was like “Unless we fix stuff, kiss the future goodbye” and the punditocracy was like “whatever”? Yeah.

A big disruptor in ed – how/why/should we prove things. 

First we need to decide if it’s really about proving, or about improving. and if it’s about improving, what things like cheating and grades even mean toward that.

So I would push a little on Debbie’s 2nd incredible post I read today: competency-based-learning/ – do we need the badges.. the ways to measure, in the first place..?

I do really like her practical suggestions of what we can be doing now, today, in readiness for this disruption:

What Educators Need-to-KnowWhat does this mean for educators? What are the implications? There are several. First, the obvious, that there is much pressure on higher ed institutions from many stakeholders to justify the price of tuition and show value to students and parents. Though this is out of most educators control, below are the need-to-know or need-to-dos for educators:

• Define competencies or learning outcomes for instruction provided, whether online or face-to-face classes (in anticipation of this ‘potential’ requirement in the future).
• Define what students should be able to do, after a given course is complete – beyond the final assessment – the practical applications.
• Learn how MOOCs work – take a course through Coursera or MIT Opencourseware other provider to find out how MOOCs operate. They are free – and give educators another perspective on education, as the ‘student’.
• Be prepared for the competency-based learning discussion – being aware of how it works, and who is doing it, allows for constructive dialogue and discussion.

The only way we can change the world – is if you change – if I change..

That will require that each one of us starts thinking for themselves, talking to themselves.

As is – most of us aren’t even asking the right questions.. we aren’t asking the questions that matter to us.

Are we alive today for mediocre, for standardization, for doing what we’re told?

Or are we interested in (in our kids becoming) becoming breathtakingly indispensable..

be you. be us.

game is on.

Disruption will happen, best to disrupt yourself (personal, local, global), no?