It is a whole new paradigm

I have been absent from the blogging world for a few days because of various and sundry things. School just keeps getting busier and busier as it fights to retain the 19th and 20th century way of doing things. School continues to dig in and resist the challenges to its perceived knowledge monoply.

One of my favorite blogs is called Teachpaperless and it has tirelessly advocated a new paradigm of teaching. Blake-Plock writes on Teachpaperless, January 13 something that struck me right between the eyes.

And I would argue that to see the iPad as a fad is to miss the bigger picture: the iPad only exists within the context of a mobile-connected world. That mobile-connected world is not a novelty; that's a paradigm and a reality.

The mobile connected world is not a novelty, it is a paradigm. Schools need to realize that and make that world part of the school paradigm. That does not mean schools need to pass out digital devices as "gifts" to the students to use in ways the school deems acceptable. Schools are not enlightening students to these tools and way of being....the students are already that way. We need to learn that lesson. Schools need to use the tools in the learning process.

An example again comes from Teachpaperless. Here is a post that outlines an exam given in the new paradigm. A human geography exam. The immediate question will be, will this prepare them for the AP Exam? Who cares!! It will prepare them for the world they DO live in!

A Learning Manifesto

1. Provide universal robust wireless internet access without restriction to students, faculty, staff, and anyone who sets foot on the campus.

2. Expect everyone who sets foot on campus with a digital device to connect that digital device to the wireless internet.

3. Expect everyone on the campus to use the digital paradigm in everything they do.

4. Move everything the school does into the digital cloud.

5. Expect every student to have their own digital devices in their pockets or briefcases NOT PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL.

6. Expect every teacher and administrator to USE the digital paradigm in their own ways with digital tools NOT PROVIDED by the school but chosen and acquired by the individual.

7. Unplug the copy machines and throw them out with the trash on friday.

8. Outlaw paper in the school.


It can be done! Let us do it!!