Continuum of Choice: Future(s) 1st Year Findings
Research: Continuum of Choice, Future(s) 1st year
This study was presented at ECER, Vienna, Sept. 2009
References
Written by Administrator
References
Attwell, G. (2009). Social software, personal learning environments and the future of teaching and learning (pp. 1-13): Scribd.
Begley, S. (2007). Train your mind, change your brain : how a new science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves. New York: Ballantine Books.
Elliott, J. (2003). Interview with John Elliott. Educational Action Research, 11(2), 169-180.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties: A network theory The American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.
Hickman, L. (Ed.). (1998). The essential Dewey, Volume 1: Pragmatism, education, democracy Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society ([1st ed.). New York,: Harper & Row.
James, E. A. (2006a). An evaluation of Web-Based Professional Development using participatory action research to study educational disadvantage in the United States. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research 2006, Geneva, Switzerland.
James, E. A. (2006b). A study of PAR for educators developing new practise in areas of educational disadvantage. Educational Action Research, 14(4).
James, E. A. (2009). Participatory action research as professional development: Creating new education practices for homeless or highly mobile students in the United States. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag.
James, E. A., & McKay Epp, B. (2007). The third year outcomes of participatory action research facilitated online Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Institute of Education, University of London, 5-8 September 2007
James, E. A., Milenkiewicz, M., & Bucknam, A. (2008). Participatory action research: Data driven decision making for educational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Laszio Barabasi, A. (2005). Network theory-the emergence of the creative enterprise, Science (Vol. 308, pp. 639-642): AAAS.
Mitra, S. (2007). Sugata Mitra shows how kids teach themselves. Paper presented at the TED, Geneva Switzerland.
Mitra, S., Dangwal, R., Chatterjee, S., Jha,…
Conclusion
Written by Administrator
Conclusion
LIE is at the far end of the continuum of conversation about how much control a young person should have on their education. Western educators entertainment versions of this idea when they discuss student-centred education, although in that case it is usually seen as a set of potential activities resulting from top-down curricular choices. As with constructivist theory, student-centred work is contained within the context of some other force telling the student and teacher what needs to be learned.
I have come to describe the circumstance whereby students decide what they want to learn as student-driven learning. In this model, educators/facilitators help provide processes and direction so that that learning is efficient and inclusive of commonly agreed upon basics. The debate can be graphically organized across two continuums in a matrix as is shown in Figure 3 below.
Educator-driven process.
Students driven process.
Educator-driven curricula.
Educator-driven curricular choices with professionals the guiding, and assessing the entire process.
Educator-driven curricular choices delivered in online or other modular context, so that students decide upon and employ skill sets and outcomes of their own choosing.
Student-driven curricula.
Student-driven curricular choices with adults facilitating process and skill sets that aid mastery.
Student-driven curricular choices with little or no adult facilitation (LIE).
Figure 3: Educator/student-driven curricular/educational choices
If we look at the current educational systems, we see examples of emerging new designs that fit this matrix. Figure 4 gives some examples.
Educator-driven process.
Student-driven process.
Educator-driven curricula.
Current education in schools in much of the world. The least flexible online education.
The most flexible of online education.
Student-driven curricula.
Doctoral dissertations or thesis work.
Lifelong learning for students of all ages.
Figure 4: Current examples of adult and student-driven process/curricula
Next Steps
Using the matrix above, participants, both within…
Findings
Written by Administrator
Findings
International survey respondents show an overwhelming willingness (88%) to consider and support alternative forms of non-traditional school education. The caveat on this finding is that, as is frequently the case with PAR studies, motivation to participate in the survey was likely driven by dissatisfaction with the status quo.
The first year participatory groups tended to centre their conversation on tensions with schools rather than on more strength-based approach of considering “What do our children need to thrive?”
The Hole in the Wall material was popular. Using a ranking system based on number of website hits, the Hole in the Wall video ranked 14out of 89 and documents about the project ranked 38 and 48out of 89.
When the Hole in the Wall Project came up during participatory discussions, it was linked with the work of Ivan Illich and whether or not schools were a useful design for education. What emerged was the dichotomy in the belief of whether or not young people are able to contain themselves and move forward based on an internal reference of control, or to what extent do they require external guidance?
Figure 4 (below) diagrams the topics of discussion across the network for the first six months. Many topics were covered, however all of the groups and individuals discussed the debate around this issue of the amount of guidance that children require.
Figure 4: Mind map of discussions from participants and groups
Context & Methods
Written by Administrator
Context
Figure 2: The Future(s) of Education Website HomePage
This research project builds on the initial work by the Hole in the Wall Project (Mitra, 2007; Mitra et al., 2005) and seeks, in part, to discover whether and to what extent his ideas of least intrusive education (LIE) were interesting or provocative to online participants during the first year of discussion in the Future(s) of Education Project. For those unfamiliar with the Hole in the Wall Project, Mitra embedded computers in the walls of villages in rural India. Without instruction, 100% of the children in the villages learned to browse the Internet, learning an average English vocabulary of 200 words, even in locations where they have seldom, if ever, heard English spoken. The startling thing about the project, to educators, but perhaps not to parents, is the fact that this huge scale of learning was accomplished with no instruction. From this, Mitra coined the phrase “least intrusive education” (LIE) suggesting that children know how to learn and that we should not get in the way as they do so. The methodology employed in the study of the Future(s) response to Mitra’s work was mixed, based upon participatory action research cycles, analyzing data from weblogs, e-mails, articles, triangulated with quantitative evidence from an online survey.
Methods and Scope
Participatory action research (PAR) is as much a philosophy as a methodological choice (Elliott, 2003). I see it as both. Philosophically PAR promotes the democratic power of the voice of diverse peoples to design their own worlds. Methodologically I adopt a three step cycle that assures I apply data collection and analysis techniques to the actions I take and forces me to formally reflect and use those reflections as data to drive future actions. Figure 2, below, diagrams resources of data and communication.…
Background
Written by Administrator
Background
It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs. Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey
Schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them. Ivan Illich
The two quotes above, introduce key considerations regarding the distance between education and schooling. Yet, it is commonplace, wherever one travels in the world to have people complain about their “systems of education” as though there were no difference between education and schools. Margaret Mead would suggest, as she did when she said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does,” that while it is hard work, it is important that people work together and believe they can help change these realities. These are the key concepts behind the Future(s) of Education Project and my work as an independent academic.
For the last six years, I have been pursuing the potential of using participatory action research (PAR) online, in networked groups, as a means of moving forward on complex issues in education. The first round of this work took place over five years as I facilitated a project in which 12 states in the US funded educators and community members. They used participatory action research to focus their work helping schools become more responsive to children and families experiencing homelessness (James, 2006a, 2006b, 2009; James & McKay Epp, 2007; James, Milenkiewicz, & Bucknam, 2008).
I see two parts to the PAR process: First participants need to work together without hierarchy based on their other roles in life. Second the process they follow needs to support communication, action…
Introduction
Written by Administrator
Changing education design begins with a choice
Education is not rocket science, it is much harder than rocket science. No scientist would willingly take on an experiment with an unlimited number of variables in motion all the time. Prof. at Teachers College, 2004
The designers of education in the late 1800s saw the problem of designing education as relatively simple. In their time, cities were flooded with children previously living in rural communities, allowed to run free, causing havoc when their parents were at work in factories. Sitting children in rows, forcing them to adjust to timetables, and teaching them the basics of literacy and numeracy, made perfect sense. They could not have imagined the complexity of the global technological world our children will inherit.
Could it be that the entire system on which education is based is outmoded and in need of revamping but, that because it is all we know, we have difficulty imagining anything outside this box? These are not a new ideas, building as they do on Dewey, Illich and others who pointed to both the necessity of democracy in bringing diverse voices together in learning, and the ways in which schools fail to capitalize on that potential (Hickman, 1998; Illich, 1971)? Indeed, even a quick perusal of current literature will show:
1) Education is a hard job, with little pay, and difficult work place environments.
2) Authors and publishers focus on efforts to improve schools while others point out that achieving consistent outcomes is a complex problem.
3) There are few strategic international efforts to develop new designs for education, at least partially due to enormous investment in the current infrastructure.
This study focuses on the first year results from the Future(s ) of Education Project a project that aims to engender international conversation about…
Abstract
Written by Administrator
How do New Designs for Education and Education Leadership Include Concepts of “Least Intrusive Education (LIE)? Or other forms of student-driven curriculum?
A presentation at the European education research Association conference, ECER, 2009: Vienna, Austria, 28 September, 2009.
By E. Alana James, Ed.D.
Article Highlights
Introduction of the Future(s) of Education Project and the ideas behind it that drive change.
Discussion of the Hole in the Wall Project and its implications for the future of education.
Conclusion outlines a matrix of educational design choices between student/educator-driven curricula or processes
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine whether and to what extent ideas of student-driven curricula or “Least Intrusive Education” are provocative or interesting to an international discussion on the future of education. The scope covers one year of project development, and six months of online interaction. Methodology is mixed, based upon participatory action research cycles, analyzing data from weblogs, e-mails, articles, and a triangulated with quantitative evidence from a online survey. Findings suggest that the international community are considering whether and to what extent schools meet the needs of young people and are willing to entertain and discuss other possibilities. The study concludes that there is a continuum from educator-driven to student-driven choice on both the axis of curriculum and educational process. Limitations of this study are its very small sample size and the fact that, to date, data only include voices from a limited number of countries when compared to the diversity on earth. It contributes to the field of education by uncovering and delineating questions, to be addressed in the future by people concerned with the design of systems for education.
Keywords
future of education, student-driven education, least intrusive education, research, education, online education,
