As I continue to read responses, and think about this, much seems to be about process, and about structuring outcomes in a way that provides guidance without being proscriptive.
Part of the puzzle requires that we address issues related to reuse, and redistribution that leads to greater exposure, and possibly recontextualization and reuse.
Lessons, in this context, are really semi-structured exercises that can support a broad array of research-based, project-based experiences. Assessment shifts from teachers determining what a student needs to know to a student articulating what they learned and considered valuable from the process, and the role of the teacher (and really, every other learner in the system) is to help people spot the gems that arise from their experiences. Portfolio-based assessment is more readily suited toward documenting this type of experience than multiple choice tests, but whatever for the assessment takes, the assessment should highlight the learner's understanding of their experience as the starting point for what has been learned.
There are an almost infinite number of systems that can support this type of learning, and rather than designing one it might be more instructive to look at common elements/habits of mind that support this type of learning.
In a way, I see these types of learning communities as endlessly iterative, and supporting a never ending stream of questions, responses, conversations, outside inputs, search, recontextualization of existing sources, original research, publishing, revision, and so on.
Learners can choose to dip into the stream and highlight what they consider important or valuable; over time these highlighted/curated/researched/freshly articulated/endlessly revised objects become what some people might call "finished." Personally, I think it is more accurate to call them snapshots, as we should all reserve the right to change our minds as we discover more.
But the key to any system like this is the underlying expectation that learning never ends, can always be revised, and should always be subject to new input from various sources. A system that supports this type of learning should simplify the discovery of these new sources of information, and the publication and revision of snapshots of learning in progress.
Cheers,
Bill
From: Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com>
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Cc:
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 10:36:12 AM
Subject: Re: Brainstorming the Development of an Online Progressive School
David,
Thanks so much for sharing. Interesting possibilities indeed!
I hadn't seen the learner.org site. Amazing how many good solid
educational resources are available online.
Your point about schools sharing their bright students and exceptional
teachers is very well taken. If I had to put my current vision in a
sentence, I'd say... Create a collection of virtual design lab spaces
where teachers and students from around the world who are passionate
about a subject can meet and work together to further their
understanding and knowledge with an overarching goal of developing
solutions to make the world a better place.
Now how to build such a thing and bring it to life?
Fred
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