למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

And so too we’ve invented a history of “the factory model of education” in order to justify an “upgrade” – to new software and hardware that will do much of the same thing schools have done for generations now, just (supposedly) more efficiently, with control moved out of the hands of labor (teachers) and into the hands of a new class of engineers, out of the realm of the government and into the realm of the market.

Why is an absence of change deemed a bad thing? Reading a book is a pretty good way to convey an idea, a story, and an enjoyable, enriching thing to do. That it hasn't changed significantly in 150 years is testament to its value, not a sign of its weakness.

As with reading, this unchanging aspect might be because it’s a good thing. Whenever I hear people state that they want to revolutionise (or do away with) the school system, I am struck by their lack of a viable alternative. If you want to educate all children in your country, regardless of motivation, ability, parental engagement, etc then you need a robust system. If you completely started from scratch tomorrow, my bet is you would end up creating something that didn’t look dissimilar to a schooling system. So the absence of change so deplored by many may indicate that viable alternatives are not available.

That practice is in response to feedback from the faculty, who were concerned that students would feel like the school was pulling a "bait and switch." "We didn't want our students to feel like we weren't giving them the real thing," she noted.

Having people who are really good at explaining ideas and putting the right graphics and videos around them can create a pretty darn good learning experience

The research looked at the results of an experiment in which 282 participants in grades 2-4 were observed in the fall and spring during one school year. Student engagement was monitored by actions such as answering a question, raising a hand, or participating in discussion, while off-task behaviors included talking out of turn.

Children who stand at their desks instead of sitting stay on task better

The teachers reported that the students were much more engaged at the standup desk, and constantly moved their feet back and forth with the fidget bar. Students didn’t ask to use the bathroom or water fountain as much, and the height allowed them to see the board better.

The preliminary results suggest that students improve their ability to stay on task by 12 percent. That's the equivalent of gaining an extra seven minutes per hour of instruction time.

I can’t measure learning, only the symbolic artifacts of learning.

When I look to society, I see an awful lot of people behaving as if they’ve learned nothing from history. So instead I hope that they learned what they needed, whether or not I was able to assess it.

But I like content!

Why do we diss content in favor of connections? I like connections, I learn from them, but only when I bring something to the table. What do I bring? What do my students bring? Understanding of, or questions about, content. Content is what we’ve read, seen, heard.

But what is the role of the facilitator/teacher/professor where we are using learning subjectives, where learning isn’t measured and where content is actually other people?

It is unlikely that students suddenly without a teacher would fight among themselves for control, however. Instead, they would likely seek another leader. I’ve seen this happen repeatedly, in committee meetings, classrooms, and local government. Many people do not want to inquire – they want to be told what to learn, what to think. When we open up the curriculum, they are lost and frustrated without enough guidance.

BoomStartup, an Utah-based tech accelerator with campuses in Park City, Provo and Salt Lake City, has chosen education as its first vertical-specific program.

Technology driven innovations are changing the face of education – making it more engaging, more personal, more relevant. Our companies will help drive and accelerate this disruption and transformation. Ideal candidates for this program will have innovative ideas that will help to lead this shift, and have the potential to make a large impact in the education community.

will help them find an optimal business model, create a minimal viable product that is revenue-ready, execute into revenue generation, and make connections to customers and investors.