Category Archives: Education
Reflections on a 21st Century School
I recently had the opportunity to spend a day at Thomas Haney Secondary School in Maple Ridge, BC. The school is known for its commitment to flexible, individualized, learn-at-your-own-pace education, and is touted by many as an exemplar of progressive pedagogy. As a teacher cautiously interested in the phenomenon of “21st century learning”, but also a [...]
Let’s Hope High School Won’t Be Your “Glory Days”
After another day of classes, and another round of adolescent glowering and truculence, I am reminded of Springsteen’s classic, “Glory Days”. Nobody said it so well: let’s hope your years in high school won’t be your glory days. If they are, then the rest of your life will be a big disappointment! One of the most [...]
Presumptuousness in Education
Here’s a comment I made today on Scott McLeod’s progressive education blog, Dangerously Irrelevant. My response is to his question, “When will we view educators that opt out of the use of social media for professional learning as an aberration rather than the norm?” ______ As someone who embraces many social media technologies but who [...]
The Rip Van Winkle Effect: Back in the Classroom after Eight Years
Last September I knew I had to make a change, and so I took the plunge and moved back into the classroom after eight years in distance learning. I decided to leave DL because I really missed the classroom. I wanted to work face-to-face with students again, and embrace the challenges and rewards that come [...]
Skydrive: Slowly Working My Way to the Cloud
I haven’t been very keen to embrace the “cloud”, but in the last few days I’ve witnessed how simple and useful it can be. Two days ago I downloaded Microsoft’s new Skydrive app to both my laptop and my home desktop computer. By allowing me to seamlessly synchronize data, this app extends the capacity and [...]
Is online education cheaper?
One of the major debates in modern education is whether or not online/distance/distributed learning (DL) is cheaper and more efficient than traditional “brick and mortar” education. If it is cheaper, then obviously it becomes a useful option in a neo-liberal world where public education expenditures are shrinking. [In BC, for example, “the proportion of the [...]
Riffing on MacLennan: The Two Solitudes of Education
After participating in today’s Twitter conversation (#bcedplan) with the Minister of Education, I’m more convinced than ever of the two solitudes in modern education. The ascendant group is made up of the so-called progressives. They seem naturally drawn to modern technologies, and, as a result, are over-represented on Twitter. The other group, what we might call [...]
Same Coin, Two Sides: Resurrecting the Liberal Arts Ideal
There are truths on this side of the Pyranees, which are falsehoods on the other. ~Blaise Pascal ————- Have you noticed that the same behaviour can be described in diametrically opposed ways, depending on different people’s perspectives? For example, if you were taught, “If you have nothing good to say, then don’t say anything at [...]
Personalized Learning = Pre-Packaged Learning
Last year, when the notion of “personalized learning” started to become a popular topic here in British Columbia, I questioned its practicality. I asked how a secondary teacher could possibly create, supervise and assess 200 or so separate learning programs for his or her students. I concluded that teachers couldn’t possibly pull off such a [...]
“Trades vs. Academics” is Obsolete
One of the most common dichotomies in modern education is “trades vs. academics”. Supporters of one (often the trades) will decry the predominance of the other, and demand equal consideration from educators, government and society as a whole. I think the dualism is clichéd and obsolete. And here’s why… One of the noticeable trends I [...]
