Comments for microeducation

Comment on Commencement by Douglas Walcerz

Douglas Walcerz — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:54:28 +0000

I think your observations are excellent, and I have enjoyed your previous posts as well. One aspect of the educational enterprise that still needs to be addressed is student motivation and self-teaching skills. In my experience, very few (less than 1%) of students have the motivation or ability to teach themselves physics or math or the ability to critically analyze literature or to run well-designed social science experiments, etc. Learning is difficult and often frustrating work, and it isn’t something most students happily inflict upon themselves. I believe teachers, parents and students are going to need tools and assessments that enforce daily accountability as well as accountability for large units and entire courses.

Comment on Commencement by Andrew Cohen

Andrew Cohen — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:42:53 +0000

Great points, Chris. I love how you made the distinction between time-sensitive information and non-time-sensitive information. Too often, today’s overly progressive educators eschew ALL “memorization” of knowledge as if it only consisted of the non-time-sensitive sort like memorizing dates and trivial knowledge. There are so many cases (language vocab is just one example) in which having the knowledge at the tip of your tongue is infinitely superior to having to look it up every time. In addition, the more (useful) knowledge you have in your mind, the more new ideas you are able to SYNTHESIZE with it, for real-world applications.

Keep up the great posts!

Comment on Small, smaller, smallest. by David Shupe

David Shupe — Sun, 29 May 2011 23:44:55 +0000

I have long been fascinated with the way that micro educational events are deeply influenced and even governed or controlled by the macro educational contexts in which they occur. The distinction between micro and macro that you make is crucial analytically, if we are to understand that interplay. Conceptually there is always an underlying macro educational context, even if it is self-organized free inquiry.

All of my adult life (4+ decades) I have focused on higher education, and in that sphere the macro educational context that most needs scrutiny is that college students earn a degree by taking courses and accumulating credits — an educational accounting system that works well for the business endeavor in an academic institution but has strong negative effects on the academic, including what you call micro education, i.e. the relationship between an individual and what he or she learns. I would enjoy continuing a conversation about this dynamic, which on June 8, 2011 I will be exploring in the keynote address of the Texas Faculty Development Network called “Breaking the Spell of Credits and Grades.”

Comment on About by Sascha Crocker

Sascha Crocker — Sun, 15 May 2011 11:20:46 +0000

Go Chris – fantastic idea. Keep it coming!
Best wishes.

Comment on About by susan m

susan m — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:52:17 +0000

Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

Comment on The Theory of Practice by susan m

susan m — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:51:13 +0000

I like the idea that students understand how confident they are in the information – using shades of grey (or rainbow in this case) beyond “right” or “wrong” seem so much more helpful.