Is Real Educational Reform Possible? If So, How?

From the dawn of institutionalized schooling until now there have always been reformers, who want to modify the way schooling is done. For the most part, such reformers can be scaled along what might be called a liberal-conservative, or progressive-traditionalist, continuum. At one end are those who think that children learn best when they are happy, have choices, study material that is directly meaningful to them, and, in general, are permitted some control over what and how they learn. The pendulum never moves very far before it is pushed back in the other direction, because neither type of reform works. Such back-and-forth nudging of the pendulum is the stuff of continuous debate and of countless books written by professors of education. What do I mean by real educational reform? Real educational reform, as I see it, requires a fundamental shift in our understanding of the educational process. They do all this on their own initiative, with essentially no direction from adults.

How the Internet is Revolutionizing Education - TNW Industry As connection speeds increase and the ubiquity of the Internet pervades, digital content reigns. And in this era, free education has never been so accessible. The Web gives lifelong learners the tools to become autodidacts, eschewing exorbitant tuition and joining the ranks of other self-taught great thinkers in history such as Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Allen and Ernest Hemingway. “Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” -Albert Einstein 10 years ago in April 2001, Charles M. He says, “I think there’s a wide array of reasons why faculty should be engaged in recording and publishing lectures online. So. Some of the biggest names in tech are coming to TNW Conference in Amsterdam this May. Both Yale and Stanford have followed suit, and even Harvard has jumped on board in the last two years. Open Culture Should knowledge should be open to all to both use and contribute to? Khan Academy Watch more about The Khan Academy here. Skillshare

Is Video Marketing the Future of Education? The Internet makes our world smaller and our classrooms larger. Have you noticed the rise in online degrees? That’s the university system using a digital format to educate students in certain fields. The Internet itself is kind of like space, with undiscovered planets of knowledge in various corners of this universe. Except we don’t need a spaceship to travel through it; we just need a URL and a laptop. What the Internet does for education can be groundbreaking, depending on how we use it. Online tutoring with Professor KhanLivestreaming your education events with Sid and Sam Generation YouTube 20/20 recently aired Generation YouTube, highlighting all types of YouTube superstars including moms, recent college grads, singers and performers, as well as educators like Sal Khan. Khan takes 10 to 15 minutes per video and breaks down arithmetic (from Math 1 all the way up to calculus) and the sciences (including biology, chemistry and physics). But what about your business? Live Education

Here's an idea – let children think for themselves | Gaby Hinsliff | Comment is free | The Observer Nothing appeals, in troubled times, like a dose of good, old-fashioned common sense. When the so-called experts seem to offer nothing but elaborate excuses and a mess of contradictory ideas about what to do next, it's natural just to want to cut through all the waffle. After all, you don't need fancy professional training or fashionable philosophies to state the bleeding obvious; so let the academics squabble in their ivory towers, let the lawyers bicker over the niceties. Time for ordinary people to roll up their sleeves and get on with it, rather than hanging around pontificating. Or so David Cameron seemed to be suggesting when he described himself last week as a "commonsense Conservative". A similar spirit infuses new plans for a military-style "free school" employing former army officers as teachers. Common sense and science aren't always at odds. There is certainly a good argument for steering newly redundant soldiers into schools.

War on Education | Ethical Revolutionist by Shadra L. Bruce Everywhere you turn in this country, teachers are getting a bad rap. Wherever you live, whether you have kids in the school systems or not, you ought to be paying attention to what is going on with the education budget. No, teachers should not get to keep their jobs just because they’ve been teaching for a long time and have earned tenure (which should go away). What we are seeing on the national level with the budget, as the conservatives choose to target those least likely to be able to protect, defend, and advocate for themselves with cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and other “entitlement” programs (we should be entitled to equal access to education, healthcare, and representation), is what we are starting to see at the local school district level as well. We do have to make changes. Even though I’m not very good at math, I can do the math here: It is time to stop prioritizing everything but the home front and start worrying about protecting democracy here.