Innovate or die

Just a copy of my comment to Tony Bates’ recent posting on  innovation in education.

http://www.tonybates.ca/2010/06/28/innovate-or-die-a-message-for-higher-education-institutions/

He references several recent articles discussing crises in education  (funding, concerns about whether online education is an effective solution, etc.)

The articles do talk about human capital and critical thinking but I’d like to see more on how this relates to the new ways we can connect.

Here’s my reply:

Hmmm… I can’t help but wonder if we’re seeing enough about the *purpose* of education in the thinking represented by the references mentioned.

Your statement from OECD about universities and colleges “preparing their students in such a way that students can foster innovation in the workplace when they leave” (and in my opinion this should include k-12 as well) begins to hint at this.  But I’d like to hear more about critical thinking, citizenship, quality of life, etc… things that go beyond the workplace.

To me this idea opens up the topic of informal learning. The innovation required might be described as finally coming to grips with the fact that content AND personal support is ‘out there’ and not necessarily ‘in the academic institution’ and therefore the academic institutional focus needs to shift. Maybe the educational goal should be to work with learners to help them acquire ways of finding, evaluating and making effective use of information and also help them to learn how to form social media connections that will assist learning and focus it to specific areas of interest. Then the institutions could have a role in evaluating how the learning is taking place so learners can gain credentials and move forward in life.

Innovate or die doesn’t seem to be too extreme of a concept to me.  I can visualize a day in the not-too-distant future when what is known about a person’s contributions via social media will be more important than any degree. Employers are already looking there as well as at resumes, aren’t they?

Semantic Technology

So the article linked below is about how computational linguistic PhDs have created a program to scan and understand what’s being said on the web. That “finger on the pulse” that has so much exciting potential. Of course this implementation is consumeristic and has a “brand passion index” built into it, but I still feel the “wow” thinking about how this type of approach could be used to look at educational issues, health trends and so much more.

NetBase Uses Next Generation Semantic Technology to Understand the Voice of the Consumer

http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2010/06/netbase-uses-next-generation-semantic-technology-to-understand-the-voice-of-the-consumer.html

By the way it was kind of hard not to laugh out loud at this bit: “NetBase now reads four languages: British, American, Canadian, and Australian”

And more on this topic….

http://dallasm12.posterous.com/blogs-and-tweets-could-predict-the-future-via

Snorkeling ’the shallows’: what’s the cognitive trade-off in internet behavior? (via Neuroconscience)

I love that neuroscience has something to say about the topic that has been debated by Carr and Shirky.

I am quite eager to comment on the recent explosion of e-commentary regarding Nicolas Carr’s new book. Bloggers have already done an excellent job summarizing the response to Carr’s argument. Further, Clay Shirkey and Jonathan Lehrer have both argued convincingly that theres’ not much new about this sort of reasoning. I’ve also argued along these lines, using the example of language itself as a radical departure from pre-linguistic living. Did ou … Read More

via Neuroconscience

Flexibility and relevancy?

Tony Bates is giving input to a committee this week and he’s asking for ideas (not that he doesn’t have a lot of his own ideas already). But here’s our chance to contribute:

http://www.tonybates.ca/2010/06/06/what-should-the-canadian-government-do-to-increase-access-to-post-secondary-education/

I’ve basically been away from computers for a week (a conscious vacation decision to limit access and really take a break — I kept up with family via Facebook on an iPod touch and that was about it).

I’m glad I’m back in time to comment for Tony though. I referenced Sir Ken Robinson because I believe relevancy is key. And I fully agree with Bates on the idea that flexibility is crucial as well and that government funding structures have to be modified to support the fact that learning doesn’t just take place in classrooms anymore.