Saturday, June 12, 2010

harvesting expert tutors

I think most people (if they had this amazing Text 2.0 tool for conversation even) that could wrap their head around the idea of a personal learning network per passion - would sell out to it. Yes - even public school - even the politicians. {stay with me - don't go off on some tangent argument - not even in your own head}

So - let's say we all buy into that (call it a dream if you want) concept.. that personal learning networks per passion are the way to redefine school ..up your production at work ..optimize every area of your life.. every opportunity... every relationship...solutions to every problem in the world.

My passion has lost you.
Please come back.

Let's just say... you think personal learning networks - per passion - have some merit.

The key element to making that work are expert individual tutors. In order to optimize.. we need to stretch.. and to optimally optimize.. we need someone to lead, guide, and facilitate that stretch.

One of the biggest questions we've been asked through all this redefine school push.. has to do with the expert tutors. They do seem to validate this in a lot of people's minds.
But...
Where will they come from?
How do we know if they are honest and really know their stuff?
Will there be enough? ..willing to give of their time?

Just yesterday - I got the privilege of being introduced to

I'm thinking Seeducation - might just be our harvest of expert tutors. I scanned their site as slowly as my passion would let me.. I checked out Noam Kostucki (founder of Seeducation) via his TedxWarsaw talk



I posted my biggest take away on his talk.
{gems like: all we need is the confidence that being good to each other is clever}
I started following the people of Seeducation.

I want to challenge you and encourage you to do the same. We need smart eyes and ears on this idea. Could this be a marriage of public ed and a harvest of giving experts?

I've spent the last two weeks thinking public ed as we know it just has to end. And it does. But this is the dream redefine school has had... to not just charter ourselves away.. leaving those who can't behind. This truly seems a way to leverage the opportunity to optimize every student's learning (young and old) and create the world we all dream of.

I found out about Seeducation because it was one of 3 in a vote for a the Linchpin Magazine's Charity partner. Lucy Buck of Childsi is a dear friend, so I knew that was a Linchpin shoe-in. I have heard and seen all the great work Kiva does. I was very curious who this Seeducation was - nudging back and forth with Childsi.

So, Lucy Buck, - what if Childsi and Kiva now garnish all the support and expertise they need - through school children even.. because we are all working together.

What if school does become real life?

What if we assess a school on process (pln) rather than content?
I see the need for k-12 public buildings. places where wifi and tool of choice is available and pln facilitators are many - and face to face experts are happy to finally be face to face experts in their field vs discipline experts.
But esp by middle/highschool - we have to change it up to perhaps a food court look - of plns optimizing their time and space ... accessing this Seeducation harvest of expert tutors.

Another hot topic - science and math - what about dr's and chemists, etc..
Well - what if that is what the colleges and uni's are all about. I mean - as it is - we don't value the reason for coming together in ed. We just come together - because we always have. What if every time we determine a face to face... it's because we've optimized all our intellect and research (by mashing up Junto and Text 2.0 even and checked into Kahn Academy) .. so that lab time - is keen lab time. And it's only with those so passionate about the research and the chem and the bio and the engineering and the math...  specialized, empowered, innovative gatherings. Places like Avago - start happening in those uni buildings - in labs like Stuart Tobet's.


brain rest now ...
if you're so inclined.. let's chew it up on the Cooperative Catalyst.

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