Friday’s headline article from Reuters, “Wii could top record-holding PS2″ reminds me of B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore’s book “The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage”. I have not purchased or read the book yet, but I’m intrigued by this idea that our economic landscape can increasingly be described as “an experience economy” where people are more likely to pay for an actual “experience” more than just a cheaper product or widget. The Wii and the iPhone both come to mind as products which seem crafted for the consumers of the experience economy.
How can schools be changed to join the experience economy? In his book “The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer,” Seymour Papert observes that before they enter formal schooling children commonly display self-directed learning behaviors. Once kids begin formal schooling, however, adults essentially tell young people to stop experiencing their world and directing their own learning, and instead sit passively in their desk and read about it. Papert notes schools tend to emphasize the development of “lettracy” rather than “literacy,” which he (and I) conceive of as including a broader set of communication and learning modalities than text-based reading and writing.
I’m not sure what the answer to this question is, but I am certain most young people WANT their formal schooling experiences to become more interactive and experiential. We’re living in the postmodern world, and while we can debate at length both what that means and whether it’s good, the fact is students are increasingly accustomed to life in an “experience economy” outside school– and when they are inside formal classrooms they often find themselves feeling out-of-place in a traditional, largely passive, lecture-based environment.
One of the greatest challenges we face is helping teachers change their own paradigms of thinking about learning. It is much easier to lecture and provide information rather than facilitate project-based learning. Administrative expectations need to change broadly for a school or school district to move into a more “experiential” mode of learning.
What do you think can and should be done to help teachers as well as administrators embrace and EXPECT more experiential forms of learning in our classrooms?
Dean, what a wonderful post. Also in the forefront of my mind, is how do we also move parents, who often expect to see the school that they attended and the learning that they experienced, towards a new model. They will be uncomfortable with the changes and may present a huge obstacle since they help provide the funding to keep the schools functional.
Vinnie,
thanks for the compliment but this post is actually written by my guest blogger, Wes Fryer….he ‘da man!
Wes…
I’ve described this issue at MUVE Forward in a series of posts starting July 9. Designing, developing and delivering (DD&D’ing) learning includes three very different skill sets, and as educational technology and theories about how people learn have evolved rather significantly over the past 15-20 years, those skill sets have become highly specialized. DD&D’ing experiential learning is not easy; there are individuals that have spent an entire graduate career – Master’s or Doctorate level – focused on how to do exactly that. Unfortunately, many of our schools do not have instructional technologists that may have that skill set, and many of our schools have instructional technologists with degrees in computer science or MIS. We expect our faculty with degrees in disciplines other than education, and whose pre-service programs *may* have included one course in instructional design, to acquire these skills through how many hours of professional development? Our faculty have incredible skill sets, but they’re often not in instructional design.
To use a sports analogy. They may be basketball Michael Jordan’s in their discipline, but when it comes to DD&D’ing instructional design, our system may have only given them enough preparation to be baseball Michael Jordan’s while expecting them to perform as well as Hank Aaron. Expecting Michael Jordan to make it to the big leagues, much less an All-Star game in baseball was unreasonable.
Vinnie you are absolutely correct, addressing the expectations of parents is key. My wife and I are amazed by how many people we know are actually comparing test scores (and little more) when they are considering schools for their kids. There is so much more to consider! Where I’m living in Oklahoma, I think parental expectations of “school as usual” are a HUGE obstacle in the way of changing teaching and learning, and specifically making it more experiential. The parents who choose and can afford private school are sometimes getting a more experiential education for their kids, but not always. In the public school our kids attend, I think the worksheets which are sent home continue to be a barometer parents expect to indicate “the school is doing its job.”
Thanks for the reference to those posts as well, Chris, I’ll check that out. You are right, making these changes requires professional expertise and continuing professional development. I’m thinking a focus on continuing, sustained professional development using both face to face meetings as well as blended, online interactive support as well as access to resources are what we need. One specific thing I see teachers in our state needing is a “Discovery Educators Network” model which is not tied to a specific vendor product. Teachers need opportunities to get together face to face, learning from and with each other. We’re not doing that across the state with K-12 teachers now, from what I’ve seen, and it is a big need.
Ultimately I think we all need to act locally. Tim Menger, the US Department of Education Director for Instructional Technology, talked at NECC 2007 in Atlanta last month about a lack of “entry points” into conversations about school 2.0. I am personally looking for these “entry points” and ways I can stimulate constructive conversations about these issues outside the blogosphere, among parents, educators, administrators, and others. I’ll check out MUVE Forward!