Thought this was interesting in general, and specfically the highlighted bit!

 

Re: Breaking down the walls of the classroom + Virtual Worlds

Posted by: "Sven Cederberg" sven@forumeducation.net   svenceder

Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:05 pm (PST)

Hi Nik and all,

In your replies to Pete, Ron, and me, you touch on the very core of
breaking down the walls of the square classroom - AUTONOMY.

The teacher's prime task is, has always been and will always be, to
guide his/her students towards autonomy, or as I prefer to call it -
self-reliant learning. You point out, Nik, that "all children are born
as autonomous learners, an ability that is later 'beaten' out of them by
schools". Well, at least the portenial to develop autonomy. Instead of
saying that the ability is "beaten out of them" you could say that many
learners won't develop the ability when they are faced with learning
tasks they cannot see the immediate benefits of. In The Seven Keys to
Self-reliant Learning, I make a distinction between spontaneous and
directed learning. In spontaneous learning, e.g. when teenagers are
tinkering with their mopeds, autonomy is 'plugged in' automatically.
Directed learning, in my terminology, concerns the kind of things you
(feel you) are forced to learn, e.g. brushing you teeth or to read and
write. There are great individual differences when it comes to what is
spontaneous and what is felt as forced upon you. In order to accomplish
the goal of guiding his/her students towards self-reliant learning
(accepting directed learning tasks), the teacher must have the
competence it takes to provide individualized learning opportunities in
challenging, creative and relaxed learning environments, be a super
motivator, and constantly work on the balance between spontaneous and
directed learning tasks.
Education is faced with tremendous challenges: The more complicated a
society gets, the more directed learning is needed, which in turn puts
ever-increasing burdens on the shoulders of teachers and teacher
trainers - not to mention our poor students. Over the past century we
have seen basic education for blue-collar workers go from six to twelve
years. We are now witnessing how lots of young people drop out of
school, and how boys are falling behind the girls in all subjects.
Naturally you could say that we humans cannot cope with the fast
development of technology and other major societal changes, but I don't
think we should sit down and wait for the inevitable holocaust. We need
to address the educational challenges that threaten to bury us in an
enormous avalanche. We need to better understand the possibilities and
the limitations of human potential and how that potential is transformed
into competence by learning.

Learning must not be seen as something that "prepares you for life" in a
square classroom, it has to be regarded as the most essential part of
your life from birth to death. The roles of our teachers and their
students must be clearly understood and appreciated. That's why I have
been trying to get you guys to dress the incomplete teacher so that not
only the square classroom walls are knocked down and teachers realize
the potential of extramural learning, but more importantly so that we
all get better prepared for the avalanche.

Best regards,
Sven