This post continues the theme begun in The (Overturned) Model of Standard Education Many educational scholars and practitioners have recognized the inadequacy of the Standard Model in recent decades and they have proposed alternative models of education. The (incomplete) list of alternatives includes authentic learning (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver, 2014), natural learning (Caine & Caine, Read More
For much of the 20th century, educators were adults who had earned an undergraduate degree which typically requires four years of study in higher education. As undergraduate students, these adults had become skilled users of print which was the dominant information technology in both society and school. As a result, educators were the most skilled Read More
117: Transparent Taming of Wicked Problems In ta previous post, 21st century education was presented as a wicked problem. Whereas tame problems are definable (cause and effect can be clearly identified), understandable (methods for resolving the problem are known or can be known), and consensual (reasonable people will agree on the need to solve it), Read More
Bloom’s taxonomy has been a staple of educational theory for decades. Most educators first encounter the concept during their undergraduate preparation, and it is used as a model to ensure learning objectives are expressed in terms that encourage more sophisticated types of understanding. While Bloom originally used the image to the right to capture the Read More
88: Understanding Wicked Problems In the 1973 article, “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning,” Horst Rittel, who was a professor of the science of design at the University of California, Berkeley and Melvin Webber, who was a professor of city planning at the same institution, recognized many problems include a social dimension. While many Read More
89: Technology Acceptance In 2003, Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis modified the TAM into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Through the UTAUT, the scholars sought to compare and unite into one theory eight different theories that had emerged for measuring technology use. According to the UTAUT, four factors are directly Read More
Educational reform in the last several decades has been horizontal as schools commonly jump from one initiative to another with little reason. The typical cycle is familiar to many: First, an initiative (supported with little or dubious evidence from the learning sciences) is introduced and implemented (with little or dubious support and rationale). Second, problems Read More
41: Communication in Preliterate Societies Walter Ong (1982) concluded only about 100 of the 10,000 human languages that survived into the 20th century had a written language; leading to the conclusion that most cultures demonstrate primary orality. Adjaye (2008) observed indigenous communications systems that rely on oral traditions are based on structures and procedures that Read More
36; Three Important Papers | RSS.com In the closing months of World War II, Vannevar Bush (1945), who had served as Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during the war, published “As We May Think” in Atlantic Monthly. His article captured the essence of digital electronic information technology just as it had Read More
43: Media and Attention The emerging sophistication of digital media and the accompanying sophistication of media skills are captured in the observation of Seels, Fullerton, Berry, and Horn (2004) that interest in and attention to media is characterized by a bell-shaped curve. Media that are familiar, simple, redundant, and expected are associated with low interest Read More