Why aren’t we learning?
Early this week I had the opportunity to spend the day at Google in Cambridge with technology administrators from MA. We met with Steve Vitner, Director Google Boston; Jamie Casap and Dana Nyugen, from the Google Apps for Education Team and; Abe Murray, project manager for Google Books.
Part of the discussion centered around Google Apps for Education and the recent changes with administrating the service. We also discussed the need for people to enter the computer/information technology fields. But the theme that struck me was how do you foster learning?
“Google’s Mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” But this raises some questions. If everyone has access to all information shouldn’t that change things? Shouldn’t learning, schools, and education under go massive change? Are not people able to learn no matter their circumstance? If we have access to all knowledge then anyone can learn and rise above; school would become very different and learning would be available to all. The questions; its not happening? Why?
My initial thoughts:
- People have access to information but do not know how to find, evaluate, use or manage the information.
- People have been taught to be passive learners waiting for someone to tell then what to know and how to know it.
- People lack motivation, drive, desire, imagination, belief and, dreams that they can succeed and exceed the expectations they have set for themselves.
- We have compartmentalized our lives believing learning only happens in schools so we don’t think of learning outside. The same could be said for work.
Jamie spoke about a concern that even though the digital (supply) divide maybe narrowing, the divide on how we use technology is widening. Some users are truly just consumers they watch and listen, they may have tools, and access to information but there is little analysis, re-mixing or creation. These users are perceived to be tech literate but they only can navigate and observe, they are passive. Other users are those who access, analyze, challenge, think and create. These users are learning and connecting. His research suggests this is occurring primarily along racial lines, a disheartening thought.
How do we get the message across that learning is not limited to what happens in schools? How to we get people actively engaged in their own growth and development?
The day left me in some pretty deep thought. Please share yours?
5 thoughts on “Why aren’t we learning?”
This is an extremely interesting and thought-provoking post. I teach psychology. One of the lessons is about active learning vs passive learning. For instance, why we can’t draw an accurate copy of a penny even though we’ve seen it countless times.
I am getting ready to begin my doctoral capstone project which is probably going to be incorporating blogging and blended classrooms to high school students. I am a believer in lessons that force the students to interact (with materials, the instructor, and other students). Interaction, particpating with the material, and making it your own are all essential into moving material into long-term memory.
Jennifer,
I strongly believe that to learn you must be actively interacting with what you are learning. But if you walk around most schools students, listen, watch and, read. They are asked mostly recall questions, and we wonder why students do not remember what they have learned year to year. Just covering or presenting information is not teaching and does not equate with learning.
Good luck with your capstone project it must feel pretty good to be almost done.
Beth,
I thought your comments about passive learners were right on target. I am a nursing educator and the trend now is to incorporate all sorts of technology into the classrooms and skills lab in order to promote critical thinking. This is easier said than done. Trying to make the classroom a student-centered environment instead of teacher-centered is not the easiest task. When you read the research related to student-centered learning it seems that educators are having trouble giving up control of the classroom, which is why it has taken facilitation so long to catch on. I have discovered that is not the case, and it is not the instructors that are rebelling, but the students. Students are not interested in case studies or extensive simulation scenarios in lab, but let them watch a good YouTube video or take a quiz with the Clickers which has a control with buttons, then they are on board! I have actually had students tell me they would prefer we lecture to them because they don’t get anything out of doing activities in class. When they say “lecture” they mean talk at them so they don’t have to think. Trying to be an effective educator who implements a variety of teaching strategies has certainly been a challenge. I am also in a doctorate program, and am one year out of obtaining my degree. My research project relates to implementing problem-based learning in the classroom in order to facilitate critical thinking and clinical thinking skills. I can’t wait to interpret the data!
I agree with the lack of motivation and being a passive learner stuff with regards to some teachers. We are only humans. However, we must acknowledge that there are other issues that we need to solve before we can lay it all on teachers. First of all, this Web 2.o stuff if VERY complicated and learning it takes a lot of stuff. I am a teacher and I am quite proficient with use of computers in the classroom and all the productivity tools. So are most of the teachers around me. However, when I started to nibble into Web 2.00 tools, I found them extremely complicated. I spent hours trying to embed Google Calendar into blogger.com and I succeeded only partially. We don’t have time to do it at school. We have PLT meetings, PLC meetings, Focus Groups meetings, staff meetings, IEP meetings, department meetings, team meetings and the list goes on. And since most of our tech support stuff has been laid off, we have no technical support. And there are other problems. We have 3 computer labs for a school of 900 students. One of these labs in designated for testing only. The second one is being used for testing most of the time so we are left with one lab for 900 students. Try to teach Google Docs to the whole school population or do a blog with this kind of an infrastructure. Even if you don’t lack motivation and are not a passive learner, it is a daunting task.
kids don’t know why they are learning… they see parents struggle to be overworked with little reward or joy. We need to demonstrate fulfilling results for individuals, families, and communities. Did you see signs of Google supporting this beyond their (impressive) type A smartypants?