Response to "EXPLORE: MUST View Videos"

I just wanted to relay some thoughts on a series of interesting videos posted over on e-class. This post is admittedly a bit long and rambling (I apologize in advance; I wrote the individual responses in isolation, and it wasn't until I combined them that I realized how long this was). So feel free to not read all of this post, and to simply head to the portions about the videos that you may have found to be the most interesting.

                                

I found the first of the videos intriguing for its discussion of the way that the traditional media landscape is falling apart right before our very eyes. When it talked about declining viewership for the major television broadcast networks, I thought about how I rarely actually watch television shows on my tv. In fact, I watch most shows online through sources such as Netflix. Every so often there's a show that demands to be seen live on my tv (I reserve that right for Game of Thrones), but mostly I'm okay if I don't see a show when it airs live the first time around.

I also appreciated two trends the video mentions. The first of these is essentially "information overload". We have so many options for where to get our news from, but rarely is it from an actual newspaper. I read the news online and sometimes I learn things through social media. Sometimes it's hard to know where to look because we can learn about things from the other side of the world almost instantaneously.

This brings up the second trend I found interesting: the real world power of social media. The video mentioned the impact of Twitter on the Iranian elections in 2009. That made me think of the way that social media helped inspire the Arab Springs and the toppling of governments in the Middle East. It's crazy to think that something we tend to take for granted here America can have such a tremendous effect on the world around us.

This second video reminded me of my own views of technology in the classroom. The generation currently in public schools has been born and raised on technology. It's part of what interests them and engages them. So why shouldn't we take that and use it to teach students more effectively.

The video still talks about your basic Bloom's Taxonomy principles (applying, evaluating, etc.), but it suggests that we use the technology that students are familiar with and excited about in order to teach them the skills they need to succeed out there in the world.

This third video brought up some of the fears and concerns that the second video did as well. I'm not sure I agree with the apocalyptic, end-of-the-world tone that the video takes (seriously that music was pretty ominous), but I understand where the anxieties stem from. America is no longer the isolated superpower it once was. We've fallen behind in many respects, particularly when it comes to jobs and education, which the video points out are interconnected.

We live in an age of globalization, where our lives are deeply affected by countries like China and India. Their recent rise will certainly shape our future. But I don't think we can lose sight of how we will personally take charge of our own destinies.

I think this may have been by far the most fascinating of the all the videos. I agree with it whole-heartedly. The education system is built on an antiquated system, and that system and the educational mentality it subscribes to cause huge problems. The factory, production-line nature of schools derived from the Industrial Revolution is not only outdated it's incredibly boring and mind-numbing. It discourages students from wanting to go to school and wanting to learn things in schools.

I think what the video gets at most strongly is that the way the system is set-up, everything ends up driving students towards conformity. Standardized testing is uniform and cookie-cutter molded. It inevitably kills creativity.

I think there are minor things to quibble about what Robinson says. The ADHD thing is something I kind of agree with, but I could see how that might easily offend someone. I'm much more bothered by his assertions that collaboration is the end-all-be-all for education. Robinson points out himself that different learners learn differently; sometimes that means learning as a solitary experience is more beneficial. It's really a case-by-case basis. The current education system just isn't designed to accommodate that though.

The title question of this TED-Talk is meant to be rhetorical. Of course, schools kill creativity. Like Robinson says, we know education is important, and everyone has a strong interest in education. Yet we keep the system almost the same as it has always been based on the same set of subjects and curriculum with the goal, as Robinson points out, to create "university professors".

But as Robinson notes, there isn't one type of intelligence. There are many different kinds of intelligences, but schools tend to discourage and marginalize certain types of intelligence, particularly those in the arts.

The video considers what it is about American culture that causes so many problems for education. We pay more for education than many other countries, and yet we don't see the same results. I love Robinson's description of most school work being "low grade clerical work". I remember finding school boring at times because it was about doing worksheets and memorizing terms and worrying about tests. But it all too often wasn't a process for exploring my interests or discovering new things about the world around me. Frankly, that's a shame, and something needs to change.