Schooling Elroy and Judy (Jetsons v3)

Figured that I should stay on the meme of Jetsons since it seems that the previous posts were popular enough for folks to visit again (thanks).

One of the pieces that I read earlier in the day today started the thinking about education and what it means for mobiles to be a healthy part of it. Now, let me preface this in saying that I’ve got ample experience in teaching with mobile/web as well as learning with it. So the results of this thinking is very much rooted in personal experience, not just conjecture.

So what’s up? Think, if we go web and mobile, and the “cloud” becomes the important link [for affluent cultures] towards enablement, then what does that mean for education?

What does it look like when you’ve got a slew of Elorys and Judys who are looking at education through the lens of their personal technology, not their grandparents? Do we do things the same? Do we invent new ways to teach basic and appropriate content? I hope, I really hope.

I think it looks both like my previous example and also looks like this. The challenge isn’t that kids will go off the beaten path, but that we need to teach them how to embrace the off-beaten path and create the means for them to learn what they need to survive, not just what meets scores.

Can you tell that I’m just about as fed up with tech-in-education as I am with tech-in-enterprise? Well, think about it – you are reading the writings of someone who grew up with penmanship in the beginning of his education and was taking Illustrator and CAD classes before graduating high school. I was exposed to Dewey, InfoTrac, and Google in my educational travels. Frankly speaking, I know what won’t work for now – because it didn’t work then.We need to identify the gaps, and move forward.

How do we expect the leaders of tomorrow to lead tomorrow, if today we are holding them to the standards and limitations of yesterday? I didn’t see that when I watched the Jetsons – the kids were challenged to create their windows and become successful within it in the structures of learning. Are we embracing the same challenge, or just pushing the easy button to something that seems better, but is far worse?