Defining my Vision and Teaching Online

Now that I am teaching high school I am often asked about my classroom experiences. People ask the basic questions regarding what it's like and if I like it, but many also seem concerned about the future of education as well as the quality of the work that is currently being done in education. I have these concerns myself, and when asked what I think needs to be done I have a hard time articulating my ideas. In my next few blog posts I am going to spend some time defining my vision of how I think organized learning should occur. Based on how difficult it is for me to speak extemporaneously on this topic I know this will not be an easy task for me. I will start with two basic statements that will serve as part of the foundation of my vision / philosophy.

Statement #1: The most important learning skill for a person to acquire is the ability to READ extremely well.

Statement #2: Course completion should not be time constrained.

There are other ideas that I feel are important (cradle to grave availability, asynchronous pacing, delivery / consumption of information should not be tied to a particular time or place, use of student and teacher portfolios, non-manipulative, non-compulsory, non-centralized, use of open, collaborative materials, tools, and resources), but these first two are the most important in my mind - at least for now. Though it shouldn't need much explanation I will begin clarifying Statement #1 in my next post.

Teaching Online: I mentioned above that I feel asynchronous pacing is important. As of yet, I don't know exactly where it fits into my philosophy, but I AM sure that web based / electronically delivered interactive lectures and material will play a large role in the asynchronous pacing portion of my philosophy. That is why I have decided to apply for a position teaching high school math online this summer. The State of Tennessee offers high school classes online through www.e4tn.org so I am going to try to get some experience in conducting formal online classes through this channel. This part of my philosophy has been guided by a book I read last summer and wrote about in a previous blog post. That book is Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen. I have been thumbing through it again recently, and I am convinced that he is on to something. Though I would like to see more of an Illich-ean spirit in my work I do believe that disruptive innovation can take hold in any field. Education is no exception as long as people such as myself work in that direction. I'm trying.