A Manifesto for Community Colleges, Lifelong Learning, and Autodidacts
As some are raised a Catholic or an atheist or a vegetarian, I was raised an academic. …
Learners today are taking matters of education into their own hands. …
We have — we participate in — a system of education that works against the learner. The university is a place where students must abandon their passions and hopes…
I want to restore the high gloss image of the university as a vibrant campus of engaged learners. I want to free learning from the grip of education. …
Today’s learner is a doer and a maker of content….
Ultimately, what must happen is the development of a pedagogy, and an institution supporting that pedagogy, that is resilient in the face of the most rapidly-evolving learner in history. We must have pedagogies (and pedagogues) that are as responsive and flexible as our technologies. We must do more learning and teaching on the fly, collaborating with rather than corralling learners.
Interesting ideas.
How can we collaborate with our students? How can they collaborate with us?
I think it is more than “undergraduate research” as presently being implemented on many college campuses.
My colleague who brought one of her students into the reading of research as well as the creation of a new kind of class is an example of the kind of collaboration I think the author is calling for and that would be amazing. I don’t think many students are willing to do the kind of work that required, though. And this student decided not to become a teacher as a result. (Too much work and not that interesting to her.)