Feb3, 2011: Knowledge Building and WOW
Feb 5th, 2011 by pcollins
Listening to the discussion of what’s really at the centre of education, I couldn’t agree more that placing knowledge-building is a paradigm shift on the level of leaving the Ptolemaic system and embracing a Copernican model. Like the powers that were in those days, I imagine the powers that be now would be very hesitant to adopt the approach of “ideas at the centre”. There is also the possibility that they may share the same rather nefarious logic that was projected in Copernican Europe for clinging to a geocentric universe one just can’t say. The next rationale question for me would be “what really drives curriculum?” Is it Government? Is it the textbook industry? Why do we cling so hard to curriculum and measurements?
The idea that we need to ultimately change our approach to education and to use Scardamalia’s terms the alignment of our educational constructs cannot be refuted. However, it doesn’t need to involve doing away with schools altogether because knowledge building can happen even in the strangest of places. My partner is an active MMOG with World of Warcraft (I don’t have time) He shared this video with me for a bit of a laugh but I was far from amused when I saw the topic. How innovation and knowledge building, through guild collaboration of an estimated 12 million people, are creating some cutting edge strategies and ideas. Furthermore, how business strategists are looking at the practices in this game to implement successful real world policy and stratagem.
It seems clear that if we provide venue for a critical mass of engaged thinkers to come together collaboratively – even in a virtual game setting – the end result is remarkable. I feel that we might still have the venue for this within our schools supplemented with the web. It’s just that we have not, as of yet, appropriately provided the engagement factor. And the primary reason the engagement factor is missing is our continued policy to implement curriculum and related assessments.
Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner: Speaker John Seely Brown
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2432