Author: choffman

This video is of my colleague Ben Neiswender and me presenting at InstructureCon 2011. We had a great time and met a lot of innovative people. We talked about how we use Instructure Canvas to validate learning in Westminster College’s project-based programs.

From the dMASS website: “dMASS is about facing the global challenge of creating wealth at an unprecedented scale on a sustainable basis with a shrinking material resource base.”

The creators of the video have an excellent point about designing for efficiency. After several redesigns throughout history, modern bridges can span many times the gap of ancient ones. I believe we can take a similar approach to learning.

If we look closely at the overall design of of how people learn, we can create richer learning experiences with less overhead. The coaches that my team works with are encouraged to think about how they deliver content in this manner. Any subjects that need to be lectured on we like to create a video that learners can watch before residency so that time together can be spent on interaction and discussion. The designing of these learning objects takes more up-front time but the resulting object can be used many times and even shared with the community.

This was one of the first TED talks I ever watched. His presentation moved me to consider the problems in education. This was where I first heard the criticism of the modern classroom comparing it to an assembly line. This inspired me to get involved in the community and ultimately create this site as a central repository for anyone involved in moving education from teaching to learning.

I have a few great videos from Sir Ken Robinson for your consideration. From his website: “Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries.”

Robinson’s focus is mainly on public education (K-12) although a lot of the principles of his arguments carry over to higher education.

The take-aways I get from his presentations are:

• One size fits all education is anything but.
• Standardization of education creates unimaginative students and workers.
• Education should be customized for people’s strengths.

TED 2006

TED 2010