The Need For Change

In the video Bring on the Learning Revolution, Sir Ken Robinson argues that our education system is in need of drastic transformation. Although many educational reform movements have taken place in recent years, Robinson explains that these reforms are not enough because they only improve on a broken model (Ted, 2010). He contends that in order for real change to occur, changes must first be made at the most fundamental level, our thinking. The education field must move from the ideas of linearity and conformity that drive our current industrial style, fast food model of education to a more organic, agricultural style where customization and personalization form the basic ideology (Ted, 2010). By transforming into an education field based more on agricultural principals, we are able to customize and personalize education to fit the learners we currently teach and create the circumstances under which their diversity of talents, needs, and aptitudes can be explored so they can flourish (Ted, 2010).

Sir Ken Robinson’s argument is very logical and I am in agreement with his assertion. If human talent is tremendously diverse (TED, 2010) and people learn at different paces, bring different levels of background knowledge to learning experiences, and have different working memory capacities and aptitudes and therefore absorb information at different rates and in different ways (Edmentum, 2013), how is it sensible, or even fair, to present information to learners and assess their learning in a standardized way? It seems quite contradictory for us as an education system to claim that we want to do what is best for students yet continue to have many students enter learning environments every day that are not designed to exploit and enhance their unique differences. If we truly want to be a system of our word, this has to change. We have to provide students with a way to learn what they need to learn, when they need to learn it, and how they need to learn it. Technology presents the perfect avenue through which to begin doing this. Because technology is so prevalent and familiar nowadays, it can be used to catalyze the disruptive thinking needed to change current ideologies regarding linearity and conformity so true transformation of the educational system can begin to take place, thus allowing our students to begin receiving the personalized learning experience they deserve.

Sources:

Edmentum. (2013, March 5). Disruptive Innovation in Education

[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2hOF5YkfQ.

TED. (2010, May 24). Bring On The Learning Revolution!

[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I&feature=youtu.be.