21stcenturyed.com

For some things, yes…they do need you. But not for everything. My oldest son needed me (and others) to help him to learn how to read and to understand the meaning of many words. But once he could read fluently, he didn’t need me to teach him that the 2011 Dodge Charger has pushes out 252 horsepower. Once you give students the ability to access information themselves, simply ensuring that they can access that information in a way that makes sense for them is sufficient in many cases.

Are you an online teacher? If so, do you REALLY need to teach live in a WebEx or Collaborate (Elluminate) lesson? Probably not. Give them good, rich, and well constructed asynchronous content to enjoy and let ‘em go.

But don’t feel bad. They DO need you for a few things…like moderating vigorous discussions about what they are learning, helping them to understand the relevance of what they are (or are not) doing. Keeping them engaged and learning how to manage their time.

Let the machines do what they can do…spend your time doing the important things they can’t.

Good news for the online school kids looking towards the military as a career choice!

Statement on the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Relevance isn’t just one of the three R’s popular in educational news and blogs. When students have so many choices in what they can learn and how they can learn it, relevance is key. Maybe when you and I (or perhaps our parents) went to school students might do work simply because the authority figure at the front of the room directed them as such. But today – if kids don’t understand the why – it’s mighty difficult to get them to take action.
But don’t feel bad – it’s not just kids and education. Change by Design – a book I heartily recommend – describes a similar problem in healthcare. It’s referred to as “adherence” issues…as in “adhering to the doctor’s orders”. Masaaki Karuso outlines this loop as belief, knowledge, and action. Healthcare professionals first have to get the patient to belief they have a problem. Then they need to arm the patient with the knowledge about their condition and treatment. But in the end, the patient him or herself needs to take action. Telling the patient once verbally in an appointment easily fails. The healthcare field takes several tactics in working through this loop. As described in Change by Design:

“…along the “adherence journey” the patient might find support groups, Web sites, and call centers staffed by nurses.”

So how are you convincing your students about what they so desperately need?