We Don’t Need No Education

Looks like Roger Waters’ plot to destroy education around the globe is succeeding. You only need to look to the past elections in America or the British Isles for proof. Young people, who should care, stayed home. Old-timers, who should have stayed-home, voted. That’s my opinion and like it or not, I’m permitted to express it, right here, thanks to Thomas Paine. If you haven’t read his work, “The Rights of Man” you should. In fact, why isn’t this required reading by every student, everywhere? Come to think of it, Roger Waters had a religious fervor when it came to “walls”; didn’t he? Hee, hee, hee or as Jimmy from South Park might express it, TaDa!

So why am I back after such a long absence? Not sure, but I’m back! Maybe it’s the living under a dictator that I find upsetting and need an outlet?

Me and the LMS are two-sides of the same coin. Whether I like it or not, it’s who I am and 20+ years of total devotion to one area of study gives me the right to vent about that technology that is such a part of my DNA.

20+ years later and we’re still navigating menus? The LMS is no smarter than it was 20+ years ago and let’s be honest here: A Good Teacher is just that “A Good Teacher” and Good Teachers are irreplaceable. We know that! We’ve always known that and instead of focusing on how to make what we know works; we kept making excuses for what the LMS didn’t do. It was always the next update that would get us to that educational promised-land. If you’re still waiting, you’re in good company. Come to think of it, there’s a company, funded by the Department of Education, that’s allowed to take your students, with the approval of the taxpayers! Once again, why are people permitted to vote, if they continue to remain uninformed?

Here’s my game-plan to “revolutionize” education. That’s a “buzz-word” that seems to be everywhere today, so, I’ll use it here. Back to the game plan:

1.     Find the “great teachers” at your institution. They’re out there, you know who they are, you work with them frequently.

2.     Locate the “content experts” who may or may not be that same teacher.

3.     Invite them in to discuss the areas they speak to in their teaching; these are:

a.     student management,

b.     communication,

c.     content collection,

d.     content distribution,

e.     learner engagement,

f.      learner assessment, and

g.     feedback [formative and summative].

4.     Next, demonstrate how the LMS is designed to help them achieve the above.

5.     Finally, offer to help them, little-by-little, beginning with student management to empower them to do what they know how to do best; which is TEACH!

It’s not rocket-science, though it could be if the faculty member your helping is teaching something relevant to rocket-science? You know: Physics, Combustion, Metallurgy, Math, whatever.

We have made this too complicated for too long. We’ve made excuses for the lack of sophistication of the tools, instead of making the best of what’s available. In case you may have forgotten; you began learning about Art, by cutting-out and pasting colored paper together! The concept of how you teach art to children, goes a long-way in teaching effective use of the LMS.