Welcome to Learning Options’ Open Educative Systems Discussion

Welcome to Learning Options’ Open Educative Systems Discussion

The C( )SL Conference = = = = = = HME Staff Area

If we didn't have a school system and we had to invent something to encourage learning, what would we design?

Liza Loop : This question has been with me all of my adult life. I invite you to join me in envisioning, inventing, interlinking and implementing a set of organizational structures to promote learning environments for all people.

To get our conversation going I've posted five "formative questions" as separate topics within this discussion forum. Please separate your comments into these categories when possible.

Post other questions, comments and opinions here in the general topic.

Tell us where to look for related ideas in the Links and Resources topic.

I do intend to write a book (as well as update LO*OP's Web pages) and include your ideas. If I use your material I will credit you as you request in your message. Anything you post here is part of the public domain and neither I nor any other reader will have to ask further permission to quote you. If you are concerned about protecting your copyright, please send me private email mailto:liza@loopcntr.org and include a copyright notice.

If ideas for promoting learning haven't started to flow out of your imagination yet, you might want to read my "Open Portal School" article at:

http://www.rahul.net/loopcntr/LLinhtm/opsch98.htm

Welcome aboard

Liza Loop

What do schools do?

What schools do Discussion Page

What functions does a school perform today?

If we are inventing educative systems to replace or exist along side today's schools we would be wise to know what they already do. We wouldn't want to lose functionality.

So what do they do? Do you think schools of the future should do this too or is it dysfunctional? Maybe we need it but not as part of school. What other social institution might do this even better?

What Learning Programs Do We Find on This Earth?

Learning Programs Discussion Page

What kinds of educational programs currently exist worldwide?

People all over the world learn in formal and informal ways. Let's look around before we launch our educative revolution. In this topic thread I'd like us to compile an inventory of the different kinds of learning institutions human beings have already invented. Let's include Western (Euro-centric), Asian and African styles. We can look at the whole spectrum from government-sponsored, formal education to non-didactic emulation for models. What do you know and where did you learn it?

Who grants degrees?

Certificates, Degrees & Qualifications Discussion

From whom or from where do degree-granting organizations get their formal authority?

Seriously. Who says Tom can have a high school diploma and Harry can't? The local school board of a US town? The State of California? The Educational Testing Service? The Minister of Education of India? The King of Tonga?

Who says Mele can practice medicine or Nga can represent you in court or Pierre can replace the electric wiring in your house?

An important modern-day function of many schools and universities is the granting of all kinds of degrees. If we are going to make some changes in the structure of education we must address the question of certification and where it comes from.

Who gets to learn?

Educational Access Discussion

What formal and informal conditions control access to various educational experiences today?

"She was gonna' be an actress and I was gonna' learn to fly." So goes a line in a once popular song sung by a disillusioned taxi driver. Why didn't he learn to fly?

There are no simple answers to questions of educational equity and access in today's world and there won't be in tomorrow's either. But we need to address these issues as we reinvent existing schools and design new educative structures.

Most people would agree that the learner needs to come to the educative experience with the skills needed to benefit from it. We wouldn't send a youngster who had never been on skis to the top of the expert slope and we wouldn't expect someone who only understands English to learn Southeast Asian history from a radio program broadcast in Bahassa Malay. Aside from lack of prerequisite physical or intellectual skills what other barriers are there to learning opportunities? Money? Time? Motivation? Social class? Cultural capital? Educational infrastructure?

What are some of the enabling and disabling experiences you have had and how would you improve the situation?

Is it educational?

Educational Content Discussion

What characteristics differentiate "educational" activities from other kinds of activities?

Did you ever hear a teacher say: "Pola's not learning"? Did you ever walk out of a movie or a concert thinking: "That was a waste of time"? We judge activities - our own and others' - against a standard that is often unspoken and unexamined. We value some experiences more than others. The term "learning" is usually applied by educators to changes they have mapped out for others.

Let's see if we can tease out what "educational" means to each of us. We probably won't agree. But we will learn about each other and the broad spectrum of attitudes that exist in "cyberspace" about what education is and should be.

Links to Rethinking Education

http://loopcntr.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/visionlinks

Do you know about a resource on the Web that would help us think productively about educative systems? Please put them in your replies. For starters, here's mine:

http://www.rahul.net/loopcntr/Loopcntr98/loophome.htm

You might also enjoy the article titled:

"A Scenario of Education in Cyber City" by Dennis Gooler and Charles Stegman

http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwitr/docs/cyber/index.html

PreOrganized Notes from