No one ever said it would be easy and trying to change mind
sets and then help people change their behavior is a huge challenge. Someone once said that there are too
many people who mistake the edge of the rut for the horizon. Entrenchment is a familiar condition in
many institutions and organizations, partly because of being very comfortable
with the familiar and the resistance to any radical change. It’s much easier to keep doing what one
has been doing than to learn something entirely new and different and apply it,
especially as an adult.
History tells us that the biggest changes have often come
about because of a revolution as well as an evolution over time. It may be easier, less painful and
inexpensive to help facilitate an evolution than to precipitate a revolution
although a revolution might be indicated in some situations. It might make sense to dismiss the old
model to make room for an entirely new way of doing things, especially if the
new model has been tested and proven effective. Change is coming whether or not
it is wanted so the question is how can we help design the change to be the
most effective?
Creating an
environment that will help determine the culture, rather than having the
existing culture determine the environment might be a good beginning. Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown’s
recent book, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating Imagination for a World of
Constant Change makes this point eminently clear in the following
observation: “In the new culture
of learning, the classroom model is replaced by learning environments in which
digital media provide access to a rich source of information and play, and the
processes that occur within those environments are integral to the
results.” Thomas and Brown
maintain that the teacher-based approach to learning focuses on teaching us
about the world while a new culture of learning focuses on engagement with the
world.
Imagine a curriculum consisting of real world problems and
turning kids loose to create solutions.
That would demand access to unlimited, existing information – available
– collaboration with others and a working laboratory or studio to create models
for solutions. Teachers would have
to surrender a lot of their power and authority to the learners and learn a new
way of being the teacher - a resource, guide, critic, coach and colleague. Imagine putting together (not
necessarily building in the traditional sense) a new school without the
traditional classrooms and hallways, perhaps using community resources,
facilities and more commercial type spaces – warehouses, empty office buildings
and other spaces to create the laboratories and studios where the kids would
brainstorm and game storm (http://vimeo.com/18880751)
and in that process become a more passionate and purposeful person in the world
of today and tomorrow.
Students still need the basic and pre-requisite skills of
computation, communication and comprehension and those can be learned or
acquired while practicing how to read, write, speak and compute, especially in
the early years. Adding some
music, poetry and team work, whether in drama or athletics, might also be a
welcome component in a comprehensive, developmental, coordinated and outcome
focused program. If this
sounds too radical and too experimental, then maybe it’s simply not for you but
it’s already happening in many places and it’s having a positive impact and
making a big difference. If you
need a resource to get started to “Think Different”, as Apple said, have a look
at some of Michael Michalko’s work: Cracking Creativity: The
Secrets of Creative Genius; and ThinkPak: A Brainstorming
Card Deck .
It might take a
year or three to begin to make significant changes and shift the paradigm. It might take five years to change the
culture of a particular institution and the people will make the difference
between a place that remains comfortable with the status quo and doesn’t see
the need to change and a place that embraces the future by designing the change
they want to become. Where would
you like to be in three to five years?
Where would you like your organization to be and how will it look and
function? You and your colleagues
have the answers to those questions.
Begin now and make the propositions to shift the paradigm and change the
culture.
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