From TRU Participants

Will: The Rise of State Schools:

willrichardson:

So this pretty much sums it up as well it can be summed up right now:

U.S. schools under the jurisdiction of state and federal governments are now scripted processes that view knowledge as static capital, students as passive and empty vessels, and teachers as compliant conduits for…

This is a sad, but true state of affairs in education, even at the university level in Canada. This is especially so, given the insights and observations of Sugatra Mitra, revealing the learning process as a fundamentally self-organising system.

I had a great time last week, meeting my students for the coming semester. I have three sections of a professional writing introduction, a second-level professional writing course, and an oral business presentations course (not that my students are all business majors!). They are a wonderful group, with alert minds and considerate and respectful attitudes (much like students I’ve had in former years).

Last week, among several requests I made of my new students, I asked them to remove their shoes in the class. Somewhere I had read (or seen) a presentation claiming that students who remove their footwear learn better in classroom situations. Although my memory of this is quite clear, I cannot now find the article, blog post, or video/slide presentation, where this claim is made. Can any of you help me out? I hate making claims in the courses that I cannot provide references for.

The students complied and seemed to enjoy the experience (after all, this is Canada, where people are used to being without footwear indoors). 

The Future of Reading and Writing is Collaborative | Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning:

Some interesting things are happening in literacy…

The notion of passion-based learning (PBL) has come up in my reading this week. While I very much respect the notion of PBL and the value of student-directed learning, I also respect the notion that program planners have some notions of balance in the …