The idea of “Beyond the Classroom” presents a restructuring of roles and relationships for students, teachers, parents, admin and outsiders; whether in-person or virtual. Is anyone integrating relationships like this in education?
#1 Most schools would agree that if a student communicated success stories with core and semi-core relationships their education would improve. If this was done consciously and with some foresight it may improve education dramatically.
#2 Most schools recognize that they have no natural role or responsibility to be involved or manage a students personal relationships (or the capability to do so).
#3 Most parents agree that it is their natural place to know the relationships of their student.
#4 Few if any schools in the country have any systems for engaging parents (or others) in this way whether on campus or virtual.
There are 5 databases that need to be optimized (restructured to self-manage). Her are a few ways they might be impacted by such a change:
#1 the school’s (administration’s)
a. PR, branding, recruiting, fundraising (connects funders/contributors directly to student transformations, this has never really happened before), community work/study relations,
b. less parent issues
c. less discipline issues
ability to involve info age technologies in the learning process cell phones, computers, etc.
d. quality goes up and institutions history is better established
e. provides a seed bed for other innovations (new kind of campus, etc.)
f. schools need to release the pressures and responsibilities they have acquired and they need to be trained and coached––weened from them.
#2 the parents,
a. core family relationships are strengthened by shifting the dialogue from “How’s school going?” and the typical response of ”good” to substantive discussion and actual results.
b. are connected through new natural role over relationship but not intrusive. Parents do their thing and third party institution does their thing; this is not happening parents feel like they should be connected but there is no vehicle.
#3 the student’s,
a. Progressing year by year to greater degrees of independence, ever expanding types of relationships and increased numbers
b. this allows the student to mess up but polish through publishing a sort of natural accountability putting the responsibility of great education more and more on the student rather than the the institution or other.
c. Gifts and talents of students can be integrated more fully into the edu. process.
d. A model for how cognitive knowledge develops through the relationships of synapses can be occurring all around the student as their relationship structure takes shape.
e. They can be taught the skills of managing local and distant relations which are not being taught anywhere in education.
f. By so teaching love and diplomacy can be integrated in to the educational process which are also lacking.
g. student to student relations are weak, disconnected and not lasting. In short they are a distraction
h. allows the long tern systematic development of a personal portfolio to be developed because education is in the right context
i. epiphany can become more of a focus because the student’s work excellence has a place to go; it is organized and in the right context
#4 the teacher’s,
a. Involving experts and people in both the student’s and parent’s as they connect.
b. Cohesion of the whole educational experience from one phase to the next including different schools (grade school, jr. high, high school, mission, college, business/life);
c. Class to class and subject to subject both in the school and out (chemistry, piano lessons, sports, leisure, leadership) is dependent on how well this process works.
d. Interdisciplinary learning has always been limping along best accomplished by Montessori but barely scratching the surface of what is possible.
e. The teachers shift their mindset from teaching and grading knowledge and skills to working with relationships and students take more and more responsibility for knowledge and skills. The student’s newfound communication drives their need for mentors up.
#5 the outsider’s:
a. Whether funders, businesses, social entrepreneurs, experts and specialists, politicians, religious leaders, future instructors, neighbors, or family. They now have a connection to the education process that works and is not overwhelming.
b. this will connect the outside world to education so that education doesn’t continue to be disconnected and therefor behind the times and less obsolete.
c. cutting edge innovation, discovery and entrepreneurship (affective use of choice/agency hard work reinstated) can reconnect with the US educational system and the US can be back on top
Course of action:
- Teach a semester long course which can be delivered through: live online medium (Elluminate?), web radio, web-group dialogue (Google group?), phone calling, newsletter, YouTube video or webcasts, local group exercises (which would often be associated with sponsoring schools and include: colloquia, simulations, participant presentations, think tank work, projects, campaigns, etc.).
- Organize this group of learners so it could eventually be expanded to up to 1 million learners at once.
- Instigate a viral marketing campaign.
- Develop software to help people manage their personal and institutional databases in the context of both education and personal/community transformation.
Through out this whole project these 3 keys need to be central:
Key #1: Real transformation is measured by its affect on your relationships.
Key #2: Relationships should have the chief hand in choosing to what degree they are involved with your life.
Key #3: Personal and community transformations occur in proportion to the extent to which the 6 elements of transformation are integrated into the process; i.e. groups, interdisciplinary, gifts, hands-on, cycles and ownership.
Tags: beyond the classroom, Education, PR, relationships