Opinion: Internet and Education -- Back to the Future
- Came across this article from AOL news, not that I find AOL news all the great... This author is talking about the future of education and how much more needs to be invested in the idea of education being more on-one-on. Novel idea! Thoughts?
I think that Savkar is correct in his ascertainment that a mentor model is a better model for education. Our studies at GMU have pointed us in the right direction in regards to this as well. I am not particularly sure about the economy of scale for the mentor model. I don’t know about you, but it seems that if it is done correctly that a mentor maxes out the number of mentees they can take on full time at about 20 or so. I cannot imagine building meaningful relationships with more than 20 students at a time using the mentor model that we know. So I think that this does not solve the entire problem.
ReplyDeleteI too think that it would be most beneficial to have a master to learn under, but there cannot be any “true” masters in this world anymore. The image of a wizened elder who seems to have been there and done that for all the corners of life is simply impossible today. There is too much to know and this is only getting worse. Students will need many mentor masters along the way until they are able to seek after knowledge and meaning on their own. I don’t think that the economy of scale for creating connected mentors can keep pace in any significant way with the overwhelming scale of new information and a greater birth of niche specialization. For instance, it is very rare to find a “scientist” they all specialize in something, the same is true for doctors, and even teachers in the upper grade levels very seldom cross curricular boundaries. No one is a master of it all.
Mentors are great and the bond they can forge with their mentee’s is irreplaceable, but mass scale mentorships is still just an old concept wrapped in a new technology and the world is coming to terms with a new reality that is not fitting into the models of anything previous. Even thought that new reality is built out of the remains of the old, it is still something that we have never encountered and because of that we as educators are still creating the educational answer to the needs of society in this new reality.
Mentors have a central place, but not can only be a part of the whole. I am not sure what all the components are that are need to make it work, but that’s why we all continue to refine our practice, think big, communicate with others, and change lives. Together, I think we will find it. We just need to stay the course and keep an open mind.
O dear, I didn't realize how long that got, but hey. You asked for my thoughts :)
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