I have recently been involved in some “twitter” talk about learning and ways that people are going about it these days. I have also come across some blog posts on this topic and everyone seems to have the same thoughts running through their head. It seems that we are all procrastinators and that even though all of us have the very best intentions, we tend to spend a lot of time doing nothing in front of the computer.
A post at Lisa’s Lingo started me thinking about this. What are we doing when we are at the computer? This is how the blog post ends:
So, you see, I really do try to get my planning done. My computer life just keeps getting in the way. I think now it’s time to go work on that social studies unit. I just have to finish editing this blog post….
It brings up a very interesting point about learning and techniology and overall discipline. If we, as adults, are so overwhelmed by the things to do while at the computer, how do we expect our students, who are much more easily distracted, to be efficient and effective? Do we assume that they will be disciplined enough to create a PLN when we know for a fact that most are not disciplined enough to go beyond the first two hits in a google search?
2 Comments
February 16, 2008 at 12:21 am
I agree many of us are discussing this very issue in our own homes, schools, blogs and other communities.
Many subconsciously react to the idea that the work we “HAVE TO DO” is not as worthy as the work we “WANT TO DO”. This is one of the major points that Dr. William Glasser discusses in most of his work, but Ch7, pg 92 of his book “The Quality School” called Quality Schoolwork.
“Workers will not work hard unless they believe there is quality in what thy are asked to do. Working hard will not satisfy our need for power when we are engaged in doing what we believe is a low-quality task: Busy Work, for example…..”
Piddling around, procrastinating or whatever you want to call it is what Dr. Glasser would greatly approve in the Quality School. Unfortunately, we have lost sight of the TQM theory, research, and practice of Dr. Deming who revolutionized postwar Japanese business.
I am in agreement with you that we, teachers, parents, and community members must model a variety of topics for lifelong learning. For instance can we model what PLN’s are? what quality is? and how we all learn to improve in the area of quality work completion?…to hit the target more often?
I believe the answer is yes. We can model and help lifelong learners perform quality work, but it cannot be constrained by TIME….quality just doesn’t fit our “hurry up and put something out there kind of world”.
Here are a few related postings:
http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/02/quality-school-teacher.html
http://samccoy-n2teaching.blogspot.com/2008/02/zap-where-did-it-come-from.html
February 17, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Thanks for the comment and the link- Creating students who are excited about self-directed learning is a real challenge. The idea that learning happens intuitively and without warning is something we in education need to embrace and facilitate. Unfortunately, it is a radical shift in thinking for many.