Your GPS for Learning.
About 7 billion people didn't read this. It takes a while to convince a few, after that it can go fast. For those who do not have the time to click the links, this is a summary of the previous post: luckily more and more people have access to education, but a lot of us unfortunately get lost in the system the bigger it gets.
Nobody really doubts the need for investment in learning. Both in the public sphere and the corporate world (different kinds of) 5% rules apply. And for those of us who have kids, we won't hesitate to put an even higher percentage into their learning. In too many cases it unfortunately still takes close to, or way more, than 100% of our income to put the kids through the higher education they deserve :-(
Still, a recurring and seemingly never-ending discussion is on return on investment for learning. Typically those discussions focus on increasing organizational impact. A bang-for-the-buck type argument. This is all right but discussions on impact are - hmm - never very precise and - well - sometimes pretty subjective.
So maybe we need to change tack. Focus on the personal impact, if you will. Think parents and children who have invested in the wrong education choice. Frustration, trauma even; what a waste!
Which (finally) brings me on topic: how can we eliminate learning waste in order to amplify learning?
Lean without being mean, I mean. Not to decrease anyone's 5%, but to stretch it to serve more. Not to give students a cold shoulder, but to avoid that feeling of having to sit in. Less is more - if it is less bad choices, less going through the motions, less of 'this is just the way it is done'.
The problem is the wall. The problem is one-size-fits-all. Good technology happens to be excellent at tearing down such walls. Teachers recognize this opportunity. It'd allow them to give more of their small scale paideia-magic to their students.
What we need is - indeed - a GPS for learning. Something allowing you to find your personal path; given the destination aligned with your preferences, given what your current location is based on the actions you already took and, where possible, also given the possible roadblocks ahead.
To do that let's analyze the basics of learning to build a map. We learn because we aspire to sit at the table of experts but we have to earn our place at the table based on the actions we take. The table isn't a physical place. It is a meeting place where the like-minded can co-create (yes, an Agora ;-), counting on having proven similar abilities. Education always has these components, system scale just drives it to the pre-setting of specific paths. Hence the waste, and the opportunity illustrated in the above picture of tearing down the wall.
To end this, I have to say a word on where to start. A GPS needs your destination. It also needs your current location. So the first thing is to determine your affinities - your zone of proximal development. I love it when things get dynamic. The 5 A's of learning make things dynamic.
Is this fuzzy. Yes. Is it simple. No. But it will be done. Our only hope is to contribute to it being done.