- Enrollment
- Learning for the sake of learning
Make it about you and your goals, as opposed to “will this be on the test.”
Education is not the same as learning.
If someone needs to ask “will this be on the test” we’re in the education business.
School is about education and not about learning.
Subset of learning is entertainment.
But being entertained doesn’t necessarily mean we’re learning.
Learning happens when we DO something. Chef’s learn by apprenticing in the kitchen.
Create a platform where they will DO something.
What is school for?
Could be for 2 interesting things.
- Solving interesting problems
- Learning how to lead
What school used to be for #
School is about teaching obedience.
“Good morning boys and girls…”
Factory owners didn’t have enough workers. They needed people to leave the farms and go to work in the factories.
School was to train people to be willing to work in the factories.
We make you obedient.
School was born out of the industrial revolution.
Needed to train us to fit in, to buy stuff, to conform.
If it’s work we try to figure out how to do less.
If it’s art we try to figure out how to do more.
Homework during the day, lectures at night.
World-class lectures from world-class teachers.
Two Myths #
- Great performance in school leads to happiness and success
- Great parents have kids who produce great performance in school
Are we telling our kids to collect dots or connect dots?
Grades are an illusion. Passion and insight are reality.
Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is priceless.
Standing out is a long-term strategy that takes guts and produces results.
Stop Stealing Dreams - What is School for? - By Seth Godin
Shifting Mindset and Expectations #
Learning isn’t easy. It’s hard-work. It involves changing our mind.
Why is pedagogy so difficult?
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.
You need the smallest viable audience. Not the biggest possible audience.
We want to find people who are ready and eager and committed to changing their minds.
The magic of enrollment #
Voluntarily deciding to actually commit to the course.
How do we maximize enrollment?
Need to maximize enrollment. Enrollment is the emotional investment, the commitment to stick it out.
It’s hard to change your mind, that’s why learning is hard.
Intentionally create tension.
Formula for enrollment #
Emotional enrollment, commitment to the journey,
- MOOC
- Massive Open Online Course
Typical drop-out rate for a MOOC is 95%.
Tension and learning to see #
Effective learning comes from:
- Student centered
- Project Based
- Self-paced Learning
Assign the lecture that’s already been created that’s on the internet.
A good model is the Acton Academy
Earn enrollment from people who want to get a project done because it is good for them.
Student centered, project based, go at your own pace, but you have to show up, learning.
The keys to course design and pedagogy #
Grades have failed. Taught people how to regurgitate information they’ve learned. We aren’t actually testing true understanding.
The purpose is learning. Be clear with ourselves that that is the goal. How will we know if they are learning.
If we’re going to use “tests” then they should be open note and open book. We can allow them to take the test as many times as they want, and provide feedback.
Driving tests show us that you know how to drive. We don’t punish you for failing, we just tell you to improve and come back a better driver.
Tests can be a shared understanding of what we’re trying to achieve. It can be peer to peer.
You don’t have to do all of the lectures. Somebody else has probably already lectured about what you’re lecturing about that’s better than what you would do.
Don’t steal the revelation. If the student figures out the punch-line before you get there, they will remember it forever.
What’s lecture for? #
To cause the student to re-think their assumptions and find new footing. Not to transfer information. It’s not a good medium for transference of info. If the student is pushed to find new footing it will change their mind.
Textbooks #
Textbooks are obsolete. Better textbooks are Disney’s “Hamilton” and Caste
It’s about the cohort #
Juggling is about the throwing not about the catching. If you learn how to throw the ball, catching will take care of itself.
Learning is about throwing. Not the catching of doing well on the exam.
It’s hard to learn from a lecture how to juggle. You need peer pressure and the people around us.
The cohort is the key to learning.
Mastermind groups work.
How do we build a mastermind?
Building communities #
Building communities around solving problems and learning. Individual projects, but doing them together.
Combine enrollment with tension to create connection and community.
How we built Akimbo #
Emotionally enrolled in a journey. Self-directed project based learning done together in a cohort.
Discourse #
Use a forum to build a cohort and create enrollment/engagement.
Two most common questions #
Education is something we do too people. Learning is something people choose to do for themselves.
The biggest shift is helping teachers, creators, and leaders is that it’s voluntary.
You can’t force learning to happen. Learning is a choice. Education is mandatory.
Do we want people to learn and understand? Or be educated?
We need people that can think for themselves, be resourceful, and solve problems on their own without being told what to do. We need real problem solvers, not people who can just regurgitate information to pass a test.
Misc #
If it’s work we try to do less. If it’s art we try to do more.