Learning To Use That New Hammer

I’m facilitating a workshop this week for a bunch of Learning 2.0 folks in Las Vegas. (No, I have no plans to be “teaching” or “training” — thanks for asking.)  The title I came up with is “Relax!  Everything You Know About Content Is Wrong…”

Yeah, part of getting sessions accepted is a catchy title — but I really believe that most everything we’ve taught our students about content in their formal educational history is wrong.  How we design it, how we deploy it, how they interact with it and how we judge if they’ve taken it in successfully.

So I spend a great deal of time nowadays talking to fellow learning designers about that, in the guise of showing them “new media tools” like Twitter and Facebook and NING and Wicker and Spooty and Fitzzle…  (Points will be given for those of you who realize which of those are made up gibberish.)

In reality, these things are just tools.  What we’re really doing is responding to the fact that there are better ways of dealing with today’s learners and their needs, and the existence of some of these new technologies is giving us a long overdue kick in the Kirkpatrick to encourage some change.

Here’s my list of what “old” content looks like:

• I’m up HERE, you learners are out THERE
• I know the answers.  You’re supposed to take them in from me.
• My answers are the right ones.  Yours are not.
• My content (the text book) is correct.  Your experience or theories are not valid.
• We measure success on how well you can parrot back to me what I said.
• Old, gray heads make the best choices about what to learn, when, and how.
• You start here.  Then you do this, then this, then that.  Then you stop.
• If I want your input, I’ll ask for it.  And then evaluate it.
• You in the back — quit whispering. You’ll disturb others.
• Here’s a list of work to do outside of class. I chose it.
• These are the accepted resources and authorities. I chose them.
• At the end, we’ll grade on a curve.  There will be winners and losers.
• If you’re louder, you get noticed.  If you’re quiet, you don’t.
• If you agree with my theories, you’ll get praised.  If you don’t, you won’t.
• You should highlight the stuff that I say is important — it will be on the test.
• Name in the upper left-hand corner.  Points given for neatness.

So — what did your classroom look like when you were in school?  My workshop at TechKnowledge 2010 (TK10) in Las Vegas this week will break every single one of these rules, I hope.

It should be total chaos.