The Biggest “Game-Changer” in Education
Recently, Jon Samuelson and I were having a conversation and he asked me, “What do you see as the big ‘game changer’ in education?”
I hate this question (as I think Jon does as well). You hear things like MOOC’s, tablets, the Flipped Classroom, coding, gaming, social media, blah blah blah, and how they are going to change everything that we do. If you are going to pick a single “thing” that is a game-changer in education, it is the Internet. This is not just for education, but for everything. Honestly though, this is years ago and I think that many of understand the opportunities the “World Wide Web” has provided to us in so many facets of our life. That being said, that “game changer” has already happened.
The real game changer isn’t something external; it is internal. It is the way we think and grow. It is moving from that “fixed” mindset about teaching and learning, and moving to the “growth” mindset. It is thinking differently about education and understanding that all of us as people need different things to succeed. To some students, the “Flipped” model is hugely beneficial, while to some others, gaming is going to push their learning to a new level. Some learn better in isolation, while others excel in collaboration. There is no single “thing” that is a game changer. If there was, we would have figured it out and adopted it by now. We have to stop looking for standardized solutions to try and personalize learning. Our mindset towards teaching and learning has to be open to many approaches, not any single one.
If I was standing in front of you and speaking, I would say the following:
The biggest game changer in education is not out there (as I point all around me). It is in here (as I point to my head, but symbolizing all of our brains, not just mine) and has ALWAYS been in here