Not Real

We were discussing students and the challenges we've been facing implementing our school's 1-1 program when one of my colleagues said it.

It went something like this, "Joe and George sit on the carpet and play videogames beside each other and it's Not Real relationship."

I struggled with this. I didn't say anything at the time, but it felt wrong. I couldn't articulate it then, but I think this sentiment is wrong.

To those two boys, sitting down beside each other with their devices and playing games is relationship. It is Real. Those two boys struggle to make connections with other students. They function on a different wavelength. Here they found someone else to connect with in a way they understood. But because it is not what we are used to it's "Not Real".

(Mind you, I do agree with my colleagues that the time and place they had chosen to do this was not what we would like and fully support the changes that we agreed to make. Real or not it has an appropriate time and place. )

I strongly support the idea that relationships are fundamental to the human condition. After all God is Love and we are made in his image. Therefore we function best in relationship.

What bothers me is the instant rejection of digital relationships as being "Not Real".

I also believe that we must be whole people. We need relationships that are physical, auditory, visual, emotional and so much more. Having relationships that are only one dimensional is unhealthy. Digital or otherwise.

But I believe that relationships that occur through a digital medium can be part of a healthy life. I believe that they Are Real.

Different, but Real.

The Magic (Factory Slaying) Bullet

So, I'm looking for a magic bullet that will take down our reliance on age cohorts in education. The killer app the will make age groupings obsolete. The pedagogy, theory, tool, or remedy that will, in one fell swoop, render the idea of sticking kids in one room all day just because of the date they were born obsolete.

There's only one problem.

It doesn't exist.

I don't actually think that there is one thing that will allow us to take education to that place where we can honour the unique individuality of the children we've been given to teach.

I believe it's going to take a combination of ideas, tools, and solutions.

But there's a problem with that too. I don't know exactly which ideas, tools, and solutions. Nor does anyone else. Yet.

I think that Project Based Learning is part of the solution. Authentic projects, created for real audiences, in which students have voice and choice are powerful. But I don't think that PBL by itself will challenge the factory model of school it's too easy to do projects in single grade classrooms.

We also need to think about architecture, furniture, and decoration. What kind of physical space do we have our students working in? But just buying new desks won't interrupt the assembly line. (Although I really want new desks! Actually, standing tables, mixed with other tables.)

I could list even more ideas (Makerspaces, Genius Hour, Fed Ex days,....) but none of them are going to work on their own either.

I think that a combination of tools and ideas is needed. I think it's going to take teamwork and collaboration. I want to be part of that team.

My area of expertise, such as it is, lies in the role of digital tools. I believe that digital tools will have a profound impact on education, in conjunction with many of the other exciting ideas that are being developed in education. Digital tools, by themselves, won't make our schools what they ought to be either.

It is only by working in community, in relationship together, combining many of the ideas we have that we can slay the elephant that is the factory model of education and build schools where each of God's children will all be given to grow to their full potential.