2013年7月26日 星期五

Some of the News Fit to Print




Some of the News Fit to Print
ABOUT HIGHER ED
‘COLBERT REPORT’ EXPLAINS MOOCS
Anant Agarwal, president of edX, one of the major providers of massive open online courses, appeared on "The Colbert Report" this week, where he faced some questions on MOOCs that journalists had previously failed to ask him, at least not the Stephen Colbert way. After Agarwal explained the basic concept of MOOCs, Colbert asked if he was talking about the University of Phoenix. After Agarwal explained that MOOCs are free, Colbert said that if he owned a shoe store, and Agarwal was an employee and suggested giving away shoes for free, "I would fire you and throw shoes at your head." The information and a link to the video is at Inside Higher Ed.
SHIRKY SAYS MOOCS MATTER
Clay Shirky, a best-selling author and an associate arts professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, is known for predicting how the latest tech trends will change traditional social institutions. These days he’s turning his focus to colleges themselves, imagining ways that MOOCs and other technologies might reshape higher education. “For as long as students and their parents have nervously scanned tuition bills, they’ve asked themselves, ‘Isn’t there another way to do this?’” he wrote in a recent essay on The Chronicle of Higher Education's  Web site. “And for that long, the answer has been ‘no.’ Now, for the first time, the answer is ‘maybe.’”
ABOUT K-12
WEINGARTEN CALLS ON TEACHERS TO IMPROVE
Speaking in front of the American Federation of Teachers rank and file earlier this week, Randi Weingarten didn’t mince words. The AFT president said that it was the responsibility of all those present to do everything they can to remove unskilled teachers from schools. Not only do bad teachers cast the profession in a bad light, they actively harm students who rely on them for knowledge and improvement. By adopting this tougher stance, Weingarten echoes talk around a number of state houses all over the country. Almost every state in America has over the past 10 years experimented with — or at least debated — teacher evaluation systems that would make it easier to separate effective instructors from ineffective ones. The article is in EducationNews.org.
WHEN STUDENTS ARE UNPREPARED
Jessica Pliska of the Opportunity Network writes in the Huffington Post: Too often students are derailed by everyday problems they are unprepared to handle. Even the highest achieving low-income students become overwhelmed and overstressed when they find themselves in situations that are dramatically different from any they have seen before. If we want more students to not only get to college but through college, education policymakers must look beyond the traditional targets of standardized test scores and financial aid to incorporate basic skills and college success into high school curricula.
posted Jul 26, 2013 10:02 am



ABOUT HIGHER ED
‘SHAKE UP’ FOR HIGHER ED
President Obama vowed Wednesday that he would soon unveil a plan to promote significant reform in higher education -- with an emphasis on controlling what colleges charge students and families. "[I]n the coming months, I will lay out an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families. It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who’s willing to work for it," said Obama, in a speech at Knox College. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
STATES REFORM COLLEGE REMEDIAL EDUCATION
About 60 percent of community college students enroll in at least one developmental education course, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. At four-year colleges, about 20 percent of freshman students enroll in remedial classes, according to Complete College America, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., which has led efforts to reform remedial education. One study estimated the annual cost of college-level remedial help to students, colleges and taxpayers at close to $7 billion. Who is Responsible? The article is in the Huffington Post.
SENATE APPROVES STUDENT LOAN PLAN, TYING RATES TO MARKETS
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday approved a bipartisan plan that would tie interest rates for college student loans to the financial markets, bringing Congress close to finally resolving a dispute that caused rates to double on July 1. But the 81-18 vote, which drew overwhelming support from Republicans, masked deep divisions among members of the Senate Democratic caucus. Seventeen of them voted “no.” The article is in The New York Times.
INCREASING COLLEGE COMPLETION RATES: IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Peter Ewell blogs for AAC&U’s Liberal Education Nation: Increasing the proportion of young citizens with a college credential has become a major national goal, and the need to do so is prominent in today’s political rhetoric.  The case for doing so is almost always economic—higher personal incomes, increased tax revenues, and greater worker productivity.  The resulting “commodification of college” rankles many of us because, raised as scholars, we tend to see higher learning as more broadly beneficial.  More importantly, the narrowly economic argument about rates of return leads many observers to misleadingly label college majors such as English or anthropology as “dead ends” and advise students to avoid them.  Even if one sticks with a purely economic argument, statements like this about the “worth” of traditional liberal arts and sciences majors are overblown at best.  But there also are other concrete benefits of completing a college degree that go far beyond these strictly economic benefits.
ABOUT K-12
GATES ANNOUNCES $15 MILLION IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expanding its already significant teacher-quality work to include on-the-job teacher training. Its education wing today announced the awarding of more than $15 million in "Innovative Professional Development" grants over a three-year period. The funds will be split among the Fresno, Calif.; Long Beach, Calif; and Jefferson County, Colo., districts, with each receiving about $5 million. Using their grants, the districts will be expected to create new systems for professional development to deliver better-quality content and make use of new models of delivery such as in-class coaching, video, and online or blended learning. The post is from Education Week’s Teacher Beat blog.



ABOUT K-12
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD NAEP DATA
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is widely viewed as the most accurate and reliable yardstick of U.S. students’ academic knowledge. But when it comes to many of the ways the exam’s data are used, researchers have gotten used to gritting their teeth. Results from the venerable exam are frequently pressed into service to bolster claims about the effect that policies, from test-based accountability to collective bargaining to specific reading and math interventions, have had on student achievement. While those assertions are compelling, provocative, and possibly even correct, they are also mostly speculative, researchers say. The article is in Education Week.
SURVEY FINDS STATE OFFICIALS CONFIDENT IN COMMON CORE
A new survey of high-ranking state education officials finds that most see little chance the Common Core State Standards will be "reversed, limited or changed in some way" in their states during the 2013-14 school year, and downplays the threat posed by state-level opposition to the common standards. The survey, just published by the Center on Education Policy, based at George Washington University, received responses from deputy superintendents of education or their designees in 40 of the 46 common-core states and the District of Columbia from February through May of this year. The post is from Education Week’s State EdWatch.
EDUCATION OVERHAUL FACES TEST OF PARTISANSHIP
The House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill aimed at greatly narrowing the federal role in public education that was expanded under No Child Left Behind. No Democrat voted for the bill, called the Student Success Act, and the Obama administration has threatened to veto it. During the floor debate last week in the House, Representative George Miller of California, the main Democratic supporter of the Bush-era law, labeled the bill the “Letting Students Down Act.”The acrimony partly reflects the sharp partisanship in Washington these days. But well beyond the Beltway, the debate about education has become far more polarized in the past decade. The article is in The New York Times.
‘PAY FOR PERFORMANCE’ NOT RECOMMENDED IN MICHIGAN TEACHER EVALUATION GROUP’S REPORT
Michigan teachers need a strong system for evaluating their performance, but those results should not be used to determine pay, according to the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness report. The report recommends that the state create and implement an evaluation requirement for teachers and administrators based on direct observation of performance as well as student growth. The piece is from Mlive.com.
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BACK TO THE FUTURE
President Obama’s Education Department has announced it will begin crafting new “gainful employment” regulations in September. The rule-making session will be a second attempt to set standards for measuring how recent graduates of vocational programs, mostly at for-profits, fare in the job market. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
HOUSE GOP ON SEPARATE TRACK FOR IMMIGRANT KIDS
House Republicans made clear Tuesday that they would pursue a different legalization track for undocumented immigrant children – a strategy that could infuriate Democrats and reform advocates who are calling for a broader approach. Those sentiments were outlined in a Tuesday hearing held specifically to examine the plight of children brought illegally into the United States by their parents. It was a session that hosted witnesses sympathetic to those immigrants and marked the first opportunity for House lawmakers to focus solely on the issue. The post is from Politico.
SALLIE MAE SAYS PARENTS PAYING LESS FOR COLLEGE
A survey released Tuesday by Sallie Mae found that parents are now contributing less of their income for college than they did four years ago. Instead, families are relying more on grants and scholarships to cover the costs of higher education. They are also cutting expenses from the traditional college experience. Fewer students are living on campus, and they are fast-tracking coursework in order to finish college sooner. The article is in the L.A. Times.



ABOUT K-12
HOUSE PASSES PARTISAN NCLB REWRITE, ROCKY ROAD AHEAD
After two days of partisan debate on an issue that used to bring Democrats and Republicans together in a kumbaya chorus, the House of Representatives passed a GOP-only reauthorization of the long-stalled No Child Left Behind Act. The bill, approved 221-207, with no Democratic support, would maintain the NCLB law's signature testing schedule and its practice of breaking out student-achievement data by particular groups of students (such as English-language learners and students in special education). But otherwise it's almost a complete U-turn, policy-wise, from the existing federal school accountability law. States and school districts would get a lot more say on how they hold schools accountable for the progress of all students, including special populations. The post is from Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog.
GET THE FEDS OUT OF TEACHER EVALUATIONS
John Wilson blogs in Education Week: Teachers should be evaluated on their practice, not their students' test scores. Teachers can and should assume full responsibility for their practice. Test scores are the responsibility of students, first, and their parents. Those scores are also the responsibility of politicians who provide (or not) resources to schools, set policies that help or hinder, and fund programs that can add to or help eliminate poverty in their communities. If a teacher is demonstrating good practice in instruction, inspiration, and inclusion, then that teacher has made a contribution to student achievement. It is fine for principals and other evaluators to use low student test scores as a reason for giving more attention to and evaluation of a teacher's practice. It is malpractice on the part of those evaluators to look only at a test score.
POLL: PARENTS DON’T SUPPORT MANY EDUCATION POLICY CHANGES
Most parents with children in public schools do not support recent changes in education policy, from closing low-performing schools to shifting public dollars to charter schools to private school vouchers, according to a new poll to be released Monday by the American Federation of Teachers. The poll, conducted by Democratic polling firm Hart Research Associates, surveyed 1,000 parents this month and found that most would rather see their neighborhood schools strengthened and given more resources than have options to enroll their children elsewhere. The article is in The Washington Post.
VERMONT RAISING STANDARDS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Vermont education officials are embarking on a process to rewrite and raise standards for elementary school teachers. A significant part of the focus in the new standards would be on making sure educators are prepared to teach children strong math and science skills. The new teacher standards also would call for an emphasis on integrating various subjects. The article is in the Burlington Free Press.
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IT’S TIME TO KEEP PROMISE ON STATE COLLEGE TRANSFERS
Campaign for College Opportunity Executive Director Michele Siqueiros writes in the Sacramento Bee: The framers of the 1960 master plan for higher education in California assumed that transfers would be a top priority of our California community colleges and that there would be a clear pathway for community college students to transfer to a California State University campus, where they could immediately begin upper division course work. What we have instead is inconsistent, duplicative and ever-changing course work and other requirements that have frustrated and discouraged students. Course work accepted by one CSU may not be accepted by another. Some CSUs require community college graduates with an associate's degree to take additional classes for admission as juniors. Others do not. Or it depends on the major, and major requirements vary from campus to campus.
ENGINEERING AN EXPANSION OF THE COLLEGE PIPELINE
American Council on Education President Molly Broad blogs in the Huffington Post: It is  important to keep in mind that it is nearly impossible to expand the college pipeline by enough to meet our national attainment goals simply by increasing the number of first-time, full-time students who enroll in college straight out of high school. Only 42 percent of the U.S. population between 25 and 64 years of age hold an associate degree or higher. It is crucial to find more ways to help the millions of adults who lack a degree use non-traditional learning experiences toward a postsecondary degree or credential.
SHOULD UNIVERSITY SYSTEMS BE GRADED TOO?
LONDON — Depending on whom you ask, a proposed new international testing system will either be the next big thing in higher education or a pointless, expensive rankings exercise that will be used to criticize faculty at hard-pressed colleges and universities. At a meeting in its headquarters in Paris last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a study on whether it would be possible to test what students around the world actually learn in colleges and universities. In November, the organization will decide whether to press ahead with the new system, Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes, or Ahelo. The article is in The New York Times.
posted Jul 22, 2013 10:11 am

2013年7月24日 星期三

Some of the News Fit to Print / Mitchel Resnick is a critic of computerized learning




Some of the News Fit to Print

SLOW IDEAS
Atul Gawande writes in The New Yorker: In our era of electronic communications, we’ve come to expect that important innovations will spread quickly. Plenty do: think of in-vitro fertilization, genomics, and communications technologies themselves. But there’s an equally long list of vital innovations that have failed to catch on. The puzzle is why.
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COLLEGES STRENGTHEN THEIR K-12 PARTNERSHIPS
Community colleges have long recognized the benefit of reaching out to high schools as a way of ensuring incoming students are ready for college-level work. While dual enrollment and early college initiatives are becoming increasingly common ways to do this, some colleges are taking such initiatives a step further by combining a "fifth year" of high school with the freshman year of college. The article is in Community College Times.
REBOOTING ONLINE EDUCATION
The disappointing results from San Jose State's experiment with online courses shouldn't be interpreted to mean that such courses can't help students. But the classes the university offered in collaboration with online provider Udacity were practically a model of how to do online education badly: rushed into existence and sloppily overseen. No one was even aware that some students who had signed up for the classes lacked reliable access to computers. The one thing the college did well was monitor the results of the three pilot courses and call a timeout when failure rates proved unacceptably high. The editorial is in the L.A. Times.
HOLDING THE LINE
An annual survey released today by Sallie Mae and Ipsos Public Affairs found that the amount families paid for college -- a number that includes savings, current income and borrowing by both students and their parents, as well as some outside and institutional scholarship and grant dollars -- leveled off for the school year that ended this summer after falling between 2009 and 2012. For the most recent year, families paid an average of $21,178. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
ABOUT K-12
CHANGES IN E-RATE COULD SPUR AN EDUCATION REVOLUTION
According to Ronald Brownstein of National Journal, the regulatory adjustment that could trigger an education revolution is being debated far outside the national spotlight. This week, the Federal Communication Commission begins debate on the rules that determine how federal government allocates funding for schools to connect to the internet. As James Shelton, the acting Education Department deputy secretary explains, this could present a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the federal government to boost the adoption of digital learning aids like tablets and laptops to schools serving more than 76 million students. The article is in EducationNews.org.
MIT COMPUTER TRAILBLAZER IS CRITIC OF COMPUTERIZED LEARNING
Mitchel Resnick is the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. His research group is best known for inventing two blockbuster educational technologies: the programmable bricks used in the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits and Scratch, a computer programming language that allows children to create and share interactive stories, games and animations. The Hechinger Report talked to him about whether technology is changing education for better or worse.
posted Jul 23, 2013 10:06 am

Headden Examines Technology's Link to Instruction [In the News]


THE PROMISE OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING
Carnegie Senor Associate for Public Policy Engagement Susan Headden in our Washington, D.C. office writes in Education Next: As public budgets shrink, and technology enables increasingly individualized instruction, schools are justifiably looking toward online models for ways to improve student performance. The criticism of online learning has long been that, however cost-effective, it cannot replace the human element in teaching. And that is certainly true. The beauty of a hybrid model, also known as blended learning, is that it enhances the human element. Computers help students to achieve competency by letting them work at their own pace. And with the software taking up chores like grading math quizzes and flagging bad grammar, teachers are freed to do what they do best: guide, engage, and inspire. An increasing number of educators and policymakers see blended learning as one of the most promising means of educating students with a wide variety of learning styles and abilities.


ABOUT HIGHER ED
FREE COURSES FOR A BIG PROBLEM
Free online courses have run into a backlash of late. But a handful of community colleges may have found a way to dial up open-source content to help tackle one of higher education’s thorniest problems: remedial education. The two-year colleges aren’t offering massive open online courses as substitutes for their offerings, however, or for the instructors who teach them. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
GET THE FACTS
Policymakers are drowning in pools of incomparable data. And as policymakers set out to create good education policy, we see a pressing need for a unified effort to build a holistic system of metrics around the issues that matter the most for student success. With a better system in place, policymakers will be able to assess data clearly and compare it across all colleges and universities.Because there are often so many voices offering so many different types of data, we believe it is essential to gather input from a diverse group of institutions on what should be measured and how that data can be collected. The article is in The Hill.
EXPECTING MORE FROM HIGHER EDUCATION
With the national unemployment rate lingering well above 7 percent for the last four and one-half years, many are wondering if high unemployment is now the "new norm" in the United States. And if this is the case, should we expect more from our institutions of higher education? Should we be asking them to do a better job of preparing graduates with specialized training and workforce-ready skills? The commentary is in the Huffington Post.
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HOW TO MAKE TEACHER EVALUATIONS ACCURATE, FAIR, CONSISTENT
New teacher-evaluation policies are being implemented pretty much everywhere with rubrics, more-frequent classroom visits, student surveys, and value-added test data. As the stakes rise, teachers, principals, superintendents, and school boards have a lot to worry about. How should principals document what they see in classrooms? How and when should they use rubrics? What role should student achievement play? The commentary is in Education Week.
HOUSE MAKES BIG CHANGES ON TEACHER EVALUATION
Conservative lawmakers won a big concession today on the teacher-evaluation portion of a bill to renew the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the change, which was ultimately endorsed by the bill's sponsor, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee, states and school districts would not be required to craft teacher-evaluation systems based on student outcomes. Instead, those evaluations—which are already causing headaches for states who have put them in place in exchange for the Obama administration's waivers from the NCLB law—would be totally voluntary. It is almost certain that Kline threw in the towel on teacher evaluations—a policy he was personally passionate about—in order to win final passage of the bill. A vote is expected tomorrow. The article is in Education Week.





MIT technology trailblazer is a critic of computerized learning

By Mitchel Resnick is the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. His research group is best known for inventing two blockbuster educational technologies: the programmable bricks used in the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits and Scratch, a computer programming language that allows children to create and share interactive stories, games and animations. The Hechinger Report talked to him about whether technology is changing education for better or worse.
mres-by-joi-high-resQuestion: Millions of kids around the world are using your simplified computer programming language, Scratch. I once read that Scratch accounts for 10 percent of all visits to MIT websites. What’s worked and what hasn’t?
Answer:  One of the reasons for Scratch’s success is that it’s really easy to mix together different animations, photographs and graphics. And you can share them in an online community and see what other people have created. In our mind, two of the most important aspects of any learning experience are creating and collaborating.
But the creating and the collaborating were in two separate worlds. You had to download the Scratch software and create on your own computer. Then, when you went online to the Scratch community you would see a project and wonder, “Oh, can I make a little change to that?” You’d have to download it to your local machine, then if you wanted to share it with others, you’d have to upload it to the website. It was frustrating.
In May (2013) we introduced Scratch 2.0, the biggest change since we launched Scratch in 2007. Now you can create inside a web browser. If I like one character in your project, I can just grab that character and bring it into my project. It’s much easier to share and remix.
Q: What ages are using it?
A: Scratch is usually for kids eight years and up. But we’re working on a Scratch Junior version for younger kids, ages five to seven, that will launch next year in 2014. We have a National Science Foundation grant, along with a colleague at Tufts University, Marina Bers, to develop it.
Q:  Do you make money from Scratch and LEGO Mindstorms?
A: Since Scratch is free, my group and I don’t financially benefit from it. I don’t have any financial interest in any LEGO products, but I do serve on the board of LEGO Education, and I receive a stipend for that.
Q: Should every kid learn to program? Or are we in the midst of a senseless computer programming fad in schools?
A: In the last year, there’s been a lot of excitement about learning to code. New York City Mayor Bloomberg made it his New Year’s resolution that he was going to learn to code. The country of Estonia said [it is] going to teach all of its first graders to code.
It’s important for everyone to learn to code in same way that it’s important to learn to write. Coding, like writing, can help you organize your thinking. As people learn to code, they think systematically. They start to identify bugs and problems and fix them in ways that carry over to other activities. You learn basic strategies for solving problems, designing projects and communicating ideas. That will be useful to you even if you don’t grow up to be a programmer, but a journalist or a marketing manager or a community organizer. We sometimes say, it’s not so much about learning to code, but coding to learn. As you code, it’s helping you learn other things.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I taught an online course this last spring for the first time. I generally haven’t been so excited about the way many people are doing online courses. A lot of the conventional MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), for my taste, are focused too much on information delivery. But I figured rather than complaining about it, I should try it and see what I would do.
Along with a couple of colleagues, we created a course called, “Learning creative learning.”  The idea was to help people learn about creative learning environments. It was meant primarily for educators.
We wanted it to be different than a lot of the conventional MOOCs. We tried to see how we could create an online course that focuses more on interacting with peers and working on projects. I wouldn’t say we came up with the perfect online course. But for me, it’s been a great learning experience.
One of the things we really liked about it was that at the end of the course, participants wanted to continue interacting with each other. Although it started as a course, it became a community. In my mind, that’s exactly what I think is best about online interactions – being part of a community.
Q: How many people signed up? And how many completed?
A: Completed is hard to answer. We did not give any type of certification or credits for this course.
That’s another thing that has worried me about online courses. They invest so much energy into credits and ways of assessing, that it takes away from other aspects of the learning experience.
In particular, if you’re going to give credit or some type of online credential for a course, then, of course, you have to do some type of assessment. And if you’re going to do an assessment of a large number of people, it limits the activities that you’re able to assess. It’s easiest to assess things that have yes/no answers, true/false or multiple choice.  We wanted to avoid that. It’s much harder to assess a design project or a written essay.
But to answer your question, something like 25,000 people signed up. But that’s inflated. We spread the word about the course by sending out a few tweets. Then it got covered on some blogs that weren’t so relevant to the course. So lots of people registered and they quickly saw that this wasn’t the right thing for them. About 10,000 people took the step of registering in a Google-plus community that we set up for the class. That’s probably a better measure of who signed up. Some were active participants. A lot of other people were just lurking. In the low thousands participated in some ongoing way.
Q: Will you teach a MOOC again?
A: Yes, we’ll do the course again, probably next spring, but what’s most interesting to us is how to sustain this community. We’ll probably get some members of the community to play some role in the course. We’re now seeing the course as introduction to the community.
Q: What do you think of so-called adaptive learning, where computers tailor instruction for each student?
A:  Clearly there are some advantages at having certain things personalized for you. As long as it’s some options, choices and suggestions, then it’s okay. But I wouldn’t want to be limited only to what a machine suggests for me. If it’s central to my experience, if I’m categorized in a certain way and pushed down a certain path, it could make a much worse experience for me.
The machine could have students avoid things they might have been interested in. If the machine is trying to make a guess, based on how I answered one question, what would be appropriate to show me next, even if you and I answer a question the same way, it could be for different reasons. Even if we make the same mistake on the same question, it might be for different reasons. When a machine tries to make suggestions for you, a lot of time it’s wrong. It can be more frustrating than it’s worth. I personally tend to be somewhat skeptical when the machines try to be too intelligent.
One other caution would be, it’s great to have things that are specialized for me, but it’s also great to be part of a greater community.
I sometimes worry [that] it’s very easy for computers to give feedback these days. It’s seen as this great thing. Students are filling out answers to problem sets and exams. Right away it shows them if they’re right or wrong and they can get feedback right away, which can influence what they do next. Getting feedback is great. I’m all for feedback.
My concern, it’s only easy to give feedback on certain types of knowledge and certain types of activity. I think there’s a real risk, that we as a society, are going to end up giving too much privilege to the types of knowledge and the types of activity that are most easily evaluated and assessed computationally.
Q: Are you worried about more multiple-choice worksheets in our schools?
A: if that’s the result, then it’s a really bad result.
Q: What do you think of using data to influence instruction? Using big data sets to change how schools teach kids?
A:  To be honest, being at a place like MIT, people here are focused a lot at looking at data and treat data in a very privileged way. I’m often on the side of saying, “Wait a minute. We shouldn’t be designing everything just on the data.” Yes, we should take advantage of the data. But there are other ways of trying to get information as well. For example, if we want to understand how and what children learn, sitting down and talking to one of the students can also be very useful.
Q: Then why are you collecting data on Scratch usage?
A: Now that Scratch is online, we can have access to lots more data about what kids are doing. And that can be useful. If we see that certain of the programming blocks are not used, it might make us wonder, should they even be there? Or is it confusing for some reason? Should we change them to make it less confusing? It could influence our design.
If we want to see, how is it that students start using a certain concepts? When do they start using variables? Are there certain experiences that people have that are more likely to lead into using variables? There are things like that that might change some of our pedagogy.
Looking at the data might change some of our design and some of our pedagogy. But I want to be careful not to make all of our decisions based on that.
(edited for length and clarity)

2013年7月20日 星期六

舒衡哲(Vera Schwarcz)教授的一些教誨/ 請做「田鼠阿佛」的家人(粲然)


田鼠阿佛

作者李歐.李奧尼是出生於荷蘭、美國籍的世界級圖畫書大師。他從五十歲開始創作兒童圖畫書,畢生有四十本童書作品,他的動物寓言故事,情節簡單,主題明顯,深受大人兒童喜愛。其中以1967年創作的這本「田鼠阿佛」,評價最高,也是李奧尼最喜歡的作品。   阿佛是一隻田鼠,和他的家人住在一起,當其他的田鼠都忙著為冬天儲糧時,他卻無所事事,還說自己正在收集陽光、顏色和字,實際上,他在儲備的是另一種無 形的精神糧食。冬天來臨時,當他們把儲存的糧食吃光了之後,阿佛則展露了他的詩人身分,把他在夏天收集的景色、聲音、氣味與印象,用想像力傳送給大家,並 且朗誦了一首詩──這雖然不是真正的糧食,卻是精神糧食。
  事實上,田鼠阿佛就是李奧尼在創作當時心境的寫照。在1960年代後期,美國 的藝術創作界瀰漫著一股對藝術家殷殷期盼與小心呵護的氣氛,就像田鼠阿佛用詩歌豐富了其他田鼠的心靈一般,李奧尼的藝術作品吸引了許多愛好他的讀者與評論 家,證明了藝術和自我的價值。換句話說,人在追求物質生活的同時,也需要藝術、音樂、文學創作等精神文明,使人生更豐富。
  李奧尼的圖畫 素材非常多樣,畫法變化多端,「田鼠阿佛」用的是剪貼、撕貼和手繪的方法。雖然五隻小田鼠長得一模一樣,但是仔細觀察一下,不難從田鼠的眼神、位置分辨出 來。冬天來臨前,阿佛總是搭著眼皮、背對著其他同伴,靜靜的不工作,一副若有所思的樣子。但是當冬天糧食吃完了,阿佛開始跟同伴分享他收集的陽光、顏色和 字的時候,他變得很有精神,眼睛也睜得圓亮。
  李歐.李奧尼的圖畫書,充滿了兒童世界的純真,和成人世界的哲理,值得細細品味。
*****

親子閱讀

請做「田鼠阿佛」的家人


有的媽媽跟我說:「你一方面提倡每晚給孩子講一小時的故事,另一方面卻要求講故事時不要給孩子灌輸任何人生道理。我實在想不通,那為什麼要說故事呢?又有什麼故事不包含人生道理呢?」
其實,幾乎所有好繪本都不說教人生道理。它們津津樂道的多 半是一段經歷、一個過程、一個有趣的生活片段。《母雞蘿絲去散步》說的是一隻母雞飯後悠悠哉散步,捕獵它的狐狸尾隨其後,卻一再失敗。(注意,它沒有說 「善無為而久長,多行不義必自斃」。)《大雨嘩啦啦下》說的是大雨前後一整條街的各種忙亂(注意,它沒有說「不經歷風雨怎麼見彩虹」。)《爸爸,我要月 亮》說的是父親用盡奇思怪想和努力為女兒摘下月亮,但女兒的月亮卻得而復失。(注意,它沒有說「爸爸非常愛你,什麼都願意為你做」。)這是繪本的可貴之 處。它們沒有在書後用蠅頭小楷寫着嚴肅的「這個故事告訴我們……的道理」(許多傳統故事書經常幹這種事)。但是,所有繪本集合起來,卻在告訴孩子:生命有 千百條途徑,你可以成為獨眼海盜、可以成為撐船擺渡的老伯,可以成為下大雨時咯咯叫的雞,可以成為專吃月亮倒影的小魚,可以成為高山上貧窮孤獨的孩子,可 以成為為吃一隻雞費盡周折渾身傷痕的狐狸……可無論你成為什麼,生命充滿奇趣,都值得你細細品味。
這樣的話,是說不出來的,它是你們所有共讀共游的集合。像一大塊五彩斑斕、各種構成的晶石,像一塊穩定的錨,一根鎮海神針,安放在孩子靈魂最深處。
但是,幾乎所有人,包括我自己,都很難克制在共讀的末了, 跟孩子說:「你看,這個故事想說的是……最壞的是……媽媽希望你做的是……」這樣的話。我們的心歸根到底充滿高高在上的矜持,認為成功的生活是由「自己知 道可別人不知道的道理」鍛造出來的。但這些道理都不是生命的真相,只是把孩子們一點一點從自由自在的世界扯開。
有段時間,我非常猶豫,不知道自己該在什麼時候懸崖勒馬,什麼時候滔滔不絕。這時候,我看到一本對自己而言非常棒的繪本:《田鼠阿佛》。
《田鼠阿佛》的作者是李歐·李奧尼。在2歲前的親子共讀 中,我一直不認為他是個「必須推薦」的作者。這不是說他不好。如果用一個不恰當的比喻,在嬰幼兒的閱讀領域,他有點像里爾克和葉芝,而安東尼·布朗和湯 米·狄波拉則像夏洛蒂·勃朗特。前者把自己隱藏起來,有宏大、嚴謹、高度凝練卻帶有距離的哲學人生系統;後者則天生就被商業化所喜愛,靠謳歌自己個人經歷 和感情就能風靡世界。這樣說,我沒有任何厚此薄彼的意思。兩歲半前的孩子多半更喜歡安東尼·布朗(《我爸爸》、《我媽媽》)和湯米·狄波拉(《先左腳、後 右腳》、《樓上的外婆和樓下的外婆》)。因為他們的繪本里說的是嬰幼兒們熟悉的事,可再大一點的孩子,當他們對色彩、形狀、對審美和定義人生有自己更強烈 的認知要求,李歐·李奧尼就會像淺灘里的巨石一樣呈露出來,變成他們最強的挑戰者和最好的朋友。
可我今天要說的不是李歐·李奧尼對孩子的意義,而是《田鼠阿佛》對我的意義。
《田鼠阿佛》是1968年美國凱迪克大獎作品。說的是老牆上住着小田鼠一家,冬天快來臨時,田鼠們忙着收集玉米、堅果、小麥、米桿,只有阿佛老默默呆在角落裡。
阿佛,真是一隻沒有行動力的田鼠。當其他田鼠問它:「阿佛你為什麼不幹活」時,它就耷拉着眼皮回答:「我在幹活吖——我在採集陽光、因為冬天很冷;我在採集顏色,因為冬天是灰色的;我在採集語詞,因為冬天日子又長又多,我們會把話說完的。」
聽完他的解釋,田鼠家人什麼也沒說,忙碌去了。阿佛則兀自發獃。
然後,冬天真的來了。小田鼠們躲進山洞裡,一開始,他們分 吃各種果子。可後來,果子被吃光了,它們進入真正緩慢、沉默、難熬的隆冬。這時候,他們問阿佛:「你的那些東西呢?」阿佛就開始向他們描繪,描繪陽光、五 彩繽紛的顏色,為他們念很長的詩鼓勁。田鼠阿佛的家人們紛紛鼓掌喝彩。
——這就是《田鼠阿佛》說的故事。
這個故事開始讓我大吃一驚。我是說,李歐·李奧尼真是完全 不受任何傳統童書觀念影響的繪本作家。他的繪本(尤其是《田鼠阿佛》)處理並不投合和寵溺孩子。比如,畫小田鼠一家,他沒有按慣有童書的做法,畫一隻老鼠 爺爺,一隻老鼠奶奶,一對老鼠爸媽,他僅僅簡單地畫了五隻田鼠,沒有年齡,沒有層級;畫秋天或者冬天,他不畫落葉飄飄或者白雪皚皚。你在他的畫面上看不出 季節的象徵,只能看到顏色一點一點的減少——生活乾枯了,冬天來了——而後,在阿佛說話時,顏色又來了。是的,李歐·李奧尼和所有懷着童趣和詼諧,想着 「這樣畫孩子會喜歡吧?」而着筆的繪本作者不同。他只是疏淡、尊重地等着你的心靈和這些畫共鳴。
在看《田鼠阿佛》的這段時間,我心裡藏着兩個困惑。首先是 共讀上的,之前說過,我一直在想,「我真的可以只說故事嗎?人生真的沒有什麼道理值得私將授受嗎?」其次是育兒過程中的,我的孩子米尼滿兩歲了。在孩子之 間的交往中,他展示了我們很喜歡的特質:善意,允許分享。可問題也相應出現,他會遇到搶他東西、抓撓他,把他推在地上的孩子。遇到這樣的場面,他總是顯得 困惑。即使跟他說:「下次有人欺負你的時候要反擊哦!」,也沒什麼作用。
這兩個困惑,指向是相同的。作為媽媽,我必然面對這樣的考驗,要不要強硬地把自己對社會的判定和經驗告訴他。這有點像塞給他一把武器,儘可能多地保證他不受傷害——可是,從此他就要負戈旅行了啊。
在我看來,《田鼠阿佛》不是寫給阿佛,更多是寫給李歐·李奧尼心目中的「理想家人」——給孩子足夠多的時間,放手讓他自己去體驗世界,去和世界萬物交流。讓他緩慢地、甚至屢次受挫地、按照自己的歷程發現自我,發現美,也發現丑。
這樣做,作為孩子的家長,一定是一件很不容易、很煎熬、需要勇氣和剋制的過程吧。但只要用包容的心等待着,總有一天,孩子會滿載而歸。
和這個繪本搭配着看的,恰好是《夏山學校》這本書。
教育家A·S·尼爾在夏山學校施行自由民主的教育方式,這種「自由民主」的內容讓我們瞠目結舌的:上課自由、沒有考試、完全捨棄訓練、要求、道德與宗教教育。這樣說起來似乎挺容易的。但當你知道夏山學校有學生長達13年不上課,只逛游,真的很難淡定。
我們對孩子天性的尊重,多半有個時間和心理底線。也許是半天、一個暑假、開學前的一年,也許是「只要他不給我添亂」、「只要他不被人欺負」、「提倡天性可以,但他得認同我是權威」。
很少有人能完全放下自我,讓孩子按自己的意志享受屬於自己的一生。很少有人完全相信「孩子的本性不僅善良,而且聰明、實際,大人只需讓孩子們依自己喜歡的方式去做,照自己的能力去發展,他們就能成為快樂且富有創造力的人」。
雖然這個社會很令人失望,但試着縫住自己的嘴,放孩子闖蕩看看吧?以「田鼠阿佛的家人」為樣板,我一遍一遍對自己鼓着勁。
從那天開始,我就試着在翻過圖書最後一頁時,打斷自己喋喋不休的嘴,總結說:「故事說完了。」
萬一米尼被欺負呢?嗯,那就讓他被欺負吧。只要自信和被愛,被欺負着被欺負着,總有一天,他會對自己說:「我不想過這樣的日子。」「這是不對的。」自己心裡做出的決定,就好像自己選擇拿起的武器,會知道什麼時候出擊,什麼時候毫無負擔地放下。
無論共讀抑或處世,即使是小寶寶的家長,都要學會微笑着等待。等待他們緩慢走漫長的路,遊逛着,或者誤入歧途,然後,達到你,或者超過你。
粲然是作家、媽媽、親子閱讀愛好者。


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http://hcbooks.blogspot.tw/2009/08/blog-post.html
舒衡哲 Vera Schwarcz 《鸣鹤园》《說真話的日子不多了》/《小名同學的日記》: 大學時候舒衡哲(Vera Schwarcz)教授的一些教誨

2013年7月14日 星期日

商學院為何開設表演課?Leaders should stick to task

EXPERT SAYS EDUCATION LEADERS NEED TO STICK TO TASK
WASHINGTON – In order to improve persistence among diverse groups of students, higher education leaders should shun rhetoric and instead research and attack the root causes of failure. Those were some of the key points that Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, made Tuesday at the annual meeting of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. “We need to be problem- and user-center,” Bryk said during an address titled “Leading, Improving.” The article is in Diverse Issues in Higher Education.


2013年07月15日 06:17 AM

商學院為何開設表演課?


在商界,人人都有自己的角色。從做演示到做管理,個人產生的影響力在很大程度上取決於他的行為。
商學院正在從表演中尋找強化學生能力的方法,以求把他們培養為優秀的領導者和溝通者。然而,他們並不是要把學生培養為演員,而是利用舞臺上的策略強化學生在各種商業場合的應對能力。
在商業培訓中應用表演技能在西方國家是常見現象。在美國,有很多商學院提供量身定製的表演選修課,比如麻省理工大學斯隆商學院(MIT Sloan School of Management)和斯坦福大學商學院(Stanford Graduate School of Business)。英國表演公司Dramatic Resources總裁兼創始人傑夫•丘奇(Geoff Church)表示,在英國和歐洲大陸,大學往往會外聘專業培訓機構,而不是自行開設表演課。
他說:“毫無疑問,這種做法始於西方,主要是英國。”他補充說,對東方而言,商學院增加表演課的趨勢沒有那麽普遍,盡管這種意識已經在形成。Dramatic Resources已經開始與歐洲工商管理學院(Insead)阿布扎比校區開展合作,最近還開始在曼谷和印度與短期工作人才中介公司德科(Adecco)開展合作。同時它還與牛津大學(Oxford)賽德商學院(Saïd)、英國杜倫大學商學院(Durham University Business School)、瑞士洛桑國際管理發展學院(IMD)開展合作。洛桑國際管理發展學院高級策略管理主管阿圖羅•布裡斯(Arturo Bris)說:“請真正的演員來上課非常管用,效果很明顯。高管的工作往往就像臺上的演員,要按照劇本預設的特定角色去表演。”
在麻省理工學院(MIT),參與“EnActing領導力:莎士比亞與表演”課程的學生們在參與課程期間組成一家劇院,課程最後集體表演一場哈姆雷特(Hamlet)的戲劇。MIT管理溝通高級講師克裡斯蒂娜•凱利(Christine Kelly)表示,在領導力培訓中,讓學生飾演莎士比亞戲劇中的角色,能夠讓學生更好地展現自己,並鍛煉在壓力下出色表現的能力。她說:“在被置於表演情境時,大腦會認為‘這是一個真實的場景’。”
麻省理工講師蒂娜•吉亞德拉(Daena Giardella)教授的是即興領導力,在這門課程中她訓練學生嘗試不同的應對。
吉亞德拉說:“有些人天生就比較外向、有些人則比較內向、安靜。我們針對這些與生俱來的習慣角色,迫使他們挑戰自我,走出自己的‘舒適區’。”
表演和商業都需要的一種關鍵技能是,讓別人感覺舒服。吉亞德拉補充說:能夠接納別人的觀點並補充自己的觀點,要比壓制相沖突的觀點產生更大影響力。
在斯坦福大學教授“有力的表演”課程的德博拉•格林費爾德(Deborah Gruenfeld)表示,在商學院教授表演技巧不是要教學生戴上面具。“每個人都有自己不常展露出來的一面,學習表演的作用就是給你一個機會,從自己身上找到可與你所扮演的人物和角色聯系起來的部分。”
格林費爾德補充說,自我發展部分在於找到一種更有效的方式來改變自己的行為,比如說,當一名學生意識到自己不是很威嚴,就可以利用表演訓練進一步挖掘自己性格中威嚴的潛質。
學生往往擔心表演意味著不真實,但弗吉尼亞大學達頓商學院(Darden School of Business)教授“領導力與戲劇:道德、創新與創造”課程的埃德•弗里曼(Ed Freeman)認為,這種觀點是不正確的。“這與情商有關。很多人認為表演必須表現戲劇化的情緒,但那通常只是糟糕的表演。我們必須力求真實。”
弗里曼表示,想象力可以激發出商業中需要的技能。“我所知道的每一個首席執行官都想實現有機增長,但很少有人願意解放自己的員工,釋放出他們的創造力。”
很多核心表演技能都是以身體語言為基礎。格林費爾德教授說:“很多演員都認為,你需要用身體語言來幫助自己轉變心態,”最基礎的就是嘗試不同的體態,以及不同的發聲練習方式。第二步是,學習如何用肢體語言來顯示權威或表示服從。
格林費爾德說:“一個組織中誰在掌權,這始終是個比較客觀的問題。但……如果你真的想知道誰有影響力,這裡面還有很多名堂。你可以觀察一下你的同事們,就會發現有些人的權威比其他人大得多。”
美國新罕布什爾州的達特茅斯大學塔克商學院(Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth)教授詹姆斯•萊斯(James Rice) 開設了一門課程,教授“優雅溝通”。他認為,哪怕是學會恰當呼吸這類簡單的事,都可以改善溝通質量。他補充說,在排練中發現不利於溝通的因素,可幫助我們在現實中更成功地溝通。
“為了放鬆和入戲,你必須花一些時間來自我觀察,看看有哪些因素在阻礙你成功溝通。”他補充說,演員和領導都必須具備的兩樣東西是說服力和感召力,但只有演員會正兒八經學習如何獲得它們。
丘奇認為,商業中非常強調錶面功夫:“人們認為,如果一個人可以做到站在眾人面前,說服和鼓舞別人,吸引別人的註意力,就說明他在別的方面也是個好的領導。否則,就說他在某種程度上領導能力不足。”
丘奇補充說,掌握一些表演技巧可以為一個人帶來更多自信,從而剋服這個障礙。丘吉爾說:“我們的職責就是幫助人們自然、自信地發表講話。”所有的技能最終都必須適用於商界,但重點不在於學習如何掩飾真實的行為,而在於探索情感、同情心、自信、預見性、以及真實性。
弗里曼教授說得好:“實際上學習的是如何更有效地發揮人類特性。”
譯者/王慧玲

2013年7月13日 星期六

fabricated drug data, Some of the News Fit to Print

Japan vows action over claims of fabricated drug data
TOKYO — Japan's health minister said Friday it was very likely that test data on a widely used blood pressure drug from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis had been fabricated and falsified.
Norihisa Tamura characterised as "extremely regrettable" an incident in which an employee of the world's number two drug maker had hidden his affiliation during a medical study into the effects of Valsartan.
A study at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine concluded that the drug, developed to treat high blood pressure, could also help to prevent strokes and angina.
But the university said Thursday incomplete clinical data had been used to support this finding and that had patients' records been used in their entirety, the study would have had a different conclusion.
While Valsartan was effective in controlling high blood pressure, the university said the medication did not necessarily have any effect on strokes or angina.
Novartis sells the drug under the name "Diovan" in Japan, where it is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs on the market. It is licensed for use in more than 100 countries.
The firm used the study to market its drug, playing up its supposed additional benefits.
Tamura said the case "highly suggests fabrication and falsification of data" and he would be establishing a special committee to work out how to prevent this in future studies and to review ethical guidelines.
The study was led by professor Hiroaki Matsubara, and included among its researchers an un-named Novartis employee, who was identified as an adjunct lecturer at Osaka City University.
Matsubara resigned his post at the university in February after scientific journals pulled his papers citing inconsistent data and as the school launched a probe.
The Novartis worker, who has already left the firm, has refused to cooperate with the university's investigation.
In a statement issued Friday, Novartis stressed that the university was not able to conclude that there was intentional wrong-doing.
The Swiss giant said the inconsistencies might be unintentional errors, not the "manipulation" suggested by the university.
The Novartis researcher was also involved in Diovan research at Tokyo Jikei University, Chiba University, Nagoya University and the Shiga University of Medical Science, Kyodo News said.
These universities have said they will also conduct investigations to see if there were any problems.



Some of the News Fit to Print
ABOUT HIGHER ED
TOUGHER REQUIREMENTS AHEAD FOR TEACHER PREP
A panel tapped by the national accreditation body for teacher preparation has finalized a set of standards that, for the first time, establishes minimum admissions criteria and requires programs to use much-debated "value added" measures, where available. The action promises to have major ramifications for how programs select, prepare, and gauge the success of new teachers. Already, programs planning to seek the seal of approval from the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation say the standards are significantly more demanding than those used by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, one of two accreditors that preceded CAEP. The article is in Education Week.
JANET NAPOLITANO TO HEAD UC SYSTEM
Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona, is being named as the next president of the University of California system, in an unusual choice that brings a national-level politician to a position usually held by an academic, The Times has learned. Her appointment also means the 10-campus system will be headed by a woman for the first time in its 145-year history. Napolitano’s nomination by a committee of UC regents came after a secretive process that insiders said focused on her early as a high-profile, although untraditional, candidate who has led large public agencies and shown a strong interest in improving education. The article is in the L.A. Times.
VALUE OF ASSOCIATE DEGREE BEFORE TRANSFER
Community college students on average will receive more economic benefit from their higher education if they complete an associate degree before transferring to a four-year institution, according to new research from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College. The study considered data on credit accumulation, completion and labor market returns for students from North Carolina's Community College System. One reason for the eventual pay-off of a two-year degree, according to the study, is that relatively few students who transfer early ever complete a bachelor's degree and therefore end up leaving college with no credential. The information is from Inside Higher Ed’s Quick Takes.
GIVE STATES INCENTIVES TO IMPROVE THEIR INVESTMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Joni Finney writes in The Quick and the Ed: If the federal government doesn’t take into account the role that states play in financing their systems of higher education, their funding strategies are likely to simply maintain the status quo. Student financial aid is not the only area of finance that deserves attention through better inter-governmental cooperation. Federal investment in higher education should prod states in constructive directions. Incentives are the tool to get this done, a tool used far too infrequently in Washington.
ABOUT K-12
SENATE PANEL NIPS AT KEY OBAMA COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAMS
The Obama administration's signature competitive grant programs—Race to the Top, Promise Neighborhoods, and the School Improvement Grants—survived, but took some serious abuse this week from some Democrats during the Senate Appropriations committee's consideration of a bill to finance the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal year 2014, which starts Oct. 1. The bill, which was approved by a Senate appropriations subcommittee earlier in the week, includes a huge boost for prekindergarten programs, another big Obama priority. The post is from Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog.



Some of the News Fit to Print
ABOUT HIGHER ED
TOUGHER REQUIREMENTS AHEAD FOR TEACHER PREP
A panel tapped by the national accreditation body for teacher preparation has finalized a set of standards that, for the first time, establishes minimum admissions criteria and requires programs to use much-debated "value added" measures, where available. The action promises to have major ramifications for how programs select, prepare, and gauge the success of new teachers. Already, programs planning to seek the seal of approval from the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation say the standards are significantly more demanding than those used by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, one of two accreditors that preceded CAEP. The article is in Education Week.
JANET NAPOLITANO TO HEAD UC SYSTEM
Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona, is being named as the next president of the University of California system, in an unusual choice that brings a national-level politician to a position usually held by an academic, The Times has learned. Her appointment also means the 10-campus system will be headed by a woman for the first time in its 145-year history. Napolitano’s nomination by a committee of UC regents came after a secretive process that insiders said focused on her early as a high-profile, although untraditional, candidate who has led large public agencies and shown a strong interest in improving education. The article is in the L.A. Times.
VALUE OF ASSOCIATE DEGREE BEFORE TRANSFER
Community college students on average will receive more economic benefit from their higher education if they complete an associate degree before transferring to a four-year institution, according to new research from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College. The study considered data on credit accumulation, completion and labor market returns for students from North Carolina's Community College System. One reason for the eventual pay-off of a two-year degree, according to the study, is that relatively few students who transfer early ever complete a bachelor's degree and therefore end up leaving college with no credential. The information is from Inside Higher Ed’s Quick Takes.
GIVE STATES INCENTIVES TO IMPROVE THEIR INVESTMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Joni Finney writes in The Quick and the Ed: If the federal government doesn’t take into account the role that states play in financing their systems of higher education, their funding strategies are likely to simply maintain the status quo. Student financial aid is not the only area of finance that deserves attention through better inter-governmental cooperation. Federal investment in higher education should prod states in constructive directions. Incentives are the tool to get this done, a tool used far too infrequently in Washington.
ABOUT K-12
SENATE PANEL NIPS AT KEY OBAMA COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAMS
The Obama administration's signature competitive grant programs—Race to the Top, Promise Neighborhoods, and the School Improvement Grants—survived, but took some serious abuse this week from some Democrats during the Senate Appropriations committee's consideration of a bill to finance the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal year 2014, which starts Oct. 1. The bill, which was approved by a Senate appropriations subcommittee earlier in the week, includes a huge boost for prekindergarten programs, another big Obama priority. The post is from Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog.


FROM HEALTHCARE REFORM, LESSONS FOR EDUCATION POLICY
Century Foundation President Greg Anrig writes in Education Week: In education, off a public radar screen that remains fixated on the relentless conflict between teachers' unions and their detractors, research is mounting that the most effective public schools also are characterized by unusually high degrees of collaboration, close attentiveness to testing data for diagnostic (not punitive) purposes, and adaptability. Especially in light of how unproductive the so-called education wars have been, greater focus on this research has the potential to point the way toward reforms that would actually improve student outcomes. Given how entrenched today's conflicts appear to be, that hope might seem fanciful. But it wasn't that long ago that a major overhaul of the nation's health-care system also appeared to be out of reach politically. Perhaps the most significant and persuasive research underscoring the fundamental importance of collaboration to improving school performance was conducted by the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research. Published in 2010 as a book titled Organizing Schools for Improvement, the consortium's study derived from demographic and testing data from 1990 through 2005 from more than 400 Chicago elementary schools, as well as extensive surveys of stakeholders in those schools, to gain information about their institutional practices. Using advanced statistical methods, the consortium identified, with a high degree of reliability, the organizational traits and processes that can predict whether a school is likely to show above-average improvement in student outcomes.
One of the lead authors on this book was Carnegie President Anthony Bryk. He created the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Today, Carnegie's work to transform educational research and development draws on lessons from healthcare and other industries and has its beginnings in the work in Chicago.
posted Jul 09, 2013 10:08 am

Daily News Roundup, July 9, 2013


Some of the News Fit to Print
ABOUT HIGHER ED
BEYOND MOOC HYPE
As scores of colleges rush to offer free online classes, the mania over massive open online courses may be slowing down. Even top proponents of MOOCs are acknowledging critical questions remain unanswered, and are urging further study. Dan Greenstein, the head of college access at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now wonders aloud if MOOCs are a “viable thing or are just a passing fad.” Gates has agreed to spend $3 million for wide-reaching MOOC-related grants. But Greenstein said higher ed is suffering from “innovation exhaustion,” and MOOCs are part of the problem. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
MOOCS AND ECONOMIC REALITY
Clay Shirky writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Though the conversation about MOOCs is now widespread, the overall number of students is still small, and the mechanisms for converting completion to college credit are, so far, few and rarely used. But the trend lines point up, driven by a force whose existence has surprised us: a widespread desire for cheap provision of complicated knowledge, delivered outside traditional institutions.
A UNIVERSITY’S OFFER OF CREDIT FOR MOOC GETS NO TAKERS
It was big news last fall when Colorado State University-Global Campus became the first college in the United States to grant credit to students who passed a MOOC, or massive open online course. For students, it meant a chance to get college credit on the cheap: $89, the cost of the required proctored exam, compared with the $1,050 that Colorado State charges for a comparable three-credit course. That is a big discount. Yet almost a year after Global Campus made the announcement, officials are still waiting for their first credit bargain-hunters. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
NO SUCH THING AS FREE TUITION
Last week the Oregon legislature took the first steps toward possibly implementing a plan that would allow public college and university students to forgo upfront tuition payments in exchange for paying a portion of their wages back to their alma mater for about 25 years following graduation. While it may mean no money down, it could still add up to large tuition bills. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
ABOUT K-12
NEW TENNESSEE TACHER PAY PLAN IS HYBRID
With the recent adoption of a controversial teacher pay plan, Tennessee has moved closer to three states that have carved out reputations for dramatically overhauling their pay policies. Florida, Indiana, and Louisiana have implemented pay plans in recent years that give more weight to performance and less to the number of degrees racked up by teachers. Though Tennessee's plan doesn't go quite as far -- some states have actually stopped tying pay to higher degrees altogether -- districts here must now consider new factors other than experience and advanced degrees when they create pay scales for the 2014-15 school year. The article is in the Tennessean.



ABOUT K-12
EDUCATION REFORM MOVEMENT LEARNS LESSONS FROM OLD STANDARDS
Common Core — the new set of national education standards in math and English language arts — will take effect in most states next year. This move toward a single set of standards has been embraced by a bipartisan crowd of politicians and educators largely because of what the Common Core standards are replacing: a mess. In years past, the education landscape was a discord of state standards. A fourth grader in Arkansas could have appeared proficient in reading by his state's standards — but, by the standards of another state, say Massachusetts, not even close. "For far too long, our school systems actually lied to children and to families and to communities," says Education Secretary Arne Duncan at a recent speech in Washington. And what made those lies possible, according to Duncan, was the one thing most of these state standards had in common: They were low. The piece ran on NPR’s Morning Edition.
MENTORSHIP FOR NEW EDUCATORS HELPS COMBAT TEACHER BURNOUT, RETENTION
Walk into any classroom in the country today and you're more likely to find a teacher in their first year of teaching than any other experience level. And they're not sticking around. At the core of the crisis, the experts say, that first-year teachers are particularly vulnerable when it comes to buckling under the pressures and frustrations they are sometimes ill-prepared to face once they take to the classroom. The piece ran on PBS’s NewsHour.
ABOUT HIGHER ED
GRADUATION RATES, TEST SCORES DRIVE HIGHER ED FUNDING
Tennessee and New Mexico give money to institutions for graduating high numbers of older and low-income students. Mississippi uses the power of the purse to promote science and technology programs. And Missouri is tying taxpayer dollars to graduation rates and students' scores on tests and professional licensing exams. The goals differ from state to state, but performance-based funding is a growing trend in higher education. The article is from Stateline.org.
UMASS TO RATE ITS PERFORMANCE IN A SIMPLER WAY
University of Massachusetts president Robert L. Caret, setting aside widespread qualms on individual campuses, has developed a list of performance goals that will be used to essentially grade the system, an effort to show that public money is being well spent and to spur healthier graduation rates and economic activity. For years, UMass has churned out statistic-laden reports that, at 100 or even 250 pages, few people read. Caret, who calls himself “a data guy,” said it is time for a more user-friendly report card of sorts, a short brochure that not only tells the public where the institution is but where it should be. The article is in the Boston Globe.
INDIANA UNIVERSITIES RETHINK STUDENT TEACHING
A more appealing approach than traditional student teaching — in which a teacher candidate starts out as a passive observer and then takes over the teaching after a few weeks—has become a part of the University of Southern Indiana’s teacher preparation process. That’s because classroom teachers are becoming increasingly reluctant to turn over their students to a novice for long stretches in an age when teacher pay and tenure are tied to student improvement and performance. “Teachers are beginning to be reluctant to host a student teacher,” said Joyce Rietman, director of USI’s advanced clinical experience and co-teaching. “Their name is on (the) test scores. It’s scary and risky to take a student teacher.” The article is from the Hechinger Report.

2013年7月8日 星期一

台北觀課

 

「學習共同體」是日本教育大師東京大學榮譽教授佐藤學在日本推動的教育改革。佐藤學在1990年代發現日本學生因為在社會轉型中,看不到未來,開始有「從學習中逃走」的趨勢,失去學習的動力。
「學習共同體」讓學生彼此對話、相互幫助;讓老師不再只聚焦「上課」,而是真正面對每一個學生的「學習」。教室打開大門,成為可以共同觀摩學習的現場。

日教育大師佐藤學 北市重現學習共同體現場

  • 2012-09
  • Web only
  • 作者:張瀞文

日教育大師佐藤學 北市重現學習共同體現場
在日本推行「學習共同體」逾三十年的學者佐藤學,應《親子天下》雜誌之邀來台參加「教出學習力教育論壇」。今天第一天行程,就是到台北市國語實小進行教學觀摩。

在日本推行「學習共同體」逾三十年的學者佐藤學,應《親子天下》雜誌之邀來台參加「教出學習力教育論壇」。今天第一天行程,就是到台北市國語實小進行教學觀摩。
實施教學觀摩的是國語實小老師吳莉娟,進行的是五年級的地形地景教學,在看過齊柏林影片後,學生分成四~五個人做小組討論,分類影片中的地形。討論時,除了佐藤學之外,每一組都有老師在旁觀察學生討論狀況。另有三十八位來自台北市其他學校的校長與老師來觀摩。
佐藤學在觀課後表示,他去過二十五個國家,看過五百多所學校,對台灣的印象是,台灣多數教室很吵,但是真正讓學習發生的場域應該是安靜的、可以敞開心胸、溫暖的地方。
他 看見分組討論時,最困難的那一組,有一個學習明顯困難的學生,無論在聆聽或討論都很不容易,不過那個學生後來獨自完成學習單,直到課程結束下課後,他最後 趴下來睡著了,「他應該是全班中今天最忙最累的。下次上課,一定會看見自己的改變,他可能變成最喜歡學習的人。」他認為,學習帶來的改變在這個孩子身上發 生了。講的時候,該班的導師頻頻點頭。
佐藤學也看見了學習最多的組,他解釋,這些學生是平時學力中下的孩子,但是小組討論時,他們有勇氣說自己不懂,去問同學,而且,非常努力聽每一個人的想法和感想,讓自己的學習往上跳躍。
佐藤學認為,這在台灣第一場的教學觀摩與教學研討,老師做了很好的示範,沒有太多的教、專注於學生的學習,「我在這個學校看到一個很棒的開始,一定會非常成功。」佐藤學勉勵老師們。
觀 課之後,在場的老師都對該如何落實學習共同體提問。佐藤學提及他觀察到的台灣教育現場,無論是學生和老師都要接受很多評價,但要真正讓學習發生,要將這些 「評價」看淡,專注在教學的改變,與學生的學習。他到每個學校都會提醒自己,不去評價老師,真心信賴這是一個好棒的教室、一位好棒的老師,改變才會真的發 生。

佐藤學在三十年前於日本推行「學習共同體」,如今日本有十分之一中小學,超過三千所學校導入「學習共同體」。今年,台北市與新北市也陸續有學校加入。


 *****

上海教委會教研室教研員、上海PISA研究中心閱讀項目負責人鄒一斌應《親子 天下》雜誌之邀,參加「2012親子天下國際教育論壇-教出學習力」,分享上海推動PISA的經驗。今天(9/25)上午鄒一斌參訪台北市興雅國中,進入 九年級的英語課堂觀課,接著與興雅國中教師交流,現場討論豐富。
上海在二○○九年參加PISA的成績獲得世界注目,在閱讀素養、數學素養和科學素養這三個領域都拿到第一。鄒一斌是上海PISA研究中心閱讀項目的負責人,同時也是上海教研院的教學研究員,一學期觀課超過八十堂以上,主要工作就是「教師的教練」,協助教師做教學上的精進。
鄒一斌做過十二年的國中國文教師,擔任教學研究員後,他工作時間有一半在「聽課」。他的觀課重點在於「看課堂是否發生了變化」,包括課堂氣氛、學習方式是否發生變化。鄒一斌認為:「歸根到底,老師的引領很重要。學生的學終究還是需要老師的引導。」
首次來台的鄒一斌,在興雅國中英語老師林淑媛的英文課觀課,他說:「這是我在台灣的第一次觀課,主要就是多和老師溝通。」雖然是第一次觀課,但林淑媛老師在觀課後的討論會上說:「鄒老師的回應很深入,點出我教學上的不足,的確是台灣比較少有的討論氣氛。」

佐藤學教授分享對台灣的三個觀察


日教育大師佐藤學 分享對台灣的三個觀察

  • 2012-09
  • Web only
  • 作者:張瀞文

在日本推行「學習共同體」逾三十年的學者佐藤學,應《親子天下》雜誌之邀來台參加「教出學習力教育論壇」。論壇第一天,有一千名老師參加,活動尚未開始,就已經將會場擠滿,外場還排了一百五十張椅子,給沒辦法進到論壇現場的老師們。
佐 藤學是日本的教育大師,長期關注日本和東亞教育,他針對日本孩子失去學習動機,「從學習中逃走」的現象,提出「學習共同體」做為改變方針。「學習共同體」 提倡不放棄每一個孩子,創造同儕互相學習的模式,推行至今逾三十年,佐藤學更親自進到世界各地超過一萬間教室進行觀課,現在日本有十分之一的中小學,共三 千多所學校導入「學習共同體」教學模式,韓國、中國、香港、新加坡、印尼等國也紛紛前往日本取經,並成立試辦學校。這半年來,「學習共同體」也在台灣中小 學風起雲湧,台北市、新北市、桃園縣、嘉義市陸續有種子校長到日參訪,雙北已有學校於本學期開始徵選試辦學校。
對於台灣很多學校開始導入 「學習共同體」,佐藤學認為,「學習共同體」不是SOP,並非依循書中方法步驟就可以成就一所學習共同體的學校。要推行「學習共同體」之前,最重要的是願 景,每一個要投入的人都要問自己:我想要做什麼樣的學校?想要什麼樣的教室?想讓孩子如何學習?


佐藤學認為,台灣推行「學習共同體」最大的困境有兩個,第一個是學校的規模都 太大,不利推行學習共同體;第二個困境是,國內的考試評量太多,真正的「學習」很難在這麼多的考試中被看見。但是佐藤學也看見台灣推行學習共同體的四個有 利條件:老師的專業素質高、校長革新心態積極、雙北教育局也給予大力支持與資源,最後,老師的熱情是讓佐藤學最感動的,也讓佐藤學相信,學習共同體在台灣 一定可以開花結果。
佐藤學分享自己推行學習共同體三十幾年的時間裡,前十五年的一千多所學校都是失敗的,但是「因為那些失敗,後十五年讓三 千多所學校成功了。」語畢,引來在場老師熱烈掌聲,佐藤學笑著說,這是他第一次因為失敗得到掌聲。他在分享中,同理學校老師的困境,老師「像馬戲團裡的接 球者一樣疲憊」,老師在每天的教課、備課、改作業、會議中疲憊不堪,然後政策多變一直丟球,老師只好沒有思考的一直接球,「最後受害的會是學生」,他勉勵 老師,想清楚真正想要的教育的模樣,不需要的球,接了,就輕輕放下別理他,把力量放在孩子學習上。他強調,給老師自由、給老師信任,老師的使命感會提升, 教育的品質才會改善,讓現場老師感動不已,獲得如雷掌聲。
在佐藤學在台兩天的公開演講中,他提出對台灣教育的三點觀察。


第一個觀察是教室太吵。佐藤學看見台灣多數教室很吵,可是他認為,真正讓學習 發生的場域應該是安靜的、可以敞開心胸、溫暖的地方。當學生熱鬧、活潑討論時,常常是「發表」本來就知道的知識,真正的學習,是探究、思考不懂的事,那時 候,交談的狀態是低語。真正學習的學校,無論是老師或學生,都是沉靜的。
第二個觀察是教科書太簡單。他看過台灣的教科書內容,直言「太簡單 了,只要自己讀就會,不用教。」他說,大家都以為學力低的孩子學不會,為了這些孩子降低學習內容,如此一來,學力高的孩子覺得學習太無聊,學力低的孩子知 道老師對他的評價,也不會願意學習,整個教室都沒有學習。要拯救學力低的學生,最好的方式就是增加教材難度。
第三個觀察是老師一直被評價。 「學習共同體」要創造的是一個所有人共同學習的學校,要共同學習,「最難的不是學生,是老師。」老師必須打開教室的門,讓所有的人進去學習。日本學習共同 體學校,一年至少有一百至一百七十場授業研究會,每個老師在每一年至少一次打開教室門。但是台灣和日本有相同的狀況,打開門的老師就被批評、被評價,所以 每次都推最資淺的老師出去挨罵,「沒有人願意被評價」,佐藤學強調,打開教室的門應該以「學習」為前提,所有人的焦點應該放在「學生的學」而非「老師的 教」,研討的焦點也在如何創造更高品質的教學。
 
 
論壇也請到上海教委會教研室教研員、上海PISA研究中心閱讀項目負責人鄒一斌,分享上海 PISA第一名背後的原因與作為。鄒一斌從上海課程改革的歷史,勾勒出未來教育的模樣應該轉向,他指出的方向和佐藤學不謀而合。第一,教育必須從教轉向 學;第二,以好的教學品質,取代長時間的學習。
鄒一斌也分享了上海的教師專業發展規劃,從提高老師學歷、有架構的教師培訓系統和清晰的教師職涯進階三方向來規劃。以課程為例,從校長的課程領導、教研員的課程指導、教師的課堂執行,為課程品質把關。
但鄒一斌提醒,教師是改變核心,校長更是,校長應該是有效教學領導人,他應該鼓勵、尊重教師的專業發展,並有效領導教師團隊發展學校獨有的文化。
這一場交流了台灣、日本及中國教育經驗的論壇,會末,與談人都提到,追求更好的教育的目的,不應該是為了促進國家經濟的發展,而是為了追求一個更幸福、更適性的未來。經濟發展應是「附帶結果」,而不是主要目標。
「教出學習力教育論壇」明天下午在新竹還有最後一場。

佐藤 學:真正的教育是所有人一起學習

 

 

教育大師佐藤學:真正的教育是所有人一起學習


教育大師佐藤學:真正的教育是所有人一起學習
東京大學教育學研究科教授佐藤學,是日本教育界的大師級人物。他針對日本教育中孩子失去學習動機、不知為何而學、「從學習逃走」的問題,提出以「學習共同體」為目標的改革做法。
◎【投影片下載】日本教育大師佐藤學 學習共同體教改奇蹟完整呈現>>

東京大學教育學研究科教授佐藤學,是日本教育界的大師級人物。他針對日本教育中孩子失去學習動機、不知為何而學、「從學習逃走」的問題,提出以「學習共同體」為目標的改革做法。
和一般大學教授不同,他不僅建立理論基礎,更親力親為,以每週參訪兩、三所學校的行動力和紀律,直接進入教室觀課,和學生、老師、校長面對面討論、改進,三十二年如一日,累積了一萬間教室的現場感。
今 年六十歲的佐藤學博學多聞,長期關注日本和東亞國家教育,同時擔任日本內閣學術會議人文社會部部長,召集各界精英提出社會政策建言。儘管行程滿檔,他對教 育本質和問題的見解總能一針見血。無數老師和校長在他的理念中實踐出畢生追求的教育理想。他的著作成為許多老師的必讀聖經,他的熱情更感動許多教育工作 者,願意成為推動「學習共同體」的左右手。以下為專訪摘要。
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Q:你在多年研究中發現,東亞國家中小學生有「從學習逃走」的現象,學力下降是共同的教育危機,現在最嚴重的教育問題為何?
A:日本九○年代開始有「從學習逃走」現象,十年後,東北亞國家也陸續發生,這是因為競爭太過激烈。我們看到學生在家自主的學習時間減少,對學習的欲望也嚴重缺失,我們在各種國際性的學力調查中都看得出來。
這有一個時代背景。西方國家花了兩、三世紀達成的近代化和經濟發展,東亞國家 在一個世紀、甚至半世紀內就達到了。東亞國家現代化過程被急速壓縮,所以教育必須非常有效率,於是發展出以考試升學為主的方式。考得愈好、學歷愈高、找到 愈好的工作,就能脫離原有社會階層和環境,教育成為孩子往上爬的手段。
二次大戰後的六十五年間,日本、台灣、韓國、中國、香港、新加坡經濟 發展非常快,日本經濟發展在八○年代達到顛峰,然後進入停滯狀態,其他國家在十年後也達到發展高峰。現在除了中國之外,也幾乎進入停滯狀態。由於學校變成 求得高分的地方,父母希望孩子得高分、有好工作、有高收入、進入高的社會階層,或發展得比父母更好。但在經濟高峰之後,其實社會環境改變了,得高分的孩子 不一定能找到好工作、做一輩子。但孩子受教育的動機還是為考試,考試又造成教育中的競爭。我小的時候,日本孩子們擁有世界第一高的學習欲望,但現在變成世 界最低,台灣、韓國也是如此。

也因此,面對未來,教育的目的應該改變。以前是為考上好學校的競爭教育,現在應該是民主主義的共生教育。我在三十年前提出東亞共通的教育問題,建議用「學習共同體」的方式改革教育,但沒有人相信。我認為東亞國家有三個問題非解決不可:競爭教育要變成共生教育、量的教育要變成質的教育、有目的的教育要變成有意義的教育。與其讓孩子為考高分、找好工作去學習,不如讓他知道學習的本質不是為進好學校、賺更多錢,而是學習對自己的人生有何改變、對社會發展有何貢獻。


Q:台灣、日本都有教育改革,希望學生從考試壓力中得到釋放,能夠快樂學習,但為何快樂學習還是不能減輕從學習逃走的現象,反而造成學力下降?
A:一定要告訴學生學習的價值、知識的意義,不是為考試,如果學生不知道學習的意義,教育不會改變。只減少考試、學習內容,但不教導學習的價值或學習經驗,孩子沒法得到相對的快樂。日本的改革發現,很多老師改變自己的教學方式,提升自己和孩子的學習,教育就有了新的發展,對孩子的學習動機的確有幫助。
只減少學習內容、考試壓力還不夠,最根本是要提高教育的品質,保障每一個孩子的學習權益,孩子長大後才可以共同參與建立民主社會。這是全世界公立教育的最初目的。
但東亞國家教育的特徵卻是,學校教育為了國家利益服務。學校早期是為宣傳國家利益,提升國家經濟,日本以前也是。二次大戰後日本經歷民主化,但其他國家到八、九○年代才真正民主化,但教育和民主的連結還是不清楚。要改革教育,我們一定要把教育原來的目的和機能拉回來。教育的目的應該不是服務國家利益,而是幫助每一個公民的自我實現。

Q:「學習共同體」牽涉到思想改變,而非僅技術改變,實踐的核心和精神為何?學校要如何轉移教育典範?
A: 我這三十二年來,為推動「學習共同體」,每週參訪兩、三所學校,總共訪過兩千五百所學校,剛開始的一千所學校都失敗了。十五年前在濱之鄉小學實際做出來, 當成前導校,證明「學習共同體」是可行的,當時把所有人都嚇壞了,因為他們都不相信這樣的學校可以成功。 簡單來說,「學習共同體」的哲學有三個:
一、公共性哲學:學校是一個公共空間,不再只針對孩子,應開放給所有人,學校如果放棄任何一個孩子或老師,是不會成功的。為 提高孩子學習質量,全校每位老師(一般是三十位,大校則有五十位老師)至少一年一次要開放自己的教室,讓全校老師、外地老師、社區人士、各種人來參觀, 「學習共同體」的教室基本上為任何人敞開,誰要在何時進來都可以。每位老師要選擇品質最好的一堂課、一年一次自己提案,打開教室讓大家去觀摩,不是為了評 鑑,而是為了提升教學品質。
二、民主主義的哲學:校長、老師、學生、家長都是學校的主人,每個人都同樣有發言權,都可以參加學校的活動,每個師生都有同樣的權利。通常日本學校把學生分為好/壞學生,成績好/差、有問題、社團表現好的等,好像只有最好、最差的學生才有發言權,可以引起人家注意,其他中間的孩子沒有聲音,就被忘記了。家長也是,聲音大的、較會表達不滿的、錢捐多點的就可以大聲。但「學習共同體」的學校不是這樣。
三、追求卓越的哲學:永遠給孩子最好的教育內容或資源,不會因為成績不好、家境不好就降低教育內容、教學水準,永遠都追求完美、最高的教育內容。即使學校整體成績不好,在學區內學力排行很低,但永遠設定最高的教育目標,選擇最好的教科書和教材,從那裡開始挑戰。


活動式課程就從這三個哲學出發來設計。課程的核心是小組學習,小一是全體一起學,或兩人一組學習,三年級以上就以四人小組學習,上課都由此四人一起學。我們藉此實驗兩件事:我們希望大家都參與學習、不放棄任何個人;為追求更高學習品質,四人小組互相可以激起更多學習火花。

老師也藉「學習共同體」,建立良好的同事關係。每人一年至少一次開放學習提案,五十人學校一年就有百次的觀課。大家一起進來用共同的高度,不是批評,一起去想如何改善,透過每次看別人來反觀自己,就能發展每人的教學風格,整體才能一直往上提升。這是第二層次的共同體。

第 三層次是家長的加入,教室開放家長參與。以前日本中小學一年開放一次參觀日,讓家長到校「看」孩子怎麼上課,但只有看,並沒有參與,通常只有三到五人來, 我女兒小時這樣的參觀日只有我一人參加。「學習共同體」的學校一年開放三到五次學習參觀,家長可以當老師助手,跟老師一起設計課程等,有八成家長、親戚會 來參加。

日本教師和家長之間其實互相不信任,相信台灣也有類似情況,為什麼?因為家長認為老師是提供服務的人,自己付錢給老師來服務自己的孩子。但教育不是服務業,教育應該是老師、家長共同負起教育的責任。所以「學習共同體」的大目標是老師、家長一起緊密連結,為孩子的教育服務。


一九九七年第一個前導小學產生,西元兩千年中學開始有前導校,現在有三千多所學校挑戰「學習共同 體」。之前的公立學校學力低到不行,五成學生已經不去上課,大家都不看好任何改革。實行「學習共同體」後,孩子開始喜歡學習,問題學生沒有了,中輟率變 零,整體學力就自然提高。老師無力感也沒有了,每個人都健康了,都看到自己的價值。
現在全日本有五百所前導校,即使沒有做「學習共同體」的學校,日本八成以上的老師都相信「學習共同體」是能成功的。
Q:如何說服老師打開教室的門?如何改變老師的態度,找到讓老師有願意改變的動力?
A: 日本也曾經經過老師以不變應萬變的階段,但老師不願打開教室,教育永遠不會進步。所以,建立教師的支援系統很重要。老師不願打開教室,不一定是自信不夠, 而是害怕一打開就要接受評價、評分。「學習共同體」很重要的一部分不是要評價老師,打開教室是要互相學習,互相形成支持網路,只要老師公開上課給大家看, 大家一定先感謝那位老師。唯有學校能夠支持老師,老師才能給孩子最好的學習,和質量最好的東西。
從日本或亞洲經驗來看,若一個學校只有一位老師要改變,是不會成功的,一定要以學校為主、全方位來改變,才有可能。


我從一千所學校失敗經驗中得到最大的教訓是:若只在學校內部改革也不會成功,一定要外部一起改變,包括學校、家長、社區、大學老師、各縣市教育委員會,大家一起來,在這樣的條件支援下,才有機會成功實踐「學習共同體」。




◎延伸閱讀:
《學習的革命:從教室出發的改革》作者:佐藤學/出版:天下雜誌