Khan Academy is a start, but its far from a silver bullet


On my leave of absence from my public teaching position in Calgary, Canada I happily worked as a founding teacher at a pilot international/public hybrid school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2009/10. My experience was filled with the unexpected learning benefits one would expect teaching overseas. A key learning (or confirmation) was the consequences of an incredible focus on grades and paper qualifications. I could not agree more with a recent the article: The Problem With Singapore's Education System by Belmont Lay. It is a reflection on past Asian education trends on rote learning and the tendency for a 'risk averse education'.

Lay is a tad simplified to get the point across; nevertheless, points to the major problem with Singapore & booming Asian countries is "students not be as driven as they should be" stating:

"Anybody who has gone through 15 to 20 years of studies in Singapore will tell you the same thing. There is an overbearing focus on grades and paper qualifications are elevated to unholy heights and worshipped."

The constant quest for a silver bullet currently points to the wave of praise of blended learning guru Sal Khan (recently interviewed on 60 Minutes). Drawing the praise of millions including support from Bill Gates for his free online taped video lectures. They are paraded as a possible future of education, Khan argues the use of video lessons: "takes the passivity out learning"...for sure it does; however his style is nothing revolutionary, in fact it is a regress as Dr. David D. Timony just comically tweeted:

"Said it so many times I should get a tattoo, Khan, TED, and IWBs: bringing education back to the 17th century. #edchat"

Good teaching prevails:

The power of technology in classrooms in many cases is heading into a direction that is similar to the lack of motivation in students observed in Singapore. "Singapore badly needs "tinkerers" -- people who are daring, who can fidget about, diverge from the beaten path and bear the risk of experimentation". Assigning Khan Academy lessons in many cases is no different than worksheet homework. Without an above average teacher-facilitator, many students could continue to stagnate.
 
The local owners/directors of the Vietnamese international school I was employed with were very successful individuals tightly connected with the state department of education. They communicated the system is well aware of the crisis of students lacking drive, innovation & such and are the agent of change. The pilot school's vision (as well as the public system in Vietnam) is in a sea change of reforming an educational model placing arts, active living & civics equal to academics in public education in Asia, equally advocated by parents, they are well on their way and there is no worry they are not succeeding.

We must ask ourselves what is needed to accompany 'flipping' the classroom so we do not inadvertently regress our practice (maybe not to the 17th Century as Timony states, but close).

Now for the ridiculous irony:

I must apologize to cut this post short, I must complete my reports cards as they are due in tomorrow.

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