Proof That Schools Are About Grading, Not Learning
Posted by: farbood on: April 9, 2008
- In: education| learning
- 13 Comments
Student Grade Calculator
Student Grade CalculatorI can prove that education is NOT about learning and is actually about grading. How you ask? First, some background.
Learning, in the psych community, is not so easily defined. One relatively consistent thread, however, throughout the different views on learning, is ‘change’. To ‘learn’, something must change in your head. Something that wasn’t there, is there, or vice versa. Therefore, learning is about the ‘delta’ or change in a person’s knowledge or thought process. So….
1. To claim that your school is about learning, you MUST measure before and after the ‘learning experience’. The measurement of the change between the before and after lets you know if any learning went on.
2. No schools do this. They simply assign you a grade after they have done their teaching.
3. Therefore, schools are about grading, not learning. This applies to public, private and higher education, as well as most other forms of education.
Even the language of the education system betrays it. Your position in the school is a matter of the state of grade you have achieved. Grade One. Grade Two…etc. It’s interesting to note, also, that the measurement of the change in the learner is not really a grade of the learner, it’s a grade of the school. How did your school do on its last test??
Thanks, Russell Ackoff, for helping me see this.
Education for Civilization
Posted by: farbood on: April 7, 2008
Here are a couple of quotations from University of Texas’s President Faulkner in his State of the University Address on September 21, 2001. He discusses, among other things, the idea that part of the purpose of a University is to promote civilization.
“Over thousands of years, we have developed the knowledge, wisdom, and practices that make up human civilization. In the course of those ages, our species has achieved beyond all others who inhabit the planet—as far as we know, even beyond all others who inhabit the universe. But despite the success of humankind, the fabric of our civilization is thin, and not integral to our animal being. The base spirits within us remain and are exposed when the fabric is removed.”
….
“President Lamar set the tone for educational achievement in Texas when he urged the fledgling nation to develop not one, but two universities, and he sponsored the commitment of public land to support them. This was in 1838. Texas was on the frontier. The daily goal of individuals was survival, not high culture. The Texas population—everyone included, part of the civil society or not—was only 50,000. The whole nation was no bigger than present-day UT Austin. Five square miles to every person. There were few schools and no cities. A university must have been practically the furthest thing from the minds of most people as an element essential to the future. Even Lamar had never attended a university and could only have had second-hand understanding of social benefits that could be derived from them. Yet he sought two. And not colleges, but universities.”
Is the institutionalization of learning, aka education, helpful for society? necessary?
Thinking of it, Education has probably been around, if not in the ‘mass production’ style that’s in the mode today, at least in a mentoring/apprenticing fashion as long as there has been civilization. What does this mean, I wonder.
Grockit Launches MMOG Test Prep Game for Fax
Posted by: farbood on: April 1, 2008
- In: business| joke
- 3 Comments
Although our web-based Learning MMOG platform is still in development, we thought this would be a perfect time to launch our first foray into the Learning space. That said, we couldn’t be happier to announce the launch of our GMAT Learning Game for Fax. That’s right a MMOG for fax machines.
You probably didn’t think this was possible or even made sense, but you’d be wrong on both counts.
Fax technology has done for decades what the Internet has done for barely 10 years. Connect people. In fact, most of the Internet protocols that we love and talk about every day came directly from Fax technology.
Here’s how it works.
1. Fax Grockit your fax number.
2. Wait to receive your first Grockit GMAT question.
3. Answer the question (include your work) and fax it to the next student. You will find the next student’s number at the bottom of your GMAT question that we fax you.
4. When you receive a Fax question from another GMAT player, answer the question and keep faxing.
5. If you’re the fourth person to answer a question, fax all four answers back to Grockit, and we’ll fax you all your scores for this round.
6. Rinse and repeat.
It’s really that simple, and before you know it, you’ll be learning and teaching GMAT in a live MMOG. Don’t be fooled by the Internet’s fancy promises to connect you with other learners when the tried and true is just a dial tone away.
If you don’t have a land line and can only connect to the world through the Interweb, Internets, or Tubes, don’t worry. Our web-based Learning MMOG will be coming soon. Drop us your email if you’d like to know when.
Oh, by the way, Grockit is in no way affiliated with the GMAT Test or the GMAC.
SXSWi ‘08 Roundup
Posted by: grockitmichael on: March 25, 2008
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I’ll say it again: SXSW was bigger this year than ever, both in terms of attendees and in the quality of speakers and panels. My SXSW this year started off on the best foot possible. I got to join a cast of awesome people in presenting horribly bad website ideas and it was a total blast. We packed a huge room, made people laugh, and we over the pre-talk dread early on and were able to ride the high of a good talk for the rest of the conference.
And now, while the high is starting to fade, two prominent conclusions are standing out in my memory. I’ll summarize both for now with some deeper blog entries about these conclusions to follow shortly.
First conclusion: games are, for the most part, changing the world in positive ways, but we’re only barely able to wrap our heads around what’s possible.
Second conclusion: there are no users. There are only people. People are intelligent, creative, critical, vocal, quiet, lost, frustrated, reasonable, irrational, tired and excited. Using words like “users”, “mobs”, “teams”, “crowds”, or any other collective sort of word doesn’t help designers build applications that should ultimately be designed to augment and amplify the abilities of a single person.
For a taste of what’s to come, consider my first conclusion and then spend some time at World Without Oil. I can’t say there won’t be a pop quiz later.
Thanks to Kathryn Yu taking a panorama of my fellow presenters while David Hornik mocked all of ideas in typical VC fashion.
Michael at SXSW Interactive ‘08
Posted by: grockitmichael on: March 6, 2008
Winter ends for me tomorrow. Every year for the past six years I get extremely fed up with the constant dampness and chill of winter in Oregon and about the only thing that makes it bearable is knowing that I’ll be going to SXSW.
SXSW for me is my spring break, but more appropriately, it’s my geek spring break. For five days straight I get to go on a manic geek-speak bender where every direction I turn there’s someone who’s just as passionate about what they do as I am. Every year my list of non-social network friends grows, my passions are stoked, and my voice stops working for days after getting back.
The only difference I expect for this year is a more robust set of pipes as I’ve been training intensely with the help of my fellow Grockiteers pair programmers/designers, talking quite literally all day long, five days a week.
This year I have two particular reasons to be totally amped about going. I’ve typically attended as an independent “web guy” and felt like I was trying to find inspiration for my next thing. This year I’m going as part of the Grockit team, which puts a different spin on the trip. I can’t wait to talk about Grockit with friends and to hear what they think about it. I’m excited about the new people I’ll meet who will share the same kinds of passions I’ve gained for what we’re doing at Grockit, and of course I expect I’ll be infused with new ways of thinking after attending some of the panels I’ve selected.
The second most awesome thing is that for my third year I’ll be attending as a speaker. I’ll be participating in Andy Baio’s “Worst Website Ever. That’s so crazy it just might work.” session where along with total rock stars Lane Becker, Merlin Mann, Katie Spence, Jeffery Bennett, Ben Brown, Lia Bulaong, David Friedman, I’ll be “competing” for “funding” from David Hornik of August Capital.
I also have a new goal this year – once a day I want to meet someone new who’s there for their first or second time and show them why I love SXSW. If you’re one of those people, jump out of your comfort zone just long enough to meet me and I’ll do my best to show you why I love SXSW. Track me down by looking at my schedule, my Upcoming events, or through through Twitter.
Q&A: How do you make decisions?
Posted by: farbood on: May 11, 2007
- In: brain
- Leave a Comment
Q: How do you make decisions
A: IMHO. Too often we are living in our memories (past) and imagination
(future). Too often our decisions are motivated by these two
non-realities. Also, a large part of human decision making is fear
motivated. I love talking to people about that because people tend to
think “Well I’m not fear motivated”, but in reality a careful
examination would show the opposite.
Fear is a sub-routine of the mind/brain that is a) very fast to load b)
very loud and c) always willing to be the solution.
The challenge is to recognize fearful thinking and use your rational
mind to mitigate it.
In this way I like to let decisions make themselves.
When you live in reality, not memory or imagination, you will often see
that the decision you have to make is purely a question of your own
intent.
What is it that you want. If you can SEE reality, you should see which
path will lead you well. The challenge, this time, is know what you
want.”
Doing Things The Wrong Way
Posted by: grockitdavid on: May 9, 2007
Here is some insight from James Dyson, the inventor of the amazing Dyson Vacuum.
In Fast Company, He advocates doing things the wrong way.
I made 5127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it
right. There were 5126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s
how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure. I’ve always
thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures
they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of
failures to get there is probably more creative…
We’re taught
to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that
other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a
failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty,
dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely
different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a
bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off.
It makes you realize that so much of our world view is shaped on “winning.” The war in Iraq, the war on terror, the war on drugs. You wage war to win. War has a winner and loser. Are we setting ourselves up to be losers?
The same is true for education. We all have our childhood horror stories about the way our teachers mishandled situations leaving us slightly jaded. We all have studied for tests, did our best, but come up short and lost. It is a feeling that leaves you wrecked. It wasn’t the actual losing that hurt, it was the implication. In school, you lost credibility, you lost your ranking, you might be downgraded amongst your peers…or your mentors might see you as a loser.
Despite the same path to success, we don’t give enough attention to the lessons that Thomas Edison taught us about the importance of failure. Although, after just a short time working with Grockit, I don’t need to use the ugly word failure. I have seen the light. I have been enlightened to what this really is….
This is called Learning.
Failing and working to first understand the failure, and then to secondly correct the mistake all in the pursuit of learning.
We need to stop being afraid of failure. It is at times the first step in Learning. It is an indicator and guide for “Grok-ing something.”
Allow yourself a chance to fail, it feels good. It reminds you that you are human…and that what makes humans so damn special is our desire to learn, improve… and one day walk on the moon…(again.)
(Here is a personal note:)
After watching my beloved Pistons win the Championship in 2004, I watched them come close for 2 straight years…both failing to win the coveted prize. The mistakes they made over two years have become a roadmap this season. It is exciting to watch this team play so well together knowing that this cohesion is because of a shared philosophy to learn from prior mistakes. I catch myself waiting for a mistake to be committed, the way they did last year — and I am pleasantly surprised every time. Do you think they liked losing? Do you think they liked swallowing the reality that they were talented enough to win, but not organized enough to win? They could have quit, they could have stopped caring. Hell, even Ben Wallace left because I think he got bored, lost faith, didn’t want to learn from mistakes in the past, but instead thought a change of scenery might make it all better. I hope he enjoys his new view, because I think that with this road map which is landmarked with failure the Pistons will be sending him packing in a few short games.
Changing Things Up
Posted by: grockitdavid on: May 8, 2007
- In: business| teachers
- 2 Comments
I can’t get the old Wings song, “Too Many People” out of my head. I have considered just writing an entire series of blogs with the “Too Many People” lyrics as the basis for my ranting and ravings.
I get this Twilight Zone eerie feeling that our entire popular culture and approach to the world is to take old models and try to get new innovation to conform to them. My gut tells me that this approach is probably fueled by the wealth and powers that be in this world. After all, if you innovated without using the old models – then revenue might dry up for the music industry, oil industry, education industry.
Too many people pulled and pushed around,
Too many waiting for that lucky break.
Maybe I am all over the place today, but it is really eating at me. I see the struggles in starting up a new business and I laugh at how ridiculous the process is. I keep shaking my head and repeating, “It doesn’t have to be this way….” and then I realize that I have said that about almost everything for my entire life and that maybe I am the problem.
Oil companies aren’t going to help us out. The Government is not going to figure this out. It is our jobs to figure this out. It is a responsibility left for the people. and, I have to say… I think it has always been that way. We see how Government and huge corporations do things. They make the process ugly, painful, uncomfortable and adhere to special interests while doing it.
If the Government can’t figure out Social Security… a program that says… people put money into an account that they are then given back when they retire or turn 65 years old, then how can we count on them to sort out the other issues?
I think all of this revolves around a false sense of security. I think my generation constantly listened to logic that was based on a false sense of security. If you work hard… then this will happen. If you follow these rules… then that will work out for you. Instead of things working out for the 30-something generation, I see a lot of people working hard and losing sight of what they once believed in. Maybe this happens with every generation. Maybe the system beats you down.
But… what about the rest of us. Those that refuse to let the system win. Those of us who think it is more important to recreate, shape, and repair the system? What about those of us who believe that there is a better way to do things?
I think it is our job to work for that. To take the risk and to assume the responsibility. This part might sound a little bit sappy, but — the reward can’t be seen as purely financial or self-centric. The reward has to be knowing that you pursued a better way. That your intention while working was to make the world a better place than when you got here.
Too many people preaching practices,
Don’t let ‘em tell you what you wanna be.
Too many people holding back,
This is crazy, and baby, it’s not like me
So… there it is. An informal pledge to start approaching life with the same passion that fueled me as a child. With the same energy that I felt when I started my first business. No more holding back. No more adhering to “unofficial rules” that insist you have to take your innovative brilliance and apply it to old models. We need to stop seeing America as our Governmet and Corporations and instead see ourselves as Americans. We need to take a stand against bad jobs, bad bosses, bad situations. We need to transform from within…and make choices that reflect these values.
I know those WWJD bracelets were popular, but — I think it makes more sense to have a bracelet that says, “What Do I Really Want To Do?” and while WDIRWTD is less sexy than WWJD… you can see that – if we really took 3 seconds to look down on a bracelet that asked us every day, “What do I really want?” or “What really makes sense?” then we might become aware that…
Too Many People are tired of doing the same old thing over and over with no new results.
How about you?
Q&A: What Three Books Have Changed Your Life?
Posted by: farbood on: May 4, 2007
A former Grockit student, who is now working with us, posed this question.
What three books have changed your life the most?
I had to draw outside the lines a bit on this one. I gave three sets of books.
Buy them, read them, eat them.
Q&A: How does your organization reward creative or innovative thinking?
Posted by: farbood on: May 3, 2007
In this series I will give my HO (humble opinion) in response to questions I have come across.
How does your organization reward creative or innovative thinking?
IMHO, rewards are a behavioral management technique that are useful only
in a) master-slave relationships and b) in dealing with cognitively
simple organisms (a more benevolent form of the master-slave relationship).
Examples of a) are i) the Military, ii) most Businesses (standard
business management practices are modeled on the Military’s command and
control structure) and iii) Schools (standard educational management
practices are based on the command and control structure of
businesses).
Yes, I agree it is unfortunate that we model our schools and businesses on a military structure. The result is a dehumanization (Military loves this) of just about everyone involved. This has such a negative impact on innovation and creativity that you have to create a reward structure just to make people motivated enough to get past their fear of doing something wrong or making a mistake that costs the business money and themself, their job.
Examples of b) are dealing with i) very young children and ii) animals.
If your organization is democratic and circular, as opposed to
autocratic and pyramidal, the reward for creativity and innovative
thinking is the successful fruition of the team member’s idea.
In this way, the creative and innovative thinking is internally motivated, as opposed to an external reward structure.
If you really need a reward system for innovation and creativity try a) not firing those who dare to innovate and create b) not yelling at those who dare to innovate and create c) not punishing people for mistakes.
Rewards can be powerful tools, even a self imposed reward structure.
The difference here being the ’self imposed’ portion. One may choose to
motivate himself to lose weight by creating a reward structure with
milestones. This is a far cry from a weight loss reward system imposed
by some authoritarian party.
And there, exactly, is the rub of the situation. In your life you
are free to lose weight or not lose weight, save your money or not save
your money, and most importantly, cast your vote, not as a voice but as
an influence.
In the history of the world (and I mean it) is there ANY
autocratic (dictatorial) nation that is/was more prosperous with happier,
more liberated people than ANY democratic nation? I can’t think of any.
There is an intelligence and robustness to a democracy that not
even the smartest and most well intended autocratic leader could
create. The fear of course is in letting go and fear is the motivator
behind many if not most business decisions.
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