Sal Khan's "One World School House" Part 4: The One World School House

       In Part four of The One World School House, Sal Khan shares a very important principle.  The education that we are giving our children now, is to prepare them for the workforce that lies ahead of them in the years to come.  However, there is the realization that the jobs that our children will be doing in the next ten to twenty years, do not exist yet.  As recently as the 1980's, no educational field was preparing kids for jobs over the internet or in computer programming and coding skills, which eventually boomed in the late 1990's and early 2000's.  It is likely true today, that the same thing will happen with our children over the next ten and twenty years.  As such, it is more important that we prepare our learners today to be self directed, and to know how to teach themselves, then they will want to learn more independently.

       Sal asserts that technology allows students to work at their own pace, resulting in children who are more happy in education, and consequently more productive.  Allowing students to work at their own pace will allow more advanced students to graduate early, thus freeing up time and resources so educators can work with more special education needs students.  Sal also believes that mixing up subject content, grade levels and age levels within the classroom will give way to more mentoring practices among students, resulting in students acting more mature with their learning.  This would result in larger classes, but allow for multiple educators to be team teaching with students, and sharing different teaching styles and personas among a larger group of students.  He also believes in taking away summer vacation, an idea that reinforces the concept of neuroplasticity, but is very unpopular with students, parents, and some educators alike!

      Sal believes that education worldwide is unevenly distributed (especially in rural areas), and as such, the playing field needs to be leveled through computer-based, self paced learning, and a hybrid of solutions to computers and the internet.  He suggests opening centres that are funded by the middle class (which would be cheaper than private tutors in some communities), but is used by all learners.  While I believe this is an admirable idea, I believe in practice, there would be some backlash with middle class families as the lone supporting revenue source for these centres.  Furthermore, Sal suggests having internationally recognized, rigorous assessments that measure understanding and proficiency in various fields to further level the playing field.  Again, in theory this seems like a great idea, but in practice, different countries and different districts have too many differing educational curriculum expectations, that would be too difficult and have too many variables to take into account.

       Backtracking a bit within his book, Sal discusses the issue of transcripts and test scores accounting for grade point averages (GPA's).  He asserts that test scores and GPA's give a solid idea of what a student has learned, but only gives a very approximate picture of what a student is able to learn.  In essence, test scores and GPA's do not assess ability.  They measure quantities of information rather than the quality of a student mind.  Standardized test would be beneficial for assessment, as long as these test have the content altered yearly, and include richer tasks that incorporate an open ended design component.  Also, records should have a running, multi-year narrative; a portfolio with more qualitative data on ability.  Further on in a later chapter, Sal addresses college degrees and high GPA's as not being the best predictor of creativity, intellect, or passion.  Many universities are looking more towards internships and coop programs for their students to obtain real working world knowledge and experience.

      I agree completely with Sal's assessments on test scores, grade scores, and GPA's.  Measuring data on basic knowledge is not enough to assess the overall picture of a student.  However, speaking as someone who has been in education and has been a teacher for over ten years, I can honestly say that when I assess a student, there is more to my assessments than just a quiz or standardized test.  All of my official assessments cover the four areas of learning and understanding within education:

1. Basic Knowledge and understanding of concepts acquired
2. Thinking about problems involving their skills and understanding
3. Communicating what they know and sharing their understanding
4. Applying their knowledge and skills to problems and situations.

       My formal assessments are structured so students not only have to share their knowledge, but apply it accordingly, to reveal a much deeper understanding of what they have learned.  Furthermore, my assessment tasks include hands on activities where they need to communicate and apply their learning to problems that they need to investigate.  To get a clear understanding of students and their grades, I have multiple means of assessment involving several tasks and activities.  Imagine students completing a quiz where they are not only sharing their knowledge of what they have learned about a topic like Rocks and Minerals, but applying what they have learned to a task, such as constructing a house where they must discuss how Rocks and Minerals would be used in the construction of the home, its components, and what needs to be done to reduce the effects of weathering and erosion around the house.

       While I believe that my assessments are thorough and go beyond basic knowledge or even rote memorization of facts, I feel that technology does have its place in supporting these assessments.  Students with special education needs would benefit from technology use in completing these assessments, whether it's using a word talking processor to share their knowledge, or completing mindmeister mindmaps to make connections between concepts.  Likewise, I believe that technology is an engaging and motivating tool for students, that would allow them to become more independent and self motivated learners.  I am a big proponent of  "flipping the classroom,"  where students learn the material at home, and complete engaging activities to apply their learning in the classroom.  While I feel my assessments do more then test simple memorized knowledge, I feel that technology does have its place in assisting these assessments (hence the term, Assistive Technology).