Curriculum Lab

Welcome to the third episode of "EdTechVerse" podcast, where we talk about multiple intelligences, and mull over whether it is fair to teach everyone the same way. Perhaps this is the best time to bring personalised, student-centered learning into mainstream education?

I’m your host Natalie. In today's episode, we invite our listeners to think about the things they are good at. Perhaps you play the piano or baseball? Or maybe you like taking your yacht out to sea? How about a doodle or two, tinkering in the kitchen, building a treehouse for your children?

Are you good at all these things? Or maybe a few? Or just one?

Does being good at only one of these activities make you less smart? Or are you smarter because you can do more?

The standardised approach to education is the current practice in different countries and students are assessed according to internationally recognized indicators of achievement. The bar is raised when batches of students consistently perform above expectations. That, in itself, deserves praise because it takes a lot of work from policy-makers, institutions and educators to accomplish this feat. Doing well in school tends to lead to better outcomes in life. Now however, many are asking whether artificial intelligence will render all this work redundant.

Is it fair to teach everyone the same way? Yes, it reduces the possibility of discrimination or favouritism and tries to equalise the playing field.

Is it fair to teach everyone the same way? No, it places more emphasis and value on some skill sets and competencies over others.

Is it fair to teach everyone the same way? It depends on what you are teaching, who your students are and the desired learning outcome.

Whichever your starting position, I'd like you to suspend judgment and listen to two stories that helped me see that there are many different answers to the question, “Is education fair?”.

‘Totto-chan The Little Girl at the Window’, written by Japanese television personality and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi sold 4.5 million copies in 1981 which was its first year in print. Although a fiction book, it was based on her childhood, describing the unconventional education that she received at Tomoe Gakuen, an elementary school in Tokyo. Tomoe Gakuen was known for its unconventional yet highly effective teaching methods. Rather than focusing solely on grades, the school emphasized creativity, curiosity, respect for individuality, physical fitness, love of nature, and learning through experience. The ‘gates’ of the school were formed by two trees and the classrooms were six abandoned railroad cars. When farming was the subject, children were taught by a farmer and each child was given a small patch of land to weed and hoe, plant and harvest. The children took care of their little patch and cherished not just what they ate but also how it came to be. Sadly, Tomoe Gakuen succumbed to the war and was burnt to the ground during a WW2 bombing. The school was never rebuilt even though the headmaster indicated that he looked forward to rebuilding the school.

Former Googler, Max Ventilla, started AltSchool in 2013, inspired by a preschool search for his daughter. Altschool raised $170 million in venture capital funding. It also charged a $27,000 tuition fee per student. AltSchool launched with a network of schools featuring small intake sizes where students of different ages share a classroom. Two teachers oversee each class and are supported by an in-house technology team. AltSchool was to bring the innovation of Silicon Valley into the classroom but not all parents saw better learning outcomes for their children and class sizes started shrinking and in 2017, it started closing schools. AltSchool formally assumed the Altitude Learning brand in the fall of 2019.

If you were a parent, what would you look for when choosing a school for your child?

If you were a student, what would you look for when choosing a school to develop your chosen area of expertise?

If you were a policy-maker, what would you look for when choosing a direction for your team of educators and institutions?

We hope today's EdTechVerse episode has started the discussion on personalised, student-centered learning for mainstream education. Join us in the next episode as we ask, “Is personalised, student-centered learning just a big hairy audacious goal?”.

As always, stay curious, and keep learning!