Aug 142017
 

Learning is the Issue, NOT Lecture vs. eLearning

Access, Follow, Understand, the research on how students learn, effectively, efficiently, consistently, and affordably. Then correctly implement those research driven, best practices, seamlessly integrated into educationally innovative software, at the district level.

By Tom McDonald

I’ve dedicated roughly the last 15 years to understand why traditional education doesn’t work to empower all teachers to empower all students with sustained, relevant, individual successful performance improvement outcomes

I’ve read 1,000’s of documents and aggregated the information with my website, that has 1,000 + posts and 1,000’s of third party, credible references: https://mcdonaldsalesandmarketing.biz/20208/learning-strategies-2/

Here are a few of my conclusions, based upon my research (which includes 100’s of interactions with traditional educators)

Traditional educator: Reactive. Uses one size fits all teaching and or one size fits all elearning. The students aren’t trying hard enough, things will only improve if we fix poverty first, get parents more involved, provide us with more money, reduce classroom size, and eliminate school choice to maintain a mediocre monopoly. More of the same is good. Let us manage our classrooms, individually. It works for us. We don’t care if it works for the students and the funding public. Capitalists and capitalism is evil. Betsy DeVos is evil. All done through ignorance, stopping positive change via naysaying, intentional, calculated, diversions from the real issues, misrepresentation of the facts, and half-truths. Figures doing is doing correctly.

Educationally innovative educator: Proactive. Accesses, Follows, Understands and correctly implements at the district level, research driven best practices, educationally innovative software that is proven to empower all teachers to empower all students with effective, efficient, consistent, affordable, sustained, student success performance improvement outcomes, for all students, in an individually facilitated, reinforced over time, blended/flipped/competency based, project based environment. Once size fits all anything is evil; https://mcdonaldsalesandmarketing.biz/tom-mcdonalds-posts/; https://mcdonaldsalesandmarketing.biz/3226/learning-transfer-5/

The incumbent, 20th century, one size fits all, flawed teaching methodology works for the system, but creates the education gap and essentially fails all students and the funding public, but it remains in classrooms

The issue isn’t which is better, lecture, or one size fits all elearning. Both are ineffective for anything beyond simple directions (nice to know information, not must know information). At best, both methodologies provide initial superficial understanding, which soon is forgotten, for the middle ~30% of the class. I’ve come to the non-scientific conclusion that lecture, or any one size fits all modality, at best, for key information, provides the first 5% of what a student needs to be able to advance, sustained individual performance improvement outcomes

Here is what is required to advance sustained individual performance improvement outcomes for Key information. Don’t get hung up that this example is sales. Learning that improves performance applies to all Key scenerios. Look at the methodology.

Compare this approach to simple one size fits all anything and you will soon see what is missing.

The best sustained student success performance improvement approach, for all students, is educationally innovative software, offered at the system/district level (D2L, e.g. and there are many others), individually, facilitated over time, in a blended/flipped/competency based/project based 21st century, deep learning environment. A complete and total paradigm change from one size fits all teaching to student centered, facilitated and reinforced deep learning is required

Traditional education and traditional educators do not want to change for the benefit of the public and their students. They say they do, but their actions reflect otherwise. They don’t want change so badly that they will remain ignorant of the facts, misrepresent the facts, make up facts, provide half-truths to sidestep the forest issues and to sidestep real positive change for their students and the public

Traditional education/Educators are unable to see the forest from the trees. Subset minutiae is where they focus (rather than understanding the text, they focus on where the commas should be). When they realize that their argument is lost, they attempt to discredit the messenger. Check out this article on calling out the erroneous connection of school choice to racism and the 40 comments below it. This and other similar interactions validate my points.

Traditional Educators are spectacular at naysaying information, are quick to criticize, but absolutely, positively cannot take any constructive criticism well

Traditional educators, by not understanding the issues that need to be resolved, incorrectly implement inappropriate/appropriate technology (whiteboards, simple tablets, that distribute one size fits all teaching to individual students faster); Rather than using D2L, as it was designed, they sidestep the research based methodologies and upload a pdf. file, turning it into a one size fits all, worthless elearning vehicle.

Traditional educations, cult like culture is cancerous. It shelters them from real progress through ignorance maintenance. Traditional Educators, who really for the most part are at best subject matter experts, do not and choose to not understand what it takes to effectively, efficiently, consistently transfer key information to all students that results in sustained individual performance improvement outcomes. They by choice do not access the research and if they do, they don’t understand it, plus they are clueless to why traditional education MUST be immediately be reformed.

Unfortunately the debate on which is better, lecture or eLearning doesn’t address the real issues on how to advance student success performance improvement outcomes, since both lecture and one size fits all elearning by themselves do not result in sustained performance improvement outcomes for all students. The debate on whether lecture, or elearning is best was put to rest by the DOE’s paper (They are similar in delivering at best, superficial initial understanding, which is soon forgotten, to the ‘middle’ of the class).

Please note that my student success, for all students approach, has now become more aggressive. Change is not easy, but no positive change in traditional education is simply not an option, regardless of the self-serving, resistance.

I’ve taken the approach that you are either FOR advancing sustained student success, performance improvement outcomes for ALL students, or you are AGAINST the same. I’ve chosen FOR. Lots of traditional educators by their actions/inactions have chosen AGAINST. Go figure.

Changing Distributions: How Online College Classes Alter Student and Professor Performance

How do online college courses affect student success?

A Meta-Analysis and Review of  Online Learning Studies, US Department of Education

RESEARCH – Learning Strategies: Educationally Innovative Pedagogy

Twenty First Century, Educationally Innovative, Deep, Adaptive, Learning, Software

SIS-LMS-LCMS – K-12 Research Report: Newsletter, Issue #28, 4/27/16

Educationally Innovative

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Tom McDonald, tsm@centurytel.net; 608-788-5144; Skype: tsmw5752