Student 2.0

shamelessly copied and modified from Manager 2.0 by Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users.

You can't very well have a 2.0 school run by version 1.0 teachers, right? Yes, I'm making fun of the 2.0ness of it all, but if we're throwing version numbers around with impunity, might as well take it to the absurd.

One dramatic difference between traditional schools and the Web 2.0 new schools is the way students are taught. Or rather, the fact that they are not "taught." Most School 1.0 (like, say, where I graduated?) are not only too old fashioned, but their teaching practices are just too old school (and not in a retro hip way) to foster a culture that matches the culture of the new citizens growing up in Web 2.0.

My favorite example of the difference between School 1.0 and School 2.0 teaching is that school 2.0 "learner-centered learning" infuse many of these schools at the cellular level. Never has the notion of "learner-center" meant so much to learning, so it's no surprise a School 2.0 teachers would think of students as a real human being.

And that may change everything.

So, all you School 2.0 believers-- please keep the best of the School 2.0 spirt alive by NOT adopting the awful practices of School 1.0. There's nothing new here, of course--Stephen Downes has been talking about this for frickin' ever. (And plenty of others before and after him.) What is new is that while it's always been a good idea to learn this way, this time it's virtually a given.

Yes, this is ridiculously oversimplified, does not work out of context, and you can't take things in the 2.0 column ala carte. I still have absolutely NO idea what School 2.0 even means, but whatever it is, people are in the equation (both students and teachers) in a new and more meaningful way. As my friend Nat Torkington says, "It's no longer aspergers and emacs."

School 1.0	School 2.0
Curriculum dictated by a syllabus.	Students decide and negotiate the learning area.
Teachers are the keeper of the knowledge.	Teachers are the facilitator of the learning process.
Information is limited from those in the textbook	Information are sourced from everywhere, including but not limited to online resources.
How effective is the learning is measured by standardised tests.	Effective learning is linked to satisfactory and joy of knowing new knowledge and mastering new skills.
Students sit in rows facing the teacher.	Students sit around tables facing each other.
Emphasis on individual learning.	Emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning
Students tightly controlled to do right time.	Students free to try new ideas and experiment.
Examination result acts as an external motivation.	Students delve pleasure from making and learning new things.
Knowledge in textbook are "king" and cannot be challenged.	Knowledge is negotiated and learnt in a community of practice.
Learning effectiveness conducted by external "examination authority".	Learning effectiveness is reported as portfolio and demonstrations.
Fixed time table. If a student missed a lesson, she will miss that forever.	Learning occurs all the time and contents are covered in repeating cycles.
Scholarship are based on past examination results.	Scholarship is based on the ability to learn in a group and contribution to the group.
Repetitive homework are assigned.	Projects are negotiated.
Deadline of homework submission in short and frequent interval.	Continuous presentation of current state of project.
Students are forced to learn without explaining why they should learn that material.	Students choose the subject they like based on career advice.