From discussing the 2-Sigma problem, I have come to a few conclusions about how to most effectively help people learn.
- Learning requires feedback. Students need feedback--from teachers, parents, peers, and mentors. Only feedback will tell them how to improve from their original efforts. Students need detailed feedback so they can know specifically in which areas they are understanding and which areas need a little more work.
- Testing is not the only feedback. The school systems have been trying to use tests to provide students with the feedback they think students need for learning. However, test creation is too flawed to tell whether or not a student actually knows the subject material. Teachers use tests to assess student learning. Mentors are attentive to a student's daily work. As a result, learning management systems that rely on testing as a method of assessing student learning cannot be the only tools given a student in order to learn from a mentoring system. Also, standardized tests do not allow for a mentoring system. They are the anti-mentor. Having standardized tests constrains teachers--and students--to a deadline and a limit for learning.
- Technology can provide students with more opportunities to receive and provide feedback. Twitter, Blackboard, Learning Management Systems, Personal Learning Environments, etc. allow students the opportunity to articulate the things they are learning and thinking to a mentor figure for feedback. Digitized articles are more accessible.
- The value of higher education is in certification and a community of practice. Students no longer need higher education for bits of information; those are already accessible via the internet. Certification may also be offered via the internet. However, a community of practice is developed as a person works among other people also interested in that academic area. Within this community of practice, students may select their own mentors.
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