The Crowd Sourced Classroom: Lessons for Teachers from the Age of Web 2.0

I recently read a blog post by Will Richardson (Twitter ID: @willrich45 ) inspired by a series of tweets that a parent, Alec Couros wrote during and about “Meet the Teacher Night” at his daughter’s school. The bulk of the post and the 127 comments that followed talked about the dilemma that parents face when they don’t agree with the methods and/or approach that their child’s teacher or school uses. Richardson, whom I praise for being pretty even-keeled, offers parents his four-step technique for dealing with this issue.  This blog post has inspired quite a conversation over the past few days between my husband and I. He’s a “business guy” and you know me. What follows is our collaborative response…

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Before we start, let’s level the playing field: the school system (public, private, and in-between) is highly dysfunctional. To put it brutally: it doesn’t work. No one is satisfied – and justifiably so. Neither parents nor teachers are getting the results they want: happy, educated, well-adjusted, and enlightened students/children-turned-adults. No one has the answers.

Therefore, we need to innovate a solution that works – where we are getting the results we want.

The basic method we’re proposing is this: it’s okay that everyone wants to help. Let them. Help them to. Encourage them. In short, harness all of your brainstorming resources to “crowd source” your classroom – even if (especially if) it makes you uncomfortable.

Innovation is all about multiple perspectives colliding and creating something new.  Use Web 2.0 tools (Facebook, Twitter, a blog, a wiki, etc.) and all the facilitation skill you can muster to form an active team of contributing parents, administrators, students, and community members driven towards one goal: to innovate a classroom that puts students back at the center and has the power to reinvigorate the roots of true education on a large scale.

Of course, you’ll need a ringleader, a facilitator – someone who is committed to the process at deep, deep level. Hmmm… I wonder… What about you? Are you up for the job?

As you move forward, remember (maybe even write it down and put it in a obvious place): nothing great was ever built by one person. Here are the basic principles and practices of the “crowd sourced classroom”:

Stop trying to seal off your classroom from the world. Open the doors (and windows), use Web 2.0 technologies, hold a brainstorming meeting – get creative!

A study in the UK shows that 2 million UK workers spend an hour or more per day – at work – on social networking sites! Do you think procrastinating parents (or even aunts and uncles!) at work might enjoy taking a shot at crafting their child’s curriculum for an hour a day? You better believe it! Use the trend – don’t fight it. Create a blog, a Facebook page, an ongoing Twitter conversation.

Also, remember: not everything has to be techy (and that may not be appropriate in many settings). Never forget the power of a face-to-face conversation or town hall type meetings. They still work.

This is like the American Idol, or Choose-Your-Own-Adventure of education. Your “team” will love this kind of level of involvement. It’ll be as addictive as reality TV – I promise.

Remember that your “solutions” might come from the strangest places.

This could be the person who never speaks, the youngest person in a group (your student?), or the most obnoxious person. Sometimes the most innocent (uninformed) perspective is the best perspective. It will always be the freshest. The lesson here is to always keep an open mind.

Well-facilitated criticism, conflict, and feedback always create better outcomes – therefore, encourage them.

Implementing the steps already suggested will give parents, students, community members, even other teachers and administrators, an open forum to vent their issues and send their praises, engage and interact with you and what their children are learning. Whenever you bring multiple perspectives together, conflict may arise. That’s okay. By creating a climate that engages, depersonalizes, and brings light to feedback, you will have a way to respond and a reason to change. Of course, always remember: this is not about personal conflict, this is about reaching the goal of a classroom that works.

Be the leader of your ship.

Remember: your goal as a teacher is to play “the teaching game” well, and to use the energy that flows from your passion to change the world to actual do it. In this new approach, you, the teacher, move beyond reaction to criticism, and begin to restructure your classroom to actually encourage – even provoke – criticism/response. In this new approach, you will take on a leadership role that may be uncomfortable. But, I must ask: What else are you going to do with your life? You only have one shot. Let’s make it count for something.

If you are a teacher out there who is doing this, please feel free to share your experience.  All other constructive comments welcome as well.

Note:

2-Please be sure that you apply the appropriate security for feedback and viewership of your blog. Clear this idea with administrators before you try it.

3- Link to referred blog: http://tiny.cc/0px0v