learning 2.0

I have been thinking about this blog all day, trying to figure out how to start. The topic of discussion: "What would I change about education?" This is not the first time I have thought about this particular topic; knowing I have a captive audience share my opinions with is somewhat exciting. In truth this topic added fuel for the fire that I already possess regarding changes in education. After given this blog topic, I sat through the rest of my school day looking engaged, when in reality I was only focused on the writing my blog. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my other classes, but the reality is that there are many students - like myself - who suffer with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) who understand the manic focus we are often blessed with, but also the days like today when the ability to focus on anything is a struggled. Because I struggle with ADD, test anxiety and am dis-graphic, I have very strong opinions on how education needs to change in order for more students to be successful. I am fortunate, I have a strong support group and have found most instructors to be very supportive along the way allowing me to beat the odds. I have an earned 3.79 GPA - I am proud of every assignment that has made up my GPA. Below I have listed the struggles I have had to overcome and live as a "brownie" in "a cookie cutter world."



The three big changes I would make:

1.       No Tests

2.       No Required Learning

3.       No Medications



1.       The first thing I would do away with are tests, especially standardized tests. Frankly, there have been many times I would rather tie my own noose than take a test or quiz.  I do not learn anything by studying for a test other than the obvious results of stress - your hair falls out and you gain weight from all the comfort food required to keep up with people who seem to enjoy testing. Allow me to illustrate using a true story:
My sister and I took a class together at DSU a few semesters ago. She is a natural test taker and I am not. Obviously when the class ended she received the higher final grade. A few months later (and it may have been a full year) we were having a normal conversation and I brought up a fact about something we learned from the class we took together. Her comment: “We actually talked about that?" This happened on more than one occasion.  My question: Who got more from the class? If you ask the administration at DSU, they would confirm that my sister did because she received a higher grade - so she learned more. If the instructor were to have a conversation with both of us regarding the class, she would soon learn that I am the one that can recall that the liver of a polar bear has so much vitamin A - if you eat it you’ll die...and my sister might have ate it. Who really got more out of that class? There has got to be a better way to observe student learning other than one test after the next.

How would I measure student learning? My answer would be options. If a student wanted to take a test, they could. If a student wanted to write a paper on the subject the answer would be, yes. What about an occasional oral examination or class presentation?
 I understand that some of these testing methods would no work in some classes, but many could be enhanced if the instructor was really excited to see what they taught their students. I could recite my entire PSY 1010 textbook, explain almost every mental illness and its treatment, but I still got C in the class because standardized testing was the only method of evaluation. Some creativity in the evaluation process would save so many headaches and a few hairs, prevent burnout - seeing more students finish and better prepare students for the real world. I can't think of any careers where standardized tests are how employers evaluate you for promotions.



2.       We talked about this in class; how self-imposed learning works so much better. Of course everyone has to be able to read and write but why can't all early education work like a college. You are given a choice of classes where you could receive credit toward graduating. When given choices there is a feeling of responsibility as well as more enjoyment in the task at hand. Giving to choices might cause more learning to be done.


I can recall more information from the Magic School Bus, Zaboomafoo, Cratt's Creatures and Liberty Kids than I can from most of the classes I completed last semester. I have also discovered that even if I understand something and have memorized the facts to get me through the class, I am unable to recall those facts later on. One summer I took a Stats class and thanks to a great teacher, I learned to do all the work by hand because he was sure we would understand the subject better if we worked out the problems by hand. To this day I can not so a statistics problem on the calculator, I still prefer to do the work by hand, but I really understand statistics. Calculators are tools and like any tool in the hands of the right person, amazing work can be accomplished, but there are those of us who should just stay away from calculators, just like some people just should never touch a carving knife.
We can’t assume that teaching someone with the newest appliance is the best way to teach every student.



3.   This a touchy subject, so this information is based only from my own experience and is only my opinion. I understand people feel differently and have different reasons for using medication, but I would like to take the time to share my experience because I believe I am not alone.



I was diagnosed with ADD at 17-18. I first I started using ADD medication my senior year while concurrently enrolled taking class at both the high school and DSC. I found medication helped with some test taking and studying, but interestingly my music suffered while on the meds. My parents and doctor changed my medicated days to an "as needed" basis, depending on what class I was taking each particular day. I continued this method through my freshman year of college. The migraines from the meds and the sleepless nights were small side effects to pay for an “A” on a bubble test and the ability to keep my academic scholarship.  When I bombed a mid term because I was too tired to focus on the night class, I quit taking medicine later in the day. I also started only taking meds during the day on test days. This worked for a while, but when a science lab tests differently than other classes, I began to struggle again. It all sounds confusing, but what I learned was that the medication controlled my thought process and how I learned. If I was in a class that taught to my natural way of learning, I could not convert to my own way of learning while on the meds. It was almost like the medicine was making me think a certain way and that was the only way I could focus. I discovered meds were indeed helping me learn the way our institutions are set up to teach, but I was no longer feeling like myself and missing out on learning some concepts that I would have understood if I had not been medicated. For me, the medication changed my thought process so vastly, I questioned if I was the same person when taking the meds. Because of my ADD, I am also creative. I am able to think outside the box. I am extremely auditory and enjoy learning and living that way. I am afraid we have become a society that thinks we must medicate kids who don’t fit into our "normal" mold, or they won't succeed. Based on my own experience.
 I have to wonder what great minds we have destroyed with a pill, in an effort to make our cookies all look like each other.



All this being said, I really like myself and how I have turned out. I have gone my whole life trying to fit into a broken system, the old adage what does not kill you makes you stronger. In my 20 some years of schooling as I was forced to be a cookie, I have learned how to learn in a variety of ways. This makes me wonder about the cookies who easily succeed in the oven of our current school system. They are never challenged to think a different way and learn; like never experiences a new food. Have those who fit perfect into the system missed out? Do they really know how to learn, how to cope, how to adjust and be flexible? How to learn. I may be one of the few "brownies" enjoying and succeeding in a cookie cutter world, but I am sure my story is the exception to the rule - and it shouldn't be. I honestly do feel sorry for that one group of people who are perfect cookie cutters, they are missing out.