David Wiley is one of those people operating on the edges of the educational space. In his recent post, he’s offered a new role for the teacher and a possible answer to one of the major problems I’ve had with online education for a long time — credential.
Maybe instead of hacking WordPress, we should be hacking degrees. Anyone up for a completely informal, completely open, homemade certificate-style diploma? A handful of courses offered by all of us – take intro open ed from me, connectivism from George and Stephen, media studies from Brian (you know you’ve always wished he would teach it), and then complete three cumulative edupunk projects under the tutelage of the Reverend, D’Arcy, and Tony. Maybe D’Arcy will also offer an elective in mobile video production?
Why not? I want my homemade edupunk diploma!!!
I’ve written before that the purpose of the institution — the thing that it really provides — is the credential, not education — certainly not learning. The stranglehold that the institution has on the credentialing function maintains the economic value of the experience, to whit:
- People need jobs to survive.
- Industry requires credential.
- The credential is only available from the institution.
- People pay the institution to get the credential.
- Because people need jobs to survive.
That monopolistic function — provider of credential — has been a barrier to realizing the potential of online education. There’s even a whole industry of certification that services colleges and universities by offering, for a fee, accreditation — a kind of “Good Teaching Seal of Approval” from a variety of agencies whose sole purpose is to say “Yup. They’re ok.” Allegedly this means that diplomas actually means something and that folks don’t just send a check and get a sheepskin. Recently we’ve seen how effective that is. (Not very.)
I’ve been envisioning the solution to this as a kind of third party credential a la the Western Governor’s University that provides a kind of validation of education by certifying operational knowledge, not seat time. I’ve thought of it as a kind of ABA or AMA for various fields. If you can pass the exam, you’re given the credential and can represent yourself as a professional regardless of how/where that knowledge was obtains. David presents a more audacious idea, one more in keeping with the spirit of the internet.
What do you think about this role of teacher?
September 30th, 2008 at 7:00 AM
I think that a credential is not at all neccessary to be a teacher. I have a little brother, part of the big brothers big sisters program. I know he wants to be a mechanic when he grows up. I can give him more learning opportunities by having him follow my dad around (a former mechanic) and learning the basics of engine repair, than he could by taking courses on it in a classroom. On the same level, a good friend from my church has a 4 year old son who dreaded going to preschool/headstart. he wanted to spend time with his father, who runs a lawn care business. I advised her that she should teach clay how to read write and do math on his own pace, and his father could teach him how to run a business, and everyone would still be happy. You dont need a piece of paper to teach.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:42 AM
I agree.
But you DO need a piece of paper to get paid for doing it.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:44 AM
I think the role of Credential is more about what the students are receiving from the institution. Yes, you do need a paper to get paid for doing it for verification that you know what you are doing. I think the role of the teacher is to actually help others obtain their credentials.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Actually, it’s not verification that you know what you’re doing. It’s only verification that you’ve been through the approved process. If the purpose was to validate that you know what you’re doing, then tests like Praxis and PLACE wouldn’t require a university recommendation as pre-requisite to taking the exam.
Many people “teach” but they’re not “teachers.” The difference is in credential and social convention.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:18 PM
In the time that I have spent in classroom in this region, I have witnessed several teachers, with not only one, but several dimplomas stating that they are teachers. However, many of these teachers would not even remotely qualify as a real teacher, regardless of what their credentials say. I have also met people who do not have diplomas who are the most wonderful teachers ever. But, in this world, its all about whats on paper.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:47 PM
Accreditation has two forms, vouching and history. Vouching is what the institutions do. History is what the students have done, and are doing. For this reason I like the idea of a VLE with PLE and game mechanics. The game mechanics give simulated history for the students to show while helping the institutions do a better job of vouching.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:01 PM
I definitely don’t think that credentials have to be obtained from a college or other institute in order to be a teacher. It seems to me that a lot of time you simply do pay for “seat time.” You see many people “teaching” (for example, in Sunday School) that do not have the paper that says they are certified, but you can just tell that they would be wonderful at the job. Then again, you see many people “teaching” that do have the certification but don’t really have the skills to teach.
I think that all colleges today need to provide some type of clinical period in order to teach students about the “real world.” From college and text books to place of employment are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT worlds!!!
September 30th, 2008 at 8:37 PM
The credentialing process serves a purpose in society. It is not a perfect system, but it is an attempt at standardization of practice for a given field.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:16 PM
A diploma is the reason I attended college. I knew that I had to have it to recieve a career and get paid for it. Could I have used open acesss to recieve the knowledge to teach? I think I would need someone to guide me in the right direction, but I think my ability to teach was in me before I recieved a college education. There is a process that everyone is expected to participate in order to get that piece of paper that says that I went to school. I know some people that have that paper, but it doesn’t mean they do thier job well. I think education is moving towards something more flexible. When I was a freshman at Morehead, I had no idea that I would be extending my education from home. So maybe we can get to a point where we can seek our own information and learn from doing and recieve a hand made diploma. I don’t believe it will take the place of the current diploma. Maybe Dr. Lowell’s idea of taking a test will work.
October 1st, 2008 at 2:53 AM
[...] have been some good comments on my post from yesterday, and interesting posts elsewhere around the net. I realized I needed to clarify my model a bit after reading [...]
October 6th, 2008 at 3:19 PM
Some institutions extend their classrooms online.
http://www.athabascau.ca/
Remote locations have always led in creative solutions for their students.