Our conversation with Jeff Hopkins certainly brought up a lot of ideas about alternatives in education, one that stuck out was student centered, or hopefully student led, learning. What that means is taking the focus off of the teacher, and putting it onto the student. Traditional didactic methods of instruction place the teacher at the head as the holder of knowledge, ready to impart it into the empty minds of their students. This can create numerous issues, including leaving some students behind, dragging behind other students who become bored, a lack of communication and independence among students, etc…

Student led learning, briefly summarized in the video above, retains the teacher as facilitator but puts the student in charge of directing their own learning. This is an extremely large undertaking, and faces many barriers in traditional educational institutions because it demands cross-curricular capacities and adaptability from the school. Jeff Hopkins stated that he is hoping his school is eventually put out of business as public schools are able to accomplish similar goals, but not all proponents of student led learning have the same intention.

Google is perhaps the leading force pushing for autonomous and digital learning resources, particularly their software google classroom. While I agree with Hopkins hopes that these practices can transition into the public realm, his school is still a private institution, and costs an immense sum to attend. Private organizations, especially tech giants like google, will always be beholden to profits, not people. While they may have the flexibility to adopt these practices quicker, they can serve to undermine the public school system and those within it who are working to make similar changes. This is not to say they are flawed pedagogically, but that their inaccessibility and intentions may be flawed. How can the private sector be held accountable in the same way public schools can? Many a charter school has closed midway through the semester sacrificing the education of the students because they are no longer viable.

That being said, the pedagogical ideas brought up were extremely interesting. I hope to integrate many of the concepts put forward into my own pedagogy, a helpful article for anyone else interested can be found here.

5 Ways to Make All Students Lead Learners