Skip to main content

Gatto and the MOOC


Consider the MOOC.  No, not Douglas Rushkoff’s Mook from Jackass - the MOOC.  Massive Online Open Course.  Less obnoxious, less male.

In 1991 John Taylor Gatto published an article titled “The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher”.  The piece outlined six tenants of schooling that Gatto claimed were universal in traditional schooling.  If you haven’t read it - please do.  Click on the hyperlink.  Trust me.  You’ll laugh.

Now, we know from Craig Watkins that to successfully master technology, access is not enough - scaffolding, mentoring and modelling are all necessary to increase learning potential.  And, one of the great travesties in education is the hierarchical access to learning around the globe.   Since this hierarchy leads to less mentorship for lower income learners, we need an alternative.  


If we agree that the alternative also has to respond to Gatto’s six lessons - we must consider the MOOC: 

1) Stay in the class where you belong
MOOCs do not classify by age and ability.  They are open spaces, they are free and everyone can participate.  Learners come and go as they please.  

2) Turn on and off like a light switch
MOOCs promote independence among learners.  Participants choose what they do and how they participate.

3) Surrender your will to a predestined chain of command
MOOCs are peer shared and peer connected.  Although there are facilitators to aid with the scaffolding and mentorship often required to progress, there is no boss.

4) Only the teacher determines what curriculum you will study
MOOCs link information from blogs, twitter, video and articles from all over the internet under one heading.  Material is peer shared and peer connected.  Material is collaborative rather than hierarchical promoting network creation that encourages lifelong learning.

5) Your self-respect should depend on an observers measure of your worth
In a MOOC, you decide if you are successful.

6) You are being watched
Okay - Google is always watching you.  We can’t escape this one.


But Mr. Gatto 5/6 - it looks like the MOOC has got you covered.

Comments

  1. Gatto's list of lessons were really interesting. Funny and scary at the same time. Neat job of illustrating how MOOCs change the picture fundamentally. Of course, as a new general approach, there's still a lot to learn about MOOCs and how they operate, but thankfully, they stand in stark opposition to most of Gatto's observations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes. And they need a better name! But, I think there is opportunity to use MOOCs within the area of blended learning.

    Stay tuned....

    ReplyDelete
  3. (and elsewhere within traditional models of education)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charter schools and Khan - Don't we need both?

In true hypocrite fashion I am beginning this analysis by looking at a couple of programs in the U.S..  Despite years of ranting about the inability of Canadians to consider models outside of North America, and our insistent comparisons to alternatives south of the border, even when models are clearly inferior to our own or others is infuriating.  I will begin here, but promise to cast a broader net moving forward. I have been curious about Charter schools for a long time, particularly because they offer the promise of diversity.  Charter schools are an opportunity within public education to offer something different from the current replicated model.  They offer hope for variation, experimentation and an opportunity to put into practise some of the theoretical ambitions that are so often constrained by the regulations of traditional structures. A couple of interesting quotations about Charter schools in the U.S. that I feel are worth exploring. "Charter schools offer a way to emb

Harvard for Everyone?

Remember this guy?   His assertions garnered a deluge of responses - many countering his claims that post-secondary schooling was getting in the way of his education. Perhaps Dan Brown should have a look at the University of the People, a tuition-free online University.        Harnessing multiple pedagogical models, UoPeople changes the way        in which education can be accessed. We utilize open source technology      and open educational resources to provide access to educational material      from some of the most prominent institutions. Distance learning allows those      in all corners of the world to access information.( HuffingtonPost ) University of the People believes that online learning is the way to offer access to higher education for millions of people in developing nations. They believe that education can build a road away from poverty and oppression. There is an ‘application fee’ and an ‘exam fee’ each of which cost between $10 and $100 each depending on

Choice: Is it Worth it?

The Ideology of choice, on which capitalism is structured, prevents social change. So, is my advocation of multiple systems for learning simply an ingrained capitalist desire for choice?  And, by doing so am I undermining the stability of the current system that offers little choice?   And, does the current system, by offering little to no choice help alleviate anxiety in youth? According to Professor Selecl, Choice creates anxiety in the three ways: 1) We choose what other people are choosing If I simplify Prof Selecl's argument I can see that students, due to peer pressure, elevated need for belonging etc, almost always choose what the other students are choosing.  Peer pressure in teens is well documented and perhaps if given the opportunity to choose a learning system, students would end up not in the system that suits their educational needs, but the one that their friends are in.  This would most likely lead to a student body as anxious as the one we already h