MCL is a Vision . . . for now

2 comments Published Friday, April 27, 2012 by Chuck Schwahn in  

We are frequently getting requests to go see the school that is described in the video titled Lori Does Her Learning Plan. (The video is available through the masscustomizinglearning.com website or directly through YouTube) Sorry, but Inevitable: Mass Customizing Learning is only a vision at this point. Since the publication of the book, many school districts are taking "starter steps" so that they are ready for the "on ramp" when the technology catches up with the vision. A field book to help educators and school systems negotiate that on ramp is scheduled to be available sometime this summer. Some exciting "starter steps" that will be part of that Fieldbook are now available on our website.


At present, we are in discussions with a very successful tech-oriented company that may partner with us to make the vision a reality. The vision has great appeal. I worked with a group of 170 educators in Pennsylvania this Thursday (April 26). We spent 3 hours studying the rationale for MCL, the vision, what it could mean for learners, and what it could mean for our profession. It appears that there is near universal acceptance and support for MCL as described in Inevitable.

Visions are most powerful when they run well ahead of our present capacity to do them, and visions are more exciting when written in the present tense rather than the future tense. Creating the vision of a desirable and doable change is the first step in creating a new reality. (cjs)


Inevitable: An Inside Job

0 comments Published Tuesday, April 24, 2012 by Chuck Schwahn in  

When we write, we attempt to share ideas and get people excited about innovative visions that have the potential to improve learning for learners. Later, if and when the book is successful, we learn in reverse some of the things that made the ideas/visions fly. When Bill Spady and I wrote Total Leaders for AASA, we didn't realize that it was probably the only "Ed Leadership" book that looked at education through leadership eyes. Other leadership books looked at leadership through old, entrenched, unsolvable "educational issues" eyes. The Total Leaders Framework allowed educational leaders see their role from a much larger perspective. They were able to see things anew, out-of-the-box you might say.


Bea and I had a similar hit about Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning recently. When we think about education and technology today, most of the innovation is coming from those deep in technology and not so deep in education and learning. Inevitable looks at technology through educator eyes. We apply technology to "transform" our learning paradigm. We don't/didn't think of technology first, we though of learning and leaders first.

So Inevitable doesn't "throw the baby out with the bathwater." Inevitable keeps the tried and true, our good practices and habits that research tells us work. We ask the most important question, "how is this learner outcome best learned." Those coming from the technology side tend to see "technology as teacher." While we think much of what we now want learners to know, be able to do, and to "be like" can be taught effectively through technology, we also know that the teacher's (learning facilitator's) role is critical for the most critical learner outcomes.

So, we now say that, "Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning is an Inside Job." (cjs)

New Elementary School Chapter

0 comments Published Saturday, April 7, 2012 by Chuck Schwahn in  

Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning was written for K-12 educators, but because your humble authors believe that our high schools are most in need of transformation, our major emphasis was on the secondary school level. Chapter 7, which deals with Lori doing her schedule, has been an important tool in helping readers to understand the Inevitable vision. (see the Lori Does Her Learning Plan by clicking on the Youtube icon) Since publication, we have been frequently asked to provide examples for the elementary educators. We have done that, and that new chapter, Chapter 11, is now available on our website. Feel free to download it and copy it for your colleagues if you wish. Go to resources on our website (masscustomizedlearning.com) and click onto it. It is in a power point format.


Also, we have decided to add that chapter to our hard copy book. In the near future, whenever we complete the publication process, Inevitable books will contain the Elementary School Chapter. There will be a small note on the cover stating that the Inevitable "Includes the new Elementary Chapter."

Thanks for keeping the MCL buzzzzz going. Inevitable continues to sell well and we are getting great reviews from readers and those who attend our workshops and seminars. cjs

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