DUBLIN IRELAND: Talking with Prof. Stephen Heppell. Episode 2 - Not School! Seducing Kids back into Learning

Created by Allan Carrington (The University of Adelaide) on December 7, 2005

We continue our conversation and talk about "Not School". This amazing 5 years old, multi million pound sterling a year, project sounds radical, and it is radical, but in this episode Stephen Heppell also points out that the learning outcomes of "Not School" are absolutely breathtaking. e.g. 93% of the kids on the project within 3 months of starting get some external accreditation and most have been out of the school system for 18 months to two years. This podcast is really worth a listen and "Not School" definitely supports Stephen's comment: "There is the future, the 21st Century - bang! By people, for people, with people, what a democratised century we are in"

I arrived in Dublin after flying overnight from Washington DC and was suffering from redeye, but the time with Stephen and Gavin was certainly energizing ... oh yeah the Guinness helped too. When I was podcasting with Stephen and Gavin my jetlag was completely negated by my level of engagement in hearing about this incredible experiment in learning.

In an Apple Computers UK article they say "The project has been hailed as seminal; a refreshing approach to a longstanding problem that seeks to employ the creative aspects of new technology to challenge conventional ideas about education. Heppell says: “It just goes to show how much hidden — and too often wasted — talent there is out there”. And he should know — amazingly, many of Heppell’s closest associates, including several well-known government advisors, did not complete their schooling for similar reasons".

Highlights of the Dublin second podcast 28th Oct

Stephen explains "Not School" - www.notschool.net
A three million pound Sterling a year project
DfES funded but there are challenges because it is not something and there isnt funding for things that aren't something ... make sense? Then listen to the podcast
We discuss if it is not school then what it is - it is learning!
It is for young people that are excluded from the system, some are expelled, some are witness protection, some are phobic
Entirely web based ... but NOT school
Participants get a desktop computer which represents permanence it is a portal to their friends, their community
250-300 variables to get this right e.g vocabulary needs to be right
Participants are NOT students they are called researchers and that is more than a name - they are part of the design of the curriculum, the assessments most everything.
It is Stephen's idea and has been running five years
1000 "not students" (researchers) part of the project last year
We discuss the importance of "student voice" - where the control lies in the education of the young
Given great freedom to "seduce them back into learning"
Results are breathtaking e.g 93% of the kids on the project within 3 months of starting get some external accreditation and most have been out of the school system for 18 months to two years
The researchers are getting better results than the targets that have been set for the schools they have been excluded from
It is personalized learning so every single young person is a success story
Project has been taken over by a non profit foundation.
Stephen shares an amazing story how the young researchers asked for Chinese as a language to be included in the curriculum and how well a researcher had learnt it at graduation
One of the amazing things about the curriculum is that it is by them for them e.g they asked for wrestling and irish dancing from home
Gavin shares about the importance of building on success and building on responsibility and how it improves engagement
Stephen introduces and gives example of how a young person wanted to learn the Saxophone. From one note to four notes in a couple of days, then only a few months later set up a website and became a tutor for others. Listening to this is a must
Learner generated content is not just about stuff, it is about communities of practice supporting themselves

Not satisfied with reshaping how young people learn online, Stephen has lead a project to redesign the physical learning space or as we know it, "the classroom". I have linked to an excerpt from a British TV program called "Things to Come" where Stephen talks about reshaping the school. It is only a few minutes long but very thought provoking. You will need the latest Quicktime from Apple. Please enjoy the "Things to Come" video for Broadband (7.4 mb) or for Dialup (1 mb)

We stopped this episode with that profound comment. "There is the future, the 21st Century - bang! By people, for people, with people, what a democratised century we are in" Please be sure to visit this blog again for the next episode of this podcast, when we talk about what happens when young people like these arrive at university. I wonder if university faculty should be like the TV professionals and "Be very Afraid!"

Please contact us if you would like to discuss anything we have shared in the podcast or have any comments.

Regards
Allan

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How will it impact the future of education!

Submitted by Allen Anderson (Schools Galore) on August 7, 2009 - 6:37pm.

I really like the way Prof. Stephen thinks and I totally agree to his vision about the future of the education.

I've always asked in different educational forums that how are we going to cope with the issues of traditional learning when the trend online learning is increasing rapidly due to its benefits. In this age of technological advancement, scholars have been indicating in the increased penetration of distance learning techniques and environments which would mould the future of getting education.

I would like to quote Prof. Stephen's interview when he said;

“20th century learners needed to be compliant, punctual, uniform and pretty dull really. 21st century learners really need to be ambitious. They need to be collaborative. More than collaborative really, they need to embrace the idea of mutuality. They need to really not just work with others, but need to work with others and sometimes on their own. Above all else, I think they need to stand back and have their eyes on a horizon and it’s a global horizon, it absolutely is.”

and also;

“I think we’ve got to open our hearts, minds and our systems to new learning and that means everything. It’s a trivial thing but it’s worth remembering that kids have stopped emailing; email is what your dad does and it’s rather a sad thing. Yet we’re still saying here's the curriculum, we expect you to be able to format text and word process a document. I mean that’s gone. How can we be agile enough to keep up with the new technologies? This is a key question, I think, particularly for colleges. We’re not agile enough, people will come to the door, see the rules and just deflect them and go somewhere else. They’ll have choices; they’ll have a lot more choices.“

Here, I would like to refer to a Newsweek report which reffered to a study that for learning, the writing must be an integral part of the formal education. No doubt writing is one of the most important source of learning as it involves three things; the reading, the memorizing of the words/sentences and the writing itself. Hence the students who learn by writing are capable of learning their writings for a longer time as compared to the the students who just learn orally.

All I am curious about is that how it will impact the shape of education. I would like to know that how is it going to affect the subconscious development or passive learning of a student as compared to his going to a traditional school?

I work in the field of online education and am providing consultancy to 2 online schools at this moment. I believe that this advancement is not going to stop and the future would be like attending virtual classes, studying in front of the screen of Laptop/Palmtop, saying hello to your teacher while lying on your bed, listening to the teachers in the earphones, and attempting online papers while sitting in the lawn of your house.

Allen Anderson
SchoolsGalore