‘Improving Improvement’ in Education: Louis Gomez, Keynote Speaker for DML2014 [Blog Post]
While so much attention is focused on improving teaching – the controversy over using text scores as “teacher accountability” measures, for example – isn’t it also important to think about how we improve our notions of improvement? We see no lack of thinking about reforming education: Shouldn’t some attention be directed to how we’re thinking about educational change – and how to improve that thinking? Fortunately, Louis M. Gomez, who is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at DML 2014, has been working on these issues for some time. Perhaps the existing digital media and learning network is an ideal community to address the challenges Gomez sets forth for education reformers. When I learned that Gomez is interested in the implementation of “networked improvement communities in education,” I realized right away that he is a student of the late Doug Engelbart, who is known for his technological innovations and being concerned with “improving improvement” in organizations. Gomez’s interest in networked improvement communities for education is particularly important, given that he is the MacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. When I spoke to Gomez for the video that accompanies this post, we talked about the way networked improvement communities are rooted in Engelbart’s thinking from decades ago. An improvement community, in Engelbart’s framework, is not just one that seeks to improve its performance, but one that also seeks to learn how to improve improvement methods.
[Excerpted from the Connected Learning Alliance Website]
Full Text of Blog Post (via Connected Learning Alliance Website)
‘Improving Improvement’ in Education: Louis Gomez, Keynote Speaker for DML2014 [Interview]
Improving Improvement in Education: Louis Gomez, Keynote Speaker for DML2014
Getting Ideas into Action: Building Networked Improvement Communities in Education
Rheingold, H. (2014, January 30). “Improving Improvement” in Education: Louis Gomez, Keynote Speaker for DML2014. Connected Learning Alliance. https://clalliance.org/blog/improving-improvement-in-education-louis-gomez-keynote-speaker-for-dml2014/