EDUCATION IS OVERRATED

Education is overrated. The Merriam-Webster defines education; “to give (someone) information about something, or the knowledge, that you get from attending a school, college, or university.” Learning, on the other hand, has revolutionized the face of education forever. The more science continues to understand the human mind and the way in which we learn new things, the better off our students will become. Provided we make deliberate changes to the way we practice teaching. Content served, does not equal learning achieved. My first encounter with 21st-century learning, -a term popularized by innovative education- was Salman Kahn’s first ever homemade video posted on YouTube, where he tells the story of his nieces living in a different state wanting him to tutor them in math over the web. His homemade math videos soon went viral, becoming the impetus for him to quit his job and develop what is now widely known as Kahn Academy, promoting its ambitious slogan “You can learn anything.” It taught me as I watched my own children spend time with it, that customized, trackable, mastery-based learning was possible with the help of technology.
As educators we all recognize that our classrooms are filled with a diverse range of learners, the struggle we all share is how to reach each one of them single-handedly. The answer I believe is simple; blended learning. Over the last several years I have developed an entire blended learning Rabbinic Literature Program, allowing me to transition from being the sage on the stage, to the guide on the side. It has given my student the complete autonomy to learn, discover, at their own pace, and afforded me the flexibility to pull up a chair alongside a student and check-in with them and their learning progress. Naturally, all new things come with their own set of challenges, mine, in particular, is the unique challenge of attempting to teach not just a topic, but a way of life through the face of a computer. I still struggle to find that balance, I wonder; man vs. technology or vice-versa?

It has been an experiment that has proven results, with a measurable increase in student learning. The built-in formative assessments continuously check for understanding of the Text, along with the opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding at the end choosing from an option of assessments. Education must be more than just, “gaining knowledge by attending school,” put best by our Sages “Educate each child according to his own way, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” 

My Rabbinic Lit. Web site can be found here: talltorah.blogspot.com