Comments on: Looking for a new wrapper or an entirely new sandwich?

By: Sandy Wagner

Sandy Wagner — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:28:59 +0000

More meat on the sandwich is fine, however if the meat is still stale and moldy, the sandwich is no better. To take the metaphor further, lots of what we fed our kids 30 years ago we now realize is not good for them, therefore we do not feed it to them anymore, let alone feed them MORE of it!

The difficulty is simply that we all have some fear of trying something new, be it a sandwich or a teaching structure. It is easier to continue eating the sandwich we know and like than to try the one we have not even heard of. Doing this on a grand scale is even more difficult. We are talking about changing schools into something we cannot put a solid definition on, to teach kids to live in a world we cannot predict. This takes vision and planning. I have seen and heard the visions, just not a solid plan. Where do we take all this once we “know”? How do we conince those that do not? The gap here between knowing and doing is HUGE.

By: Matthew K. Tabor

Matthew K. Tabor — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:05:07 +0000

I don’t like the sandwich metaphor, but if you’re going to use it, use it wisely. More hours in the school day = more meat in the sandwich. It has nothing to do with the wrapper.

By: Chris/Topher

Chris/Topher — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:18:26 +0000

Have enjoyed your blog for some time, and I recently noticed your presentation at NECC with Katie Beedon with whom I have the opportunity to work on a regular basis in Houston

I agree entirely. I think one underlying issue is that there are tremendous segments of the education industry which do not fully comprehend the concept of experiential, authentic learning. And, when those concepts are understood, the skills necessary to implement them successfully are often absent. My soapbox in that discussion is that Educational Technology is “still in the library.” Originally, ed tech was a matter of providing audio-visual equipment and the training necessary to use it - from a corner office of the library. Since then, and the last 15-20 years in particular, the field of educational technology has evolved dramatically as have the tools available; the technology currently available is more inextricably linked with pedagogy than the VCR/TV combos that surfaced in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, many institutions K-20 do not realize that change in educational technology and still believe integrating technology is “as simple” as training faculty how to use a technology. That, of course, is distinctly different from training faculty how to teach with the technology. How many institutions employ “instructional technologists” that have degrees - undergraduate or graduate - in computer science or information systems, as opposed to instructional design or educational psychology?

One example of this issue is at: http://muveforward.blogspot.com/2007/07/assessing-learner-performance-in-second.html

Look forward to meeting you at some point!

-Chris

By: Paul Wilkinson

Paul Wilkinson — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:20:08 +0000

For your readers unfamiliar with vegemite or marmite it is a thick black sandwich spread looking (and some say tasting) a bit like axle grease. The mistake many make when eating it is to spread it on like peanut butter or honey. If you have just a thin film of it on top of your toast it is actually quite nice (OK I am from New Zealand and I was brought up eating the stuff). A bit like school really. Instead of more seat time let’s encourage children to get out into the toast of the real world via mentoring, coaching, apprenticeships, field trips, work experience, real projects, community involvement etc etc and just spread a vegemite thin film of school on top.