Venture educators (VEs) are to education as venture capitalists (VCs) are to business. They take calculated risks to gain advantages. VEs seek gains for their students as VCs invest in clients.
Simply stated, VEs renew teachers’ dreams of increasing student learning rates during robust transitions to a different era of education.
VEs promote technological advances and pedagogic innovation by taking calculated risks, today by inventing teaching and learning methods, practices and techniques made possible by advanced technologies.
VEs recognize that mobile PC technology (such as Tablet PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs) and innovation are means to increase student learning rates, not ends in themselves.
They recognize that their calculated judgments (e.g., risks) may also provide students with more individual choices, new economic opportunities, higher living standards, greater dignity and autonomy.
VCs accept that their students will strengthen communities and widen informed public life.
Techno-ConstructivistsI apologize for the academic tone. I lifted this information from a paper I had to write for a Master’s class. I appreciated your post on Venture Educators. This information expands on that idea a bit. I am anxious to get my high school classroom environment more learner-centered. It seems though, that we need to balance the students’ freedom to explore and learn with the restrictions we place on them so that they don’t explore too much. Noon (as cited in Thornburg, 2002) defines a techno-constructivist as one “who empowers students to use technology to develop their own deep understanding of a subject area… [it] should be the ultimate goal of educational technology use” (¶ 1). By exploring the many current and potential uses of modern technology, Thornburg (2002) states that educators “will understand how students can use them in the same way” (¶ 6). Thornburg says that teachers spend a lot of time in activities related to teacher-directed instruction. This will become “less of an issue if educators embrace techno-constructivism… [because] the heavy lifting is done by the learners, not by the educator” (¶ 8). Thornburg, D. (2002). Consider this: Using technology resources to engage in lifelong learning and ongoing professional development. PBS Teacher Line: http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/resources/thornburg/thornburg1002.cfm.
Academic tones are OK on this site, Tom. I and I think most teachers learn from, so prefer rationality to other expressions. You described an on-going problem for teachers: to balance the students’ freedom to explore and learn with the restrictions we place on them so that they don’t explore too much. I don’t know the best balance for anyone else. I start with the open learning style of exploration for myself as well as for my students. However, when a student fails to meet minimum performance criteria for a lesson, I switch to direct instruction on the point of failure. When they get the “ah ha, I see the point,” I switch back to more open, but monitored learning condition. How do other teachers handle the balance?