The Spring Art Festival and Education

Artwork provided by Cameron Eades

I recently attended our local art festival and, as usual, I really liked some of the artist’s work and I’m not so thrilled with a few others. I do admire all of their talents, but some appeal to me and some never will. It makes you realize how people are so amazing when left uninhibited to create with different mediums. It’s also intriguing how artists can interpret an object in so many ways and create something so different from each other. The patrons all interpret that same piece of artwork in so many different ways and that, I believe, is based upon personal experiences in life and many other factors. I’m definitely not an art critic and I don’t pretend to be, but I know what I like and I think that can be said for all of us.

Could the same be said for education and how we learn?

I understand the history of education and the institutional means for educating the masses. It’s scalable and we need the population educated as quickly as possible. It’s a system that has worked in an efficient manner for generations, but it may not have been the best method for many of us.  

Artwork provided by Cameron Eades

Can we do a better job of educating students by allowing them to learn in ways that are best for them?

I truly believe that technology is beginning to allow us to customize education to the individual and a hybrid model of learning is something that you should be considering if you haven’t already. There is the “flipped classroom,” the “flat classroom,” etc. but as MichaelHorn and Clayton Christensen explored in “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns” (McGraw-Hill) we need to concentrate on transforming America’s education system from its current factory-based model into a student-centric one in which every student can realize his or her human potential.

Technology has drastically changed our personal and professional lives in the last generation and I believe the time is upon us for technology to transform our educational system.