Thursday, October 2, 2008

What is the STATE of the eState of Vermont?

The Education Action Team met on September 9 to discuss this question. Around the table was an interested group of people ready and willing to get into the messy conversation of where they really think we are as an eState and where it is we want to be. The group pondered these questions:
  • Does this team support educators or provide education to a broader constituency?
  • Is this team contributing to managing the process of education or will it engage in the practice of education?
  • Does this action team deliver education?
  • How can we go forward - do the thing (educate) we say is necessary to bring the eState forward?
The group was clear that the actual vision of where we want to be should be a bit fuzzy right now. It will be ever changing as the technological capacity continues to grow. They were in agreement that this conversation should not be held back by what is. The group challenged the idea of maintaining the status quo until we can change the structures around us. Clearly the message of urgency was heard around the table.

Ultimately this work will entail the PROMOTION of an idea; ACTION on the part of many educators, community members, businesses, and government officials; and FUNDING for the work and the tools to bring the ideas forward to the public.

Some ideas that stirred up the group to discuss further:
  • How do we keep the intellkectual capital in Vermont? how do we build for this sustainability for and with our youth?
  • How do we create global community thinking within Vermont...now?
  • What should education look like in the future?
The next step will be to invite more people to the table. This group needs to be more diverse. The next meeting will be another "skunkworks" meeting - with each person bringing another person to the meeting ready to get deep into a messy conversation wrapped around these big ideas.

Are you game?

Next meeting date: October 21, 2009 @ 12:30-2:30 Pm in the conference room at the Superintendent's Office in the Essex Town School District.
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3 comments:

Dan French said...

The state board is making a similar push through its Transformation Initiative. You might want to coordinate efforts with them

I think discussing what education might look like in the future is a good place to begin. It does not preclude dealing with current realities, but we need to firm up a sense of the future possibilities in order to offer a compelling reason to change the system.

I would welcome the opportunity to participate in this conversation, but Essex is too far north.

October 6, 2008 at 6:55 PM
Karyn Vogel said...

Hi Dan, Thank you for writing in. I agree that coordinating with the Transformation team is an excellent idea. I have requested some more info about that.

In the meantime, Ellen Thompson tells me that having a speaker phone in the meeting is possible, so would you be willing to participate that way?

Thanks! Karyn

October 8, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Karyn Vogel said...

Here's where to find info about the
Transformation Initiative at the state level.

October 16, 2008 at 8:18 AM

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