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Moving Beyond The Textbook Is Nothing About A Book – from Patrick Larkin
  • kate
  • April 1, 2013
  • 5:29 pm
  • 0 comments

A few weeks ago, Shawn McCusker wrote The Textbook is Dead, Long Live the Textbook! – From Shawn McCusker.

This week, EdTechTeacher Senior Associate, Patrick Larkin, discusses his district’s move away from the traditional textbook and towards teacher curated content.

As we make the transition away from textbooks as the primary resource for teachers and classrooms, it is understandable that so many people are looking for THE ANSWER which would allow them make this change with as little struggle as possible. Why wouldn’t we do this when most of us have been “schooled” to think that there is always one right answer to a question?  There is a great comfort in knowing that there is a solution out there just waiting to be found, a solution that we can wrap our heads and hearts arounds and then settle down with for the next few decades.

In Burlington, we started looking for the “next-best thing” a couple of years ago when we hosted our first Digital Publication Collaborative. However, as we provided a space for educators to get together and create we realized that there were multiple options. As we move towards our third annual Massachusetts Digital Publication Collaborative in June, we see even more alternatives out there in regards to tools that educators can use to organize content.

Our effort is focused on trying to show educators as many of the options out there as possible and letting the educators (who are the learners in this case) make the choice that works best for them.  Because in my mind, if we can’t get educators to understand the power of “User-Generated Learning” then the choice of a textbook, an iBook, an eBook, or any other resource really doesn’t matter.   With predictions clear are that our students will enter careers that do not presently exist, we need to ensure that we arm them with the skills to continuously generate their own learning.

Dr. Kristen Swanson explains this change clearly in her book Professional Learning in the Digital Age:

“Instead of relying on a content area expert or textbook, (learners) are reliable for finding meaningful information.”

To learn more about life beyond the text book, come join us this summer! We will be running two sessions of our Creating Digital Course Content Workshop: Atlanta (June 13-14) and Boston (July 25-26).