Bricks and Mortar: Standing on the common ground.

The panel discussion today was about the statement

Resolved: Bricks and mortar schools are detrimental to the future of education.

In my mind two people dominated the discussion: Cheryl Lemke (@LemkeC) and Gary Stager (@garystager) What Cheryl said resonated with what actually happened. No matter how different the sides are there is always common ground. Cheryl Lemke and Gary Stager were standing firmly on that common ground. From my perspective anyway they both seemed to be clamoring for improving schools and not abandoning them. Gary Stager pointed out that bad teaching is bad teaching whether it happens face to face or in a distance learning environment. Cheryl was lauding the importance of keeping the school as a center of learning for the community. This idea of improving our local communities by strenghtening the local ties and by connecting to diverse learning opportunities is a powerful one. The student rebuttal had one of the best lines of the day. In fact 2 of them. "I get excited not just about what I am going to learn but about who I am going to learn it with" and "My school connects me to my local community"

The question Jared and I discussed was "What does this mean for adult learners" What is the role of face to face socialization for adults who have learned the socialization skills and need skill training? I go back to my old argument. We learn from people we know care about us. All learning is emotianal We need the care and concern of people to carry out the fundamental purpose of education which is to change, specifically to improve.