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hlurie
Some final/initial thoughts
Here are some suggestions on how to focus the thoughts which have floated in and out of these rooms today; most of these are facts-on-the-ground ideas.
1. Partner partner partner… it doesn’t really need to be restated that the ed tech world/market, or whatever we prefer to call it, is massive and sometimes teetering into chaos. I think this project should find partners for distribution and evaluation, for starters, who both embrace the core ideas of what NML is attempting, but also have the reach and capacity. Consider what “success” might look like, ie in terms of obtainable metrics and results.
2. Try to find some level of balance between levity and gravity, that is, between some of the more theoretical, wild-eyed (ok, Erin), concepts of knowledge etc, and the nitty gritty details of schools, kids and teachers. I can’t offer much more than a call for balance, but I’d caution against erring too far in one end of this spectrum.
3. Templatize - try to create a way in which an early iteration of the guide etc. can be easily replicated by later versions. Not sure if this makes sense, but I’d hate to see something die on the vine because early feedback forced a major rewrite, which ended up unfunded.
4. In terms of content and substance of what to create, I’d steer away from the lesson-plan model, and more towards the case-study based teachable moments, archived and interpreted in association to your overall themes. Your early adopters and converted friends will flock to what you create, but you need to get further than these cohorts. My sense is that while everyone clamors for lesson plans, few actually get used in ways they’re intended to be used. Prompts, springboard media, teachable moments, and the like could prove to be more cost effective to produce, evaluate and distribute.
5. Finally… go global. Find ways to make this whole gig available in multi-languages. It would be painfully ironic if something focusing on place and literacy was constrained by being produced in one language.
