1. Utopian Visions for the
Future of Education
or, “What box?”
Scottmerrick Oh’s work-in-progress
Shared in Second Life with
Virtual Pioneers
“History from Your Home” Online Conference,
October 30, 2010

2. Virtual Pioneers HQ:

3. Slides from my dry erase board:
I regularly read about educational change: It’s
part of my job as Virtual Learning Curriculum
Specialist at Metro Nashville Public Schools. I
created the following food for thought from my
jottings on a dry erase board that I scrawl upon
daily. Essentially, I’m wondering aloud what
changes we need to implement in order to make
educational systems work, and what underlying
changes in our perceptions of “work” will be
required to support those changes. Here:

4. We MUST stop limiting
“education” to that which
is defined by the existing
factory model.
Sir Ken
Robinson’s
2009 talk to
the World
Bank,
interpreted by
RSA Animate:

5. “That’s the way
we’ve always
done it.”

6. But what if…

7. …broadband internet
access were a “right”
andthat right included
the hardware necessary
to ensure its obtainment?

8. What if…

9. …a system were in place so
that EVERY child received a
twice-annually updated
Individualized Learning
Program from a team of
professional educators?

10. What if…

11. …there were no grades, but
rather credit toward
advancement and
graduation granted on a
best practices recognition of
“Performances of
Understanding?”

12. What if…

13. …the system valued
student-initiated learning
enough to credit self-
motivated learning on
any topic with a value
applicable to a high
school diploma?

14. What if…

15. …the system valued
parental oversight of a
child at home enough to
subsidize that parent’s
income toward
supporting that
oversight?

16. News Alert (May 25, 2015): The owners of every major
professional sporting team in the country,
spurred on by NFL franchise owners’
agreement last August, have agreed to
donate an annual sum equivalent to the
annual salary of their top-salaried player to
support the Federal Parental Oversight
fund. Hollywood movie studios are
considering a similar program. Stay tuned…

17. What if…

18. …every teacher were
trained and required to
teach a balanced
schedule of onsite classes
and online classes,

19. from school
and/or
from home,

20. and remunerated according to
the quality of her or his
contribution to the
improvement of the dialog
(“Informational Reciprocity”)
?

21. What if…

22. …every textbook were
available online and in
traditional print?

23. What if…

24. …a realistic blended-
attendance school
were in session year-
round?

25. What if…

26. …there were no
standardized testing, and
teachers were free to
practice their art in a
realistic set of
environments?

27. We MUST stop limiting
“education” to that
which is defined by the
existing factory model.

28. Resources for inspiration
• http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2010/10/sir-
ken-robinson-helps-me-out-again.html
• http://www.alfiekohn.org/tapesdvd.htm
• http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=5
• http://www.committedsardine.com/elements.cf
m
• http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2010/10/estee
med-gary-stager-educational-change.html
• http://www.rogerschank.com/education.html
• http://kzero.co.uk