In the past decade, our lives have become increasingly asynchronous. Gone are the days when we had to be at a particular place at a particular time. With the proliferation of technology, our relationship with the very concept of time is changing.
Previously, work meant being at a particular desk at a particular time. Now, we can work from anywhere and at any time. Previously, entertainment meant we had to be on our couch at 9 PM on Thursdays to watch the latest episode of Seinfeld. Now, we can stream the latest episodes of any show from anywhere and at any time. Even socializing is less synchronous. We can now connect with friends and family from all over the world at any time of day.
In many ways, education hasn’t yet caught up to this change in our relationship with time. We still ask children to wait for content to be taught to them at the time, pace, and place of their teacher’s choosing.
Ms. Smith will teach you Math, Unit 2, Chapter 5 tomorrow morning at 9:10am for 50 mins in Room 103.
Today’s conventional model of one teacher teaching a large group of kids has so many problems, only a few of which are described above. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Online courses and e-learning platforms already allow students to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule. This can be especially beneficial for students who learn at a different pace from the rest of the class or have other responsibilities, such as work or athletics, that prevent them from attending at a rigid schedule.
With the support of technology, teachers can oversee and support a classroom of students who are moving through the content at their own pace, ensuring they master a concept before moving on. Students also get more agency to decide what to work on next and when with teachers providing the executive functioning support students need.
In many ways, this is the key insight behind the KaiPod Learning model. We break up the traditional synchronicity of education, freeing students to learn at their own pace, without breaking the deep bonds a child forms with their teacher. We break up the requirement that all children learn the same content at the same time, without breaking the relationships a child forms with their peers.
Our students tell us that this experience better aligns with other aspects of their lives. They’re also clear-eyed about the responsibility that comes with this freedom, knowing that they have to make a plan, check in with their Learning Coach, and continue to make progress.
Our Learning Coaches tell us that this experience helps free them from the constraints of a conventional classroom. When they don’t have to ‘teach to the middle,’ they can focus their time on remediating individual student needs and helping each student take the right next step for them.
An entirely new generation of children is entering schools now and looking to us to reframe the model of learning for a post-COVID era. Will we continue repeating the models of the past or finally embrace what's possible?
