Comments on: Cutting out the Middleman

By: Peter Ruwoldt

Peter Ruwoldt — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:59:39 +0000

In many respects Google and other search facilities have become the new middlemen in education and beyond. The new middle men are able to provide almost instant access to information BUT their value is limited without have good information skills. On the up side I would say that students are practicing their searching skills far more frequently than they did in my day with card index systems and limited libraries.

I recently watched the program ‘The Machine that made us’ on SBS which gave a great account of the printing press invention. There was an impact on Scribes and the world went from virtually no books to 20million in a matter of 50 years. The web was born in the early 90’s. In a matter of 15 years we have………..

I an finding that the better my understanding of what happened in the early 1400’s with the printing press is helping me appreciate what is happening now.

By: Dennis Phillps, Ph.D.

Dennis Phillps, Ph.D. — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:01:33 +0000

In education, the one providing the content, the teacher, is not the middleman. It would have to be the administration, the brick and mortar school or the LMS. That is the the one that will be redesigned in this new world we live in. The competition for which source you go to in order to get the information or knowledge needed to master a subect has always been there. In the public school system, parents just had very little choice, more a matter of the roll of the dice. But in after school learning, music, dance, athletics, etc. we parents have always had a choice. I think we will have more choices in the daytime education of our children in the next few years.

Great discussion.

By: (Learning Technology) ²

(Learning Technology) ² — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:06:30 +0000

Teaching in a Disintermediated World…

In his recent post “Cutting out the Middleman“, Chris Betcher asks, “Who are the educational middlemen?” In other words, who faces the chop if disintermediation affects education as it has other industries? I have a few thoughts…

By: Bethany Smith

Bethany Smith — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:57:51 +0000

So completely off topic – but thanks for the hint about Tripit. I’m planning a vacation to your neck of the woods & it has been great to plan hotels, flights etc. Hope you are having a great time in California!

By: Errin

Errin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:30:37 +0000

I would think the original educational middlemen are those that used to be relied upon to supply teaching resources, such as textbook publishers.

I would hope that teachers would never become obsolete educational middlemen, although children being home schooled by their parents already live that reality.

By: Darcy Moore

Darcy Moore — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:39:39 +0000

Chris,

I am tempted to say that schools themselves are the middle men, but that would be trite and thoughtless. Having said that, some serious philosophical thinking about the place of the institution of school in society, as instruments of transmission of our culture, needs to seriously take place.

It is quite clear to me that school is about ’society’ not necessarily ‘learning’. Or rather, that schools are not so intrinsic to learnin or even needed, as they were in the past, for young people to learn in the ways they were before the internet.

There is a lot more at stake with the transformation (or abolition, which is too strong a word) of schools than just ‘learning’ though. Societal cohesion is to be valued above most things, on this, most would agree.

I keep thinking about the kinds of issues you post about here, Chris, and find myself short on answers about the future of schools. I am much clearer on the future of learning, but schools, that’s a tough one.

By: gmcmahon

gmcmahon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:04:06 +0000

From my role in working with schools I would see the educational middlemen are possibly the school network technicians. What I’m about to say is generalistic but so often true in my experience. While they are still needed to keep networks running smoothly, in the past lots of technicians have been the ones who dictated what software schools used or had access to because they were generally the ones with the most knowledge and principals in particular were/are often led by their advice. This often meant school networks were ‘technician’ driven and not necessarily driven by the teaching and learning. As you mention there are so many web based ways to do things now, teachers don’t always have to ask to have software added to networks for themselves or students so there is no longer the cost or ‘technical’ blockers put in place that there have been in the past, this way the teachers have more control/say over what they and their students use. However don’t get me started on technicians restricting access to websites teachers/students want to use ………

By: SenorEduTechs

SenorEduTechs — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:52:50 +0000

Who are the educational middlemen? That’s easy, hombre. ICT integrators, of course!

By: Anita

Anita — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:34:47 +0000

Thanks Chris, this is a great analogy to help teachers understand how the roles of teachers must evolve in the same way other roles in society are changing. Some may argue that losing the middleman in some industries may be detrimental, in education, however, it just makes it more clear that teachers as disseminators of information – the ’sage on the stage’ – are not necessary. In education there is still a need for a mediator as a guide to assist learners in accessing and working with information. It is fantastic that the recent shifts in accessibility to information and to expression via the internet has made what we have long known to be powerful teaching – the ‘guide on the side’ – easier to accomplish.