Response to David Wiley's TEDtalk

“The only proper role for technology in education is to increase our capacity to be generous,” sums up David Wiley’s overall message in his TED talk “An Interdisciplinary Path to Innovation”. Wiley shares his vision of an open education system where resources, time, and expertise are freely shared and collaboration, debate, and feedback are championed. He juxtaposes this proposal with current educational challenges like increased demand for access to education, copyright laws, greed, and inequities. Foundationally, David Wiley believes that the more open we are, the better our education will be.

Although I think there are a lot of obstacles to making it a reality, fundamentally I believe Wiley’s premise is true. Moreover, it is a moral stance. Wiley implies this when he uses words like “generous”, “sharing”, and “giving”. These are not policy words, but moral words. They are words that follow “loving your neighbor” and thinking of the community, of humanity, rather than just myself. I believe in that and try in my classroom to move from that moral compass. It’s not just good morality, though, it is also best practices in the education field and the business industry. Studies show that when teachers collaborate, student success increases and teaching sharing and collaboration to children is one of the most sought after skills for finding success in business and adult life. Google, Microsoft and others have even rearranged their office spaces to encourage sharing, as they find it not only grows ideas by leaps and bounds, but also goodwill within the company. So, yes, both my heart and my head agrees with Wylie’s idea.

Watching this TED talk reminded me of times when I have felt selfishly after sharing my own creations. “I could have sold this on Teachers-pay-Teachers,” I smack myself on my forehead. “They have NO idea how long and hard I worked on this!” I grumble. Somehow I equate my creations with my value, rather than the value that they will bring to others. Oddly, the best times I have ever had with my colleagues occurs when we are freely sharing ideas with one another (usually on In-service days) without fear of being shot down or of failing or thinking of cost. We are simply giving and receiving, generous and thankful. Wiley’s talk made me think about just what an amazing, joyful, less-stressful, curiosity-based, equal way of educating this could be.

So, bringing my head out of ideals and into practicality now, what about these obstacles:

1. 1. If all education were shared, open, and generous, how does a teacher get paid? I realize K-12 public education has found a way, but what about colleges?

2. I can hear the “socialism vs capitalism” debate begin, so is it compatible with our country’s capitalistic makeup?

3. How do we differentiate between educational copyright/sharing versus music and movies copyright/sharing?

4. Will this potentially put private education out of business?

5. And how about well-researched, peer-reviewed curricula—how do we keep educational material from becoming “your facts” versus “my facts”?