On teaching vs learning
George Siemens mentions the idea of teacher as curator in todays blog at elearnspace. He cites his own more detailed description of a curatorial teacher:
A curatorial teacher acknowledges the autonomy of learners, yet understands the frustration of exploring unknown territories without a map. A curator is an expert learner. Instead of dispensing knowledge, he creates spaces in which knowledge can be created, explored, and connected. While curators understand their field very well, they don’t adhere to traditional in-class teacher-centric power structures. A curator balances the freedom of individual learners with the thoughtful interpretation of the subject being explored.
I think there is genius in his phrase “expert learner”. What he describes, to me is very much the role of a producer in a video or recording project. Think of George Martin for the Beatles, Quincy Jones for artists from Sarah Vaughn to Michael Jackson, or Mutt Lange for Shania.
While I like the idea of curator in the classroom, and especially in the online learning environment, there is room to consider administrative need for accountability and outcomes measurement. In balancing these roles, the analogy of producer rings true.
I confess, it is my experience base as a producer for most of my working career, which is why educators, librarians and digital media professionals are pairing up to deliver new and exciting forms of learning.
