Dave Snyder

SLM521SP03

2/20/03

Article Review #2

Rudnac, Michael, J., (2000). Think Again, internet lessons from the global economy, www.electronic-school.com, March 2000. Retrieved February 20, 2003, http://www.electronic-school.com/2000/03/0300f4.html

Mr. Rudnac throughout his article advances the theory, the school’s traditional mission of passing along facts to students must change, because it doesn’t adequately prepare them for the life long learning the Information Age requires. He thinks if our schools are to retain any real importance in the new century, they must internalize new technologies and expand the capacity to use technology to improve teaching and learning. In other words, schools will have to learn what successful corporations already know: Learn, create, and improve – or disappear.

Mr. Rudnac makes a very strong case for embracing certain fundamental principles and norms of the corporate world. He calls this mentality a “change culture”. What he means by “change culture”, we as educators must be willing to change and redefine our thoughts about education and how we go about instruction within our classrooms. In his opinion and mine as well, students need to learn how to learn – not what to learn and how to think – not what to think. This last sentence is why I really enjoy teaching Technology Education and Vocational Education classes. The information and processes taught within these classes really lend themselves to helping students learn how to learn and think. Mr. Rudnac is very careful to point out that while he likes to use portions of business models to augment his approach to education, he by no means thinks we should adopt a straight business approach to public education. The differences between corporate America and public education are monumental and would not make any sense to copy. Mr. Rudnac goes on to offer three principles for making a change to the way we teach. Principle 1: Begin by examining your mental models, Principle 2: Think of a different way to think, and last Principle 3: Continuously improve and redefine the role of technology. These are three very basic ways to start taking some small steps to improve our method of educating today and tomorrow’s youth.