STARTSOLE

I have a friend who has had a seemingly endless list of “cool” jobs. He worked with Google, he ran research labs at Emory, he’s currently working as a Disney Imagineer. In pretty much all of these positions, he’s had to hire people, usually undergrads, and he always ends with the same question: “If you don’t know how to do something, what do you do?” The answer that gets you an immediate rejection is, “Well, I ask you!”. Employers don’t want their employees to be another task-- they should be helpful, not a burden. The best answer is “well, I google it.” The most successful people I know use asking people as a final option-- an option that is there and consistently available (and sometimes very necessary), but the least convenient and the most hassle. Knowing how to find answers on your own is more and more becoming a vital skill, and one that top tier employers don’t just want-- they demand. Traditional education doesn’t fit this model. Traditional education hands students i...

When I do presentations about SOLE, I spend a lot of time talking about the teachers. I talk about how easy the app is to use, the great lesson plan it creates, how simple it is, how it can improve their classroom culture, etc etc etc. I do this intentionally-- I know how hard teachers work, and I would never want them to use something that would make their lives harder. But if we’re being really honest, SOLE is all about the students.     The premise of SOLE is that students control their own learning-- that they learn how to self-direct, self-manage, and collaborate without a teacher holding their hand. It can be scary, for both the teacher and the student, but being overly comfortable never created dramatic change. And it can be a dramatic change.   Students who are bright but bored get to really push themselves. Students that struggle with traditional classrooms get a chance to try out something new. Students that always work alone get the experience of ...