What Is Integral Education?

03.03.2011 By
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An integral approach to education focuses on the continued growth of students and teachers throughout their life span. Integral education attempts to discover how the many partial truths of educational philosophies and methods inform and complement each other in a coherent way, while acknowledging that the whole truth is still evolving and can never be completely captured. Integral education includes approaches to education from biological, neurological, societal, cultural, psychological, and spiritual fields of study. It involves considering the individual and collective aspects of teachers and students, as well as the interior and exterior modes of experience and reality, termed the four quadrants (see graph below from: Integral Teacher, Integral Students, Integral Classroom: Applying Integral Theory to Education by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens p. 9). An integral approach also considers the developmental lines in a human … [Read more...]

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Need for Innovation in Education

01.31.2011 By
Teacher student talking

"Science requires an engagement with the world, a live encounter between the knower and the known." — Parker J. Palmer* That encounter, in education, requires presence and the capacity to innovate in any given moment. Last Tuesday evening, President Obama gave us a choice: "Win the future, or be left behind."  Why is innovation essential in education?  Obama noted that, "None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be, or where the new jobs will come from." As Integral practitioners, we have the capacity to spur innovation by requiring that students are self generating learners, and are able to use multiple methods for demonstrating their understanding. We bank on student's inherent motivation to succeed and learn, coupled with the challenge to create independent projects that demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of any given topic.   We don't need to know what lies before us. We just need to have the vision and motivation to show up and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Current Events, Education

The Future of Elite Education is Online

08.15.2010 By
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In Fast Company, Anya Kamenetz writes, "...if you were starting a top university today, what would it look like? You would start by gathering the very best minds from around the world, from every discipline. Since we're living in an age of abundant, not scarce, information, you'd curate the lectures carefully, with a focus on the new and original, rather than offer a course on every possible topic. You'd create a sustainable economic model by focusing on technological rather than physical infrastructure, and by getting people of means to pay for a specialized experience. You'd also construct a robust network so people could access resources whenever and from wherever they like, and you'd give them the tools to collaborate beyond the lecture hall. Why not fulfill the university's millennium-old mission by sharing ideas as freely and as widely as possible? If you did all that, well, you'd have TED." How TED is Becoming the Future of Education TED.com … [Read more...]

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