Richness and authenticity are much-sought attributes of “the road of excess” for the 21st Century Learner. They trump “educationally relevant” as a measure of what we should look for in a learning experience for a 21st Century learner that might lead to “the palace of wisdom”.
Richness? I have my doubts. What is rich?
Relevant and authentic I do like but unless you discuss what the two words mean, they just become buzzwords with which to beat your enemies and to become complacent with your friends.
Relevant is relevant to the lives of your students, Myspace, skateboards, WoW. The students are the final judge of relevance.
Authentic is work with a real purpose, it's a bit disappointing when your pottery is bound for the clay bin at the end of the lesson.
I just love it when someone can say something in a well crafted phrase that would take me a paragraph to evoke. Tony could be talking about any of the educational double talk that occurs in official circles or, dare I say it, on this blog or in the edublogosphere.
Image: 'drowning teapot' by labspics
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