After finishing the first three chapters of the COVA ebook by Harapnuik, Thibodeaux, and Cummings, I'm a tad frustrated. I've already heard about the benefits of CSLE+COVA, the research behind the authentic learning + teacher as a mentor, and how this synergistic approach is sorely needed in our outdated pedagogical teaching models. At this point, I'm still waiting to be shown exactly how this synergistic authentic learning experience is applied in a classroom of 40+ students with one teacher, getting a new batch every 48 minutes. I'm very anxious and curious to see how this important transformation takes shape. The change is needed and I'm looking forward to using it.
It's obvious that our current model isn't at all about our learners. One statement by Harapnuik really stands out to me is, "Since you can easily measure the amount of information your students can regurgitate you can satisfy the political forces that require administrators to generate politically expedient data points that rank and sort students on an averagerian scale". This is exactly why it's so hard to fight against the old industrial model; stakeholders want to see data which in turn pushes the averagerian model. Teaching using the CSLE + COVA approach directly opposes this type pedagogical norm.
Change takes time. Teaching using the COVA model and mentoring each student individually takes a lot of time. This brings me back to my question that I've had since first hearing of COVA, what does this look like in a traditional classroom? I'm hoping that the rest of the ebook will reveal exactly this.
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