Can’t help feeling chuffed!
I was setting up accounts in the next Teacher Online Professional Development for QA and I got a Skype call from someone I did not recognize. I did not accept the call but instant messaged the person to find out what they wanted. The caller said they were part of the next online course and wanted to know when their account would be ready. I proceeded to tell the caller that he would need a partner teacher as is this is a requirement of our online PD program; schools must present 2 teachers in the workshop. He went on to make excuses and say that the school was poorly resourced with computers and could not present 2 teachers and started putting forward more and more excuses. Hmm, I became suspicious …
I became suspicious as the excuses grew more far fetched and looked up the family name on our QA database to discover there was as student with the same family name in one of last year’s retired classes. I asked the caller if this was him and he finally had to confess “oh pshhhhhh” yes it was him. The upshot was that he had changed schools, in fact states and his new school had not heard of Quest Atlantis. He totally loves QA declaring “Sorry i’m really sorry. its just i’m really interested in QA! im like crazy for it and i really wana learn more about it“. It seems my young Quester friend thought that if he were to do the teacher training he could bring QA to his new school. Well my heart rose from a my adult annoyance at his presumption and cheekiness to being so totally chuffed that our program actually means that much to the learners who inhabit it.
And I know you are wondering what happened to our young QA advocate. I decided to sponsor him in QA myself and to give him a special role in the community, not quite as a teacher, but commensurate with the initiative he had shown. He certainly seems worth keeping around even if only for the warmth of this one day’s events 
This was a fun story, and as Bron knows, not an uncommon one! We often find children trying to apply for teacher accounts because they are so desparate to continue using the program. This young man was especially creative, however, using a new technology, skype, to contact a QA team member! It’s humbling to see how much an immersive learning environment can mean to our students, so much so that they will go to any lengths, even posing as a teacher, in order to continue learning in this fun and engaging platform.
Hi Bron,
This points out very strongly the degree of connection that questers can develop, and how such a wonderful environment can grab and hold their attention over an extended period of time.
It also underlines the problem of only one or two classes in a school running QA. A student does not have to move states or schools to lose access. Just moving to the next grade may be enough. I do hope that teachers in schools where QA is running come on board so that questers may continue what they have started and enjoy so much.
I love this story and, yes, it highlights beautifully how eager students are to continue their QA journey.
My office is located next to one of the computer labs and, on a number of occasions, I have heard “non-QA” teachers say things like, “If I see you in Quest Atlantis…” and “No Quest Atlantis!”
I can’t help but smile
Indeed, I was just telling Bron about the dilemma QA has put my school in. The parents of my grade 7 (distributed learning) students have had such a positive experience with the program that they are now insisting that it be made available for grade 8. Looks like QA may be expanding MY boundaries as well. I’ve been asked to look into teaching a grade 8 subject area where QA delivers the goods. Sigh.
On a more serious note though, this is setting up an inevitable (and necessary) conflict between students and traditional pedagogy. Whereas students may have assumed that there were no attractive alternatives to the kind of education their parents and teacher received, QA changes that notion. I don’t see them going back to what they experienced before without a fight. QA has “nailed it” as a more effective teaching resource. It is a revolutionary idea that has been expertly designed to be incredibly effective in the hands of passionate practitioners.
I had often quoted the ancient axiom “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Now however technological and social changes have forced a juxtaposition. It is now truer to say that “When the teacher is ready, the student appears.” I’m convinced that it is not a lack of interest in learning that makes students reticent to learn new things, but rather a lack of interest in learning new things that makes teachers reticent to teach. This will perhaps be the greatest challenge facing the learning revolution that must take place.
signing up for blog per instructions, excellent insight though it may not be lack of interest on the teachers part, but lack of time, motivation, reward, or simply “fear” of trying something new and finding themselves less than proficient, thus leaving them to need a caring teacher!