Keeping Things Out in the Open

Got a couple of interesting responses to yesterday's post about starting an RPG/MMOG club at school.

Reader Norman sums up many of them writing:

Just watch your back with RPGs. Keep everything out in the open.

Indeed. That's good advice.

And that's what it's all about: keeping everything "out in the open".

That's why my gradebook is available online. That's why I've got parents in my Twitter feed. That's why all of my students' work -- including all tests, essays, exams, etc. -- that's why all of it is posted on their blogs. That's why I have students post projects and documentation to YouTube and ThisMoment. That's why I'm Ustreaming classes to the school community.

The 21st century classroom is all about keeping everything "out in the open".

And yet, so often, the response I get from teachers and admins is: "Watch your back". As though I'm teaching radical dogma in hushed tones behind closed doors.

My room is open to everybody. The students understand this when they sign up for my courses. The parents give me high-fives and smiles for giving them a window into the daily learning-lives of their children.

Have there been problems with RPGs in schools in the past?

Sure.

But it wasn't because of the RPGs.

It was because of the way schools were set up in the past. Schools themselves were these closed-off secretive fortresses. Parents were often in the dark as to what went on on a daily basis.

Some schools are still like this. And that's got to change.

Because we are living in an age where the technology offers us new ways to open up our teaching to the broader community. It allows for real-time transparency.

Because no teacher should have anything to hide. Indeed teachers should want to keep everything "out in the open".