Don't be a POD

For those of you who have been or are in school. I urge you to think about why you went or why you are currently in school. No, it is not to be an alcoholic, nor is it to go to football games or other social events while missing class and making up silly stories to get out of a paper or test. Instead we need to address why it is we go to school and ho we can change the mindset of the world from being a POD to being a VEHICLE of knowledge. A POD is just repeating what they hear without synthesizing anything whereas a VEHICLE is constantly trying to translate, mediate, or transform information into key knowledge that can impact the world around them. Many PODS blossom into flowers and become VEHICLES while others remain PODS and go through life without a sense of urgency to impact the world around them.

My experience has greatly impacted the notion that we need to position learning and classrooms in college and high school around thinking and problem solving. The best education in my mind is not just learning information but synthesizing information in order to apply understanding in real life scenarios. Applied understanding allows students to make sense of their environment and position themselves to problem solve because they are less dependent on the teacher to do it for them. Many students are engaging in their undergraduate experience like they engage in a movie. They go to class as though they are attending a movie, with little or no interaction. What happens when we lose the lecture and create interactive classrooms that are positioned around applied knowledge. You can't apply something you don't understand.