The History and Background of 20Time Project From The 20 Time in Education Blog:
Daniel Pink asks what drives us. Sir Ken Robinson asks us to inspire creativity in our students. The latest in education is asking us to teach our students to create their own questions, do their own research, and form their own conclusions with their learning. Why? The world is a collaborative, communicative place and it is the world of online tools that has made it this way. Our students' workplaces will be places with teams at tables, not individuals in cubicles. They will be asked to be innovative and create the next tool, not to push bureaucratic paper. We must teach them how to think on their own without being told what to do. We need to teach them to be autonomous learners. Only one who can guide his own learning can effectively contribute to a team.
One way to teach autonomy that is quickly catching fire throughout education is the concept of 20-Time. The concept is simple. Allow students 20% of class time, or one hour per week, to work on and explore one topic of their choice.
The History of 20-Time:
3M started it in the 1950's with their 15% Project. The result? Post-its and masking tape. Google is credited for making the 20% Project what it is today. Google asks its employees to spend 20% of their time at Google to work on a pet project...a project that their job description doesn't cover. As a result of the 20% Project at Google, we now have Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and my favorite, the Google Teacher Academy. Using 20 Time in the workplace allows innovative ideas and projects to flourish and/or fail without the bureaucracy of committees and budgets.
The students of our class are keeping blogging journals to show and record their progress as they complete their 20-time projects. This blog provides a link to each class member's blog. Be sure to check on the creativity and the exciting things that are happening with your classmates as we enjoy the 20-time journey.
