๐Ÿ“‘ Is De-Implementation the Best Way to Build Back Better?

Bookmarked Is De-Implementation the Best Way to Build Back Better? (PETER DEWITT, ED.D)

We can no longer pile more and more on the plates of educators and need to take a seriously look, and then engage in actionable steps, to de-implement those initiatives that no longer work and waste our time.

Peter DeWitt reflects on the impact of the current crisis on education. He explains that it has put more stress on the well-being of teachers as well as students. Therefore, to build back better, we need to ‘de-implement’:


De-implementation is a graduated continuum of individual, team, and organizational change that require different strategies in terms of learning and unlearning. Learning refers to the process of acquiring new skills or knowledge. Unlearning is a process of discarding outdated mental models to make room for alternative models.

This reminds me of Tom Barrett’s discussion of innovation compression.

How might we fully appreciate the resources needed to introduce these new ideas and what they overlap with? How can we create space for people to make the most of this idea and for it to have the impact we want? Which programmes or existing innovations might be discarded to release energy and resources?

I wonder if in not taking something off the plate, we instead risk a shock to the system that will require so much more effort to turnaround.

5 responses on “๐Ÿ“‘ Is De-Implementation the Best Way to Build Back Better?”

  1. So here we are again. One week I am catching up with Richard Olsen and co for drinks in the city and then the next week we are in lock-down again. I remember reading about the hammer and the dance early on in the pandemic, where we lock-down to get on top of things and then dance with the ever changing rules and restrictions. The problem is, I do not think we are very good at dancing. Coming home from my night out, face-masks on public transport were near on non-existent. On top of that, the bar thanked me for clicking on the QR code at the door. Maybe he was just being courteous, but it did not feel like it.
    In lock-down, I took our daughters for a ride. At the local reserve, there was a food truck set up with two guys selling take-away. Sadly though, there were no face-masks. I contacted the company privately raising my concern and got the following response:

    Reason for not wearing face masks is none of youโ€™re business.
    I sincerely hope you were not scared.

    I am not sure he quite understands how masks work. That I wear a mask for him and he and his colleague wear a mask for me. To be fair, my greater fear is not catching COVID from him, although it is a possibility, but rather that such small businesses will no longer exist if we do not all do our bit to get on top of things. Personally, I am able to work from home, so other than having to support our children with their learning, I am not impacted. Sadly, I am not sure everyone quite sees it that way.
    On other matters, I have been listened to new albums by Olivia Rodrigo, Haerts and St. Vincent, but have found myself retreating to the more familiar with Estelle Caswellโ€™s ode to gated reverb playlist. In addition to this, I have been tinkering with Google Sheets and XML, as well as started a few posts, but with jobs around the house and work at the moment, I seem to be failing with following through.
    Here then are some of the posts that have had me thinking:
    Education
    The Trouble with Teaching: Is Teaching a Meaningful Job?
    John Danaher dives into his frustrations with teaching in a university setting, providing a provocation to reflect upon in respect to all aspects of learning and teaching.
    Knitting a Healthy Social Fabric
    danah boyd explores role played by schools in building the social fabric and democracy of the future.
    Is De-Implementation the Best Way to Build Back Better?
    Peter DeWitt reflects on the need to de-implement and take things off the plate in order to build back better.
    Mapping Assessment
    Ron Ritchhart provides a model for mapping assessment based on two dimensions: integration and evaluation.
    On Rereading
    Victor Brombert reflects upon the different forms of rereading and the uncanny experience of coming upon lost notes in the margins.
    Technology
    The Global Smartphone
    A team of anthropologists spent a year conducting an ethnographic study in nine different countries documenting the ways in which smartphones are used by older people. The team come to the conclusion that the smartphone has come to represent the place where we live.
    Pedagogy, Presence and Placemaking: a learning-as-becoming model of education.
    David White talks about the issue of simply moving face-to-face learning online and the need to foster presence to help make online spaces places that foster learning.
    YouTubeโ€™s kids app has a rabbit hole problem
    Rebecca Heilweil takes a look at the way in which YouTube Kids and the autoplay function acts as a gateway to questionable content.
    Data isnโ€™t oil, so what is it?
    Matt Locke suggests that we need more effective metaphors to help people understand the place and purpose of data in our world today.
    On the temptation to nuke everything and start over
    Influenced on Kin Laneโ€™s decision to leave the past behind, Doug Belshaw reflects on the temptation to start over.
    General
    The Case for Letting People Work From Home Forever
    Jaclyn Greenberg makes the case for a permanent move to working from home, while Cal Newport pushes back instead arguing for near-home locations.
    Welcome Back, Darling
    Kath Sullivan and Nathan Morris explore what it means to have water back in the Darling River. In contrast with the past few years of dry river beds, towns like Brewarrina, Wilcannia and Menindee have become energised once again.
    In the Air Tonightโ€™s influence, intrigue, and THAT drum break that endures 40 years on
    Matt Neal reflects on the forty years since Phil Collinsโ€™ released In the Air Tonight and its ongoing legacy, especially in regards to gated reverb.
    Tao of WAO
    Laura Hilliger and Doug Belshaw have started a new podcast associated with their participation in We Are Open Co-op.
    The Weaponization of Care
    Autumm Caines discusses the way in which survelliance technology is packaged with notions of care as a way of normalising various practices.
    Read Write Respond #065
    So that was May for me, how about you? As always, hope you are safe and well.

    Cover Image via JustLego101

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  2. Deb, I dived back into my archive and found the following:

    COVID 19 โ€“ School Leadership in Disruptive Times by Alma Harris and Michelle Jones
    Five ideas for School Leaders to beat the COVID slump by Peter Hutton
    Is De-Implementation the Best Way to Build Back Better? by Peter DeWitt
    More help needed for vulnerable learners in the age of COVID-19 school closures by Catherine Drane, Lynette Vernon and Sarah Oโ€™Shea
    Lessons Learned โ€“ Reflecting on educational equity in the COVID-19 era by Alec Couros and Katia Hildebrandt
    When the Machine Starts Up Again, will you remember? by Kath Murdoch

    Just not sure when โ€˜postโ€™-COVID begins?

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