[Cross-posted at LeaderTalk.]

I stumbled upon this video at the Collaborative Ideation tumblelog and immediately noted a few parallels between advertising and education.

I really enjoyed the exchange that began with Consumer stating, “You do all the talking…” Of course, this is quickly (and ironically) interrupted by Advertiser who states, “You can talk on our website can’t you?” In terms of instruction – be it a teacher in the classroom or an administrator planning a staff development activity – how many of us are more similar to Advertiser than we’d like to admit? I really like this little video because it very clearly articulates what that Apple teacher video (shown ad nauseum at teacher inservice sessions around the country) has been trying to say since 2001. But it also shows us that this is not just a paradigm shift in education; our culture as a whole wants to be talked to a whole lot less. “Sit down, shut up, and learn,” is no longer an acceptable model for effective classroom instruction.

The mini-movie was created by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions to challenge their own clients into thinking about how they communicate with their target audience. You can read more on the Bring the Love Back blog if you’re interested.

Take a minute and consider how risky it is for MDAS to do this and risk alienating the very people they’re trying to inspire. Now that, my dear colleagues, is a lot like what some of us are trying to do in our schools and districts: get teachers and administrators to re-think the ways they do what they do by offering them little challenges like this one. But we have to be very careful and sensitive in the process no to push too hard lest we risk alienating those who are on the fence.