Summer Vacation is almost here but a teachers work is never done!
This site is going to be used by the curriculum committee charged with rewriting the Computer Applications curriculum K-12. I intend to use this blog to highlight the curriculum changes our committee recommends, particularly the development of a new Digital Citizenship unit. This site will include lessons we develop and discussions about best practices in the use of instructional technology.
Up until a few years ago the computer applications that teachers used themselves and taught students how to use consisted mainly of the Microsoft Office suite, email, and online grading/testing. We were happy if our students could use the internet for research and produce their school work using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
The explosion of the Read/Write web over the last few years ushered in a whole new set of computer apps that both we and our students need to create, communicate, and collaborate in the 21st Century. These apps are all web based and are revolutionizing the way our students learn, think, create, and communicate.
I know that our heads are all spinning with the proliferation of smart phone apps, web 2.0 tools and social media. However, if we don’t jump on the train called “21st Century” we are going to be left behind.
So, jump aboard and let’s discuss the vast array of digital tools available for educational purposes and rewrite our curriculum to include the ones that make the most sense to us.
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners.
With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers- whether they’re just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Download lesson plans to develop your students’ search literacy skills.
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners.
What would you like to accomplish? What are your goals for yourself and your students? How do you envision your ideal teaching practice using these technologies (based on what you know so far)?
ACTION: Use the rest of the in-service to create a web 2.0 account for one of the tools you want to use in your own classroom. Then incorporate that tool into a lesson.
I think we can all agree that the kids in our classrooms today are different from students of even 5 years ago. The biggest change I see is that students tune out when teachers talk too much. The era of “stand up and deliver” instruction (lecture approach) as the main way to deliver instruction is coming to an end.
Innovations in instructional delivery and design are changing student work. The role of the student is no longer that of passive consumer of information, but rather active producer, who adds meaning and value to the information…..knowledge workers.
Their work is to research, communicate, collaborate, and synthesize information and create products to reflect what they’ve learned. Teachers today find themselves facilitating and guiding this process rather than always being at the center of the stage. The existence of high quality digital content and the ability to collaborate online with a larger audience opened the door for a more project based; hands-on learning model. By high school more students will be engaged in apprenticeships/internships as part of the school day. In the 21st Century critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, and innovation will be skills that are more important than memorization and test scores.
Watch this 1 minute video that talks about “Student Work in the 21st Century”.
Conclusion: Add Comment
How does Differentiated Instruction make student work more meaningful and improve their learning?
As Yogi Berra once observed, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Even so, the exponential growth in internet connected mobile devices along with the explosion of quality internet content and interactive web-based apps have forever changed the way we learn and communicate in the 21st century. Most educators today sense that the students they teach are very different from themselves and students they’ve had in the past. Students are bored with traditional teaching methods and feel as though they need to “power down” when they come to school. There is a definite disconnect between the way they learn at home and the way they learn in school. The Web has become a new platform for the presentation and communication of ideas worldwide. The sheer volume of new digital tools and technologies available today provides us with many ways to create, connect, and communicate what we know. These changes are forcing changes in every business, every school, and every home on the planet. Consequently, the need for educational reform has never been more necessary to insure we are preparing students for life in the next century.
So, what is my vision of education in the year 2020? For starters, I predict a broader adoption of some of the clear trends already emerging. Specifically, technology will provide new ways for productively integrating learning and doing. As more student work takes place online, the trend to engage more students in non traditional ways will increase. I predict:
An increase in non traditional schools. The number of “cyberschools” will continue to grow for K-12 and higher education. Additionally, traditional brick and mortar schools will offer more online classes at the middle and high school level which in turn will change the structure of the school day. Students will no longer sit in one place (school) for 7 hours a day. Instead they will spend a part of the average school day at home collaborating with learning communities/taking online classes and then head to their local school to engage with students in a more traditional face to face learning environment.
A change in the definition of what society considers “common knowledge” essential for students to know. With portable technologies making learning possible anywhere/anytime some of the common knowledge formally taught in our elementary and secondary schools will become unnecessary. These are the skills and knowledge that society judges to be necessary for every adult to know. The “three R’s” of reading, writing and arithmetic will still be necessary; however, low level skills and fact learning that makes up much of the “introductory course” learning will increasingly be acquired through interaction with the computer. Why bother memorizing lots of facts when you can look them up online on a smart phone? Furthermore, the idea of “just-in-time learning” will replace the need for students to learn everything there is about a given topic over the course of a semester. Given the rate of rapid change in information/knowledge in the 21st century, specific facts and skills have a relatively short shelf-life….what you learn today is likely to be out of date tomorrow. Consequently, class time previously spent on fact learning will be replaced with preparing students to be fluent in how to find, evaluate and synthesize information on the web. Additionally, valuable class time will be spent on teaching critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration skills so that students are well versed in online communication technologies needed to connect them to what they need to know and communities who will help them learn it. Once truly cheap technologies become commonplace with all students, the tools for lifelong learning will be in place. More important is fostering the notion that lifelong learning is a survival skill.
Innovations in instructional delivery and design will change student work. Once the structure of the school day changes and what students really need to learn is revised, schools will provide new ways for productively integrating learning and doing. The role of the student will no longer be that of passive consumer of information, but rather active producers, who add meaning and value to the information…..knowledge workers (November). Students will be treated as professional learners and encouraged to interact, not only with others in their classroom, but with others in their community – and in communities around the world. Their work will be to research, communicate, collaborate, and synthesize information and create products to reflect what they’ve learned. Teachers will facilitate and guide this process rather than being at the center of the stage. The existence of high quality digital content and the ability to collaborate online with a larger audience (connectivism) will open the door for a more project based; hands-on learning model. By high school more students will be engaged in apprenticeships/internships as part of the school day. Once again, critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, and innovation will be skills that are more important than memorization and test scores.
Conclusion:
The challenge for schools was stated quite clearly by Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric when he said, “If the rate of change inside an institution is less than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight.” By the year 2020 I predict that public education will be alive and well due to changes made in the way we educate the digital learners in our classrooms today. Are you up for the challenge?
Smith, Chris. “The Future of Education and Learning/ Videos.” Weblog post. The Future of Education & Learning (Videos/PPoints). Web. 21 July 2011. <http://futureeducationvideos.blogspot.com/>.
The sheer volume of new digital tools and technologies available today provides students many ways to create, connect, and communicate what they know.
These web based applications make it easier for teachers to differentiate instruction and customize lessons for the wide range of learners in the classroom.
Last year I began using various web tools to build differentiated lessons for some of the units I teach as part of my 8th grade computer class. Quite honestly, I now spend less time teaching how to use various standard computer applications and more time allowing students to use web based programs to create products to show what they know.
For example, when I teach students how to use databases to find information and generate reports I spend only two days on direct instruction (spent 5 days previously) and then split the class into small groups to explore one of three possible web-based assignments. Students choose which assignment suits their learning style and have 2-3 class periods to create a digital product and upload it to my moodle site. They can choose using either Google Earth, Google docs or Voicethread for the assignment. Check out the link to these assignments to see how students are using the new tools to create digital media that appeals to either visual or auditory learners.
As you can see, the assignments are totally student-centered, appeal to a variety of learning styles, and put the student in charge of their learning. Each assignment has a list of short video tutorials or screencasts to assist them if they get stuck. I circulate among the groups but only offer assistance once they have tried to work it out on their own.
The students love working this way although they are often very uncomfortable going out on a limb to figure things out for themselves. Once they gain confidence with being in control of at least some of their learning they go on to create awesome products. Continue reading →
As a middle school computer teacher I’ve been running a paperless classroom for the past ten years so the ideas presented by Marc Meyer and David Grey, adjunct professors in the School of General Studies at Columbia University are nothing new to me. But then most technology teachers do not have textbooks. The very nature of our job is to use the latest tools available either in the way of computer software or web-based programs to produce both teacher and student work.
So I looked at the article again from the perspective of the average classroom teacher that I work with in my building and still found that most of Meyer and Grey’s ideas about moving toward a paperless classroom are being utilized by many of the teachers in my District. Most teachers and students use the Internet everyday to access multimedia materials for their classes; all of our District teachers have Moodle class websites and post lessons, video, and assignments; many teachers dialog with students online both during and after school via online moodle forums or email, and a growing number of teachers require online submission of student work. In addition, grades for every assignment are posted online and are available 24/7. In essence, most teachers are using the same blended model of teaching described by Meyer and Grey. They teach in a face to face environment yet employ many online instructional strategies. The goal obviously is to increase the number of teachers using 2st century teaching strategies.
I then looked at the date that the Columbia University article was published…..Nov. 20, 2000. A paperless classroom was truly revolutionary in the year 2000! Kudos to Meyer and Grey for leading the way back then; kudos to the growth of quality Internet content over the last ten years; and kudos to those educators who are teaching using all of the materials available online today. No wonder textbook companies are worried about going out of business!
Big Shift #9 – Mastery is the Product, Not the Test
Education actually started to move away from tests as the main measure of student performance back in the 1980’s-1990’s when Piaget’s constructivist model of learning, Garner’s multiple intelligences, and authentic assessment were all the rage. These theories all called for more learner autonomy in both the what and how learning occurred. Students were encouraged to construct their own knowledge rather than just memorize notes from the teacher or textbook. And teachers assessed performance in a multitude of ways. In addition to tests, teachers measured student achievement by projects students created to demonstrate mastery of what they learned. For example, students could write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper to comment on a community issue; build a medieval castle when studying feudalism; or conduct a stream study to assess water quality of a local river/stream. The focus then was depth of knowledge/critical thinking skills rather than breath of knowledge.
Fast foward to the year 2001 and along came Federally/State mandated standardized testing ( No Child Left Behind Act ). The best intentions to educate students using constructivist strategies went right out the window. Standardized testing created more of an emphasis on breath of knowledge….teach as much content as possible so that students meet the mandated proficiency levels of the test. This is not to say that good teachers abandoned teaching critical teaching skills and devising real world projects to measure student progress. But teaching to the test took much of the creativity out of teaching/learning and limited the time available for depth of learning. Teachers struggled with having enough time to cover all the curriculum let alone explore that curriculum in ways meaningful to accommodate various student learning styles.
At the same time NCLB testing was effecting the educational landscape so too were the changes ushered in by the Read/Write web. The social media tools of the Read/Write web that connect students to both information and learning communities on the web and provide multiple ways for them to create and publish content are very similar to the constructivist pedagogies mentioned above. To me connectivism is just constructivism on steroids.
The sheer volume of new digital tools and technologies available today provides students many ways to create, connect, and communicate what they know. The challenge is not in getting the students to use the tools but in convincing teachers that instructional time spent using them is not going to take away from time needed to teach to the standardized tests. So how does this work?
Let me give yo an example of what “Mastery is the Product, Not the Test” looks like. I constructed a web based project for my students to show me that they know how to use a database to find information and generate a report. However, instead of a traditional report of their findings I asked the students to use create a narrated tour on Google Earth of several roller coasters around the world that met certain criteria like the highest wooden coaster or the fastest steel inverted coaster etc. They used an online roller coaster database to search for the answers and then reported their results in Google Earth. Here is the description of the project and a student sample of the “product” created to demonstrate mastery which they published on my teacher moodle site. (not sure if you will be able to view the student tour as we are forced to lock (password protect) all published internet work in our District. I did try to lift the restrictions but still no guarantee of being able to see it.
Bottom Line: This shift has made my teaching more student centered and more creative. I spend less time teaching how to use various computer applications and more time allowing students to create products to show what they know. This teaches them how to be more responsible for their own learning and and is better use of class time. The students love working this way although they are often very uncomfortable going out on a limb to figure things out for themselves. Once they gain confidence with being in control of at least some of their learning they go on to create awesome products. This course has broadened my awareness of even more instructional possibilities of the Read/Write web. I intend to continue changing things up in my classroom and school.
DASD K-12 Computer blog 