"The internet has revolutionized information collection. The answer to virtually any question or problem is at our fingertips. Google has made this possible.
While I am a great admirer of Google and an avid user of its products, in a way, Google has made my life as a teacher a LOT more difficult. Let me explain. In the "old days" (that would be pre-internet) when a teacher assigned a worksheet with a series of questions on it students had a few options to get the answers.
1. Ask mom.
2. If mom doesn't know, ask Dad.
3. If Dad doesn't know look it up in the textbook.
4. If the answer isn't in the textbook, give up."
"Create. Collaborate. Iterate. Dream. Reflect. Design. Take risks. It's the stuff learning is made of. Not the kind you find in a textbook or in testing practice. The kind you find in the world. The kind that grabs a hold of your interests, ignites your passions, and launches you into a space where there are possibilities. The kind that is messy and tangled and amazing. We all need to be reminded of what true, authentic learning really is. Deeper than standards, into a space where connections are made with each other and with the world. Let's make that happen.
Or you could just turn to page 26 and continue following the textbook company's idea of what will engage your learners."
"What is an "Open Textbook?"
That's what we're working to define. We know it has to be
* free, or very nearly free,
* easy to use, get and pass around,
* editable so instructors can customize content,
* cross-platform compatible,
* printable,
* and accessible so it works with adaptive technology.
That's just the short list."
"You may have already heard about PhotoMath, the new iPhone app that lets you point it at a math problem on a textbook and then solves it while showing all the work involved.
Some are immediately reacting by citing it's potential use in "cheating," while others cheer that it might force math teachers and textbook publishers to be more creative in how they teach math. In some ways, it may force them to do what some of us in other subjects have been looking at - creating unGoogleable questions.
Here are some useful posts about the app, along with a video. "
"I leaned over the shoulder of a student in the library. She was quietly working with headphones in, and completely focused. What caught my attention is that she would continually lift her phone up over the textbook, and then jot something down on the paper to her left. It was a motion and process that she repeated at least seven times before I headed over to see what was going on.
As I got closer I could see that it was a math textbook, and her paper was filled with equations, problems, and steps. I thought to myself, that sure doesn't look like my math homework, which was always a mess of numbers and lines and eraser marks from messing up!
What happened next caught me by surprise. Not because I couldn't believe it, but because it changed the way I viewed math forever."