So imagine that a group of teachers and middle school students decides to tackle the question, What is justice? Young adolescents' discovery of injustice in the world is a crucial moment in their development. If adults offer only self-serving answers to this question, students can become cynical or despairing. But if adults treat the problem of injustice truthfully and openly, hope can emerge and grow strong over time.
As part of their discussion, let's say that the teachers and students have cocreated a middle school earth science curriculum titled Water for the World. This curriculum would be a blend of classroom, community, and online activities. Several nongovernmental organizations—such as Waterkeeper, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Water for People—might support the curriculum, which would meet national and state standards and include lessons, activities, games, quizzes, student-created portfolios, and learning benchmarks.
Ben Louey on 22 Jun 09The Wisconsin Online Resource Center is a digital library of Web-based learning resources called "learning objects." The digital library of objects has been developed primarily by faculty from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and produced by multimedia technicians who create the learning objects for the online environment. At present, 409 WTCS faculty members have authored learning objects. The Wisc-Online digital library contains 2542 objects that are accessible to all WTCS faculty at no cost and with copyright clearance for use in any WTCS classroom or online application. Other colleges, universities, and consortia from throughout the United States and around the world use the library with permission. Current use of the learning object repository exceeds 20,000 hits per day. Learning objects are designed and developed by a team of instructional designers, editors, technicians, and student interns.
