One idea brought up by several speakers this year is a hybrid grades-free way of evaluating students. In each case, it included a high-bar pass/fail approach to class assignments, with a final, more regular grade for the entire semester.
One of the speakers who presented what he called a “Not Yet” grade was “digital ethnographer” Michael Wesch, a professor at Kansas State University. That’s his photo at the top.
He told the crowd that they had to inspire “wonder” in their students in order to get them to learn as much as possible. Some key quotes from him:
“Low standards/high stakes are the opposite of what you want.”
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Book: 45 Secrets That All High School Teachers Need to Know by @RichardJaRogers - 36 views
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Mastering the art of teaching appears to be easier for some colleagues than others. Some teachers just seem to have a presence, gaining respect and credibility from students, colleagues and parents alike. Did they undergo some mysterious, magical training that wasn't covered during your teacher training course? Well, no. They just have mastered how to manage their working relationships, using their personalities to generate rapport, which is respected by students of all age. It's not rocket science - it's far more complicated than that. Personality and behaviour clashes in classrooms are inevitable, but looking at all the different elements of daily interactions can help you gain respect from students and colleagues alike...
Why avoiding in-school politics isn't always the best policy - UKEdChat.com - 17 views
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"Schools are inherently full of different characters. With a mix of personalities, students and staff can often clash with each other, using different strategies to gain the upper hand, or simply to avoid conflict and live a quiet life. Yet, there are those characters who can be sneaky, back-stabbing, manipulative or darn right confrontational. It's these people who know how to play politics to win friends, influence and possibly to gain the upper hand in climbing the next step on the career ladder."
How about no grades for classwork? It might happen in some North Texas classrooms this ... - 52 views
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“The new divide will be between those with wonder and curiosity and those without.”
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Keynote speaker George Couros is a what’s called a “division principal” back home in Canada. He’s a blogger and author who is all about encouraging creativity and change in public education with an emphasis on taking advantage of digital tools. He told the conference that that it’s foolish to deny students use of their smartphones and other digital tools in the classroom — and even on exams. In 2015, being able to figure out what information is relevant is more important than memorization when most facts are a click away, he said.
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"The new divide will be between those with wonder and curiosity and those without." "The world only cares what you can do with what you know," Couros said. He said he clashed with a teacher back home who complained that his approach would let students Google up the answers for her exams. His response: "If I can look up the answers to the questions on your test on Google, your questions suck."
Schools and Students Clash Over Use of Technology | MindShift - 5 views
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Students want more control over how they use technology in school, but many classrooms are still making it difficult.
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A whopping 45 percent of middle-schoolers and 55 percent of high-schoolers say that they mainly access the Internet through mobile devices.
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And access to tablets doubled between 2010 and 2011 – up to 26 percent for middle-schoolers and 21percent of high-schoolers.
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Some great points here!
Program clash confuses Canberra - 1 views
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Brief news report on changes to the spelling program/programme within Australian government and public service. Notes personal preferences of prime ministers Howard, Rudd and Abbott, and assumptions about what the differences signify.
MOOCs: The cutting announcement of the wrong revolution | betrokken wetenschap - 27 views
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A critical assessment of mainstream of higher education reveals that universities spent most energy on delivery of knowledge. Application of knowledge is dominated by ‘near transfer’, which means that students learn to give practical examples of theoretical concepts. ‘Far transfer’ originates from the analysis and solving of real problems, without prior exposure to cues regarding relevant knowledge. It occurs in Schools that deploy problem- or project-based learning. Exchange of codified and practical knowledge is absent in general. It might take place during internships, but projects outside the university are better and moreover, they offer opportunity for integration with other learning processes.
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A balanced and integrated approach of the three learning processes mentioned above is occurring in only few universities. Elsewhere, students learn (and forget) lots of knowledge, have only limited experience with the application of knowledge and are ignorant of the clash between codified and practical knowledge. Consequently, the majority of our universities are disavowing their main goal, the development of ‘readiness for society’. It is this verdict that justifies a revolution in higher education.
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interesting comments about different types of transfer, and the role of MOOCs.
Rights Clash on YouTube, and Videos Vanish - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Copyright--how does it affect you? What limits should there be to copyright protection?
Change and why we all see it differently - The Learner's Way - 14 views
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the rise of the ‘gig’ economy where freelance and short term contract work is common and training and retraining for new projects is the norm
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it is more important to be able to learn than it is to be learned
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If the young people of today are to thrive beyond the walls of the classroom they will need to be able to cope with a world characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
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If the young people of today are to thrive beyond the walls of the classroom they will need to be able to cope with a world characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The children of todays Kindergarten will enter the workplace in the fourth-decade of the 21st Century. We debate the merits of teaching 21st Century Skills and what they might be while teaching children who have lived their entire lives in that very century. The challenge is how will schools and individual teachers respond to this drive for urgent change.
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