"Many observers now believe that, when used effectively, digital technologies could ultimately break the grip of the one-shot, drive-by workshop in schools and spur the growth of teacher-learning opportunities that are truly collaborative and job-embedded. Yet many questions remain. In this webinar, two experts address these questions and bring you up to date on the latest ideas and trends in online teacher learning and how you can take advantage of them."
Elementary school Summit backlash includes concerns on data usage and other issues
personalized instruction is getting renewed attention as schools in the northeast consider calling their experiments in the instructional model a failure.
"Guest edited by Dr Yishay Mor, Senior Lecturer at the Open University's Institute of Educational Technology (UK), and Tapio Koskinen, Director of the eLearning Papers Editorial Board, MOOCs and Beyond seeks to both generate debate and present a variety of perspectives about this new popular learning model."
"this gives students more of a choice to do the kinds of assignments they want to do, as opposed to just the teacher deciding." You would certainly need to check that they were doing challenging, relevant work.
"Teach kids really good research skills. Have them look up assignments and related material from other teachers from all over the world." And then do what with them?
"Another solution: you need to be more reflective on the body of work that you are doing. What have I learned? Where have I been and where am I going?" How do you do this?
Concrete idea for how to answer the above, last question. He used a concrete example from a 3rd grade class: "Have the kids create a podcast every week of what they learned. Have a writer, producer, mixer, etc." Would you do that during class time or outside of classtime?
"One solution: have an official classroom researcher everyday in your class." The job would be to gather the websites that will be used connected to whatever it is you're studying? Is that right? Need more thought on this.
"Final Myth: Tech will make kids smarter. Actually it's a distraction. Creates more plagiarism and people wanting to get things done. Losing critical thinking." How can we use the enormous resources of the internet and at the same time increase critical thinking?
"Another myth: the internet will give people a range of ideas. The opposite is true. People search out their version of the truth, e.g. Fox News or Huffington Post." I find this to be incredibly true.
I've long said that professors who want to explore teaching with technology should begin with a social media tool rather than a Learning Management System. Web 2.0 tools are simple to use, invite student collaboration, and are usually less administratively clunky and complex than an LMS.One of the easiest and most powerful tools is the regular old wiki. Wikis are simply web pages that can be edited by their users. Instead of only carrying content from the administrator, they harness the power of crowdsourcing to create a powerful communal resource.
What happens to schools and classrooms and learning in a 2.0 world? New website for Will Richardson he will no longer be updating http://weblogg-ed.com/
Will Richardson is know for his expertise in web technologies and its integration in student learning. He is a resourceful individual worth gleaning from.
The "professor versus laptop (or other wireless access device)" issue is a false construct if we view technology-mediated learning as a social system offering many ways to alter one component and thus change the whole system. Rather than seeing distraction as a challenge, educators can see it as an opportunity to reflect upon and change the design of their entire instructional approach. Creative and innovative educators can use technology innovations to help reform teaching, similar to the way Guttenberg's press helped bring about scientific revolution and modern authorship.
Is it a given that technology enhances the acts of writing, as it does the arts and sciences of film-making, design, engineering, data collection and analyses, and so forth? What about the teaching and learning of writing?
A blog that focuses on technology in the language classroom. Interesting observations from a primary teacher outside of Melbourne, Australia, and the use of technology in the classroom.
"Over the course of two years, I, along with the Burlington Public Schools tech team, had the opportunity to meet and connect with over one hundred schools. These discussions would usually involve what device works best in the classroom and how the iPad is affecting teaching and learning outcomes. Frequently this conversation focuses on the most effective hardware for teaching and learning. While this is an important decision to make, it should not be the focus. In fact, the best devices a school can employ are great teachers."
The cloud and online learning are key trends and opportunities to transform education today. And with today's launch and availability of Office 365 for education, schools now have a holistic collaboration platform that will change the game. As schools face ever-tightening budgets and the pressure to innovate, Microsoft is offering enterprise quality technology for free that will modernize teaching practices and help prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow.
Marshall McLuhan called it “the rear-view mirror effect,” noting that “We see
the world through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.
We have had our why's, how's, and what's upside-down, focusing
too much on what should be learned, then how, and often
forgetting the why altogether
I like to think that we are not teaching subjects but subjectivities: ways of
approaching, understanding, and interacting with the world.
students quickly realize the importance of
their role as
co-creators of the learning environment and
they begin to take
responsibility for their own
education.
Nothing good will come of these technologies if we do not first confront the
crisis of significance and bring relevance back into education.
Students today are using more tech in more places than even Popular Science imagined back in the atomic age. 98% of students own a gadget and 70% of them use a gadget in class-some for note-taking and study, some for poke wars on Facebook during lecture. And while the time spent online in a day might set off some warning bells, the good news is that a breakdown of that time shows much of it is spent learning.
Online discussion that allows for media, text, voting, and student commenting. More than just a linear discussion. Has topic organization and class organization. Online Education Technology for Teachers and Students
a free online collaborative education platform that allows students and teachers to transcend the boundaries of their physical classroom to engage in an online collaborative learning environment.