Group items tagged

"At the end of the day, the questions we ask ourselves determine the type of people we become." As we look to guide students and mentor/encourage other professionals, we have to get honest with ourselves and do some personal reflection. These questions challenged me to rethink some things for sure. "

Sherry Hegstrom, on her blog "Emerging Technologies in Education" asks the question: What makes for a digital story? She brings up some great questions for us to consider and there are some comments that engage the discussion. Check it out!

"Free Learning Tools betaTest your knowledge, improve your scores and leverage our free testing system. Detailed Results and Performance Statistics! Individual Question Analysis & Explanations Percentile Rankings Score v. Time Distribution Time Spent Per Question"

"NY Times writers collaborated with the Common Sense Media writer Kelly Schryver to focus on the increasingly important and nuanced question "Who Are You Online?" Times and Learning Network content as well as offerings from Common Sense Media's K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum for teaching and learning about this complex issue." Lots of avenues to take this material in working with students.

A really well written post on some things we should consider about blogging. She based her post on her own experience with blogging and the work of Sue Waters, a professional educ. blogger and trainer for Edublogs. Here are some questions she asks: Who should be writing for? What is the benefit? Is it important to read others work and comment? I think if you read this post, you will be encouraged. 

App could raise interesting questions for middle and high school students.

Kirsten Wilson (@teachwiki) shares how social media has provided the platform for educators (& others) to share, collaborate, & communicate, moving us from just being social to a community of learners. Curation is an important part of that process. She shares apps she uses to collect and share with others. I like how she includes several good questions to consider in the process.

I like the reflective process this teacher is using to improve her teaching literacy to her students. The methods she is practicing and refining are in contrast to the "one and done" reading approach she mentions students practicing outside of class. A favorite quote in the reflection: "In my class we explore the why--the story behind history. Pace carefully and read closely, and students will discover the why--especially when they can discuss the questions they've had time to think about." Instead of the teacher "teaching" content, the students explore that content and find meaning for themselves that is relevant and connective to other learning experiences.

Infographic (flow chart style) about questions to ask before posting a photo online.

"I've been teaching students how to write for 12 years, but this week I had a realization that made me question the purpose of writing in school." Catlin Tucker brings up some important points to consider in the writing process and her own process as a teacher.

Step by step tutorial on how to get started with blogging by Sue Waters of Edublogs. Sue is part of my PLN and is my go to person when I have questions about blogging. She's wonderful!

Some neat tools for annotating Youtube videos and assessing student understanding/learning during and after the video.

"As learners, we are sometimes challenged (not often enough fortunately) to think big.  We are able to ask the question 'what if' when looking at a challenge.  We are tasked with redesigning, recreating, reimagining or rethinking the entire thing.  Maybe these are more 22nd century ideas. Well, when it comes to our high school system and overall student experience, here are my suggestions:" (Get ready for some out of the box ideas)

"Will you ever just walk into class and ask, "Okay, what do you want to study today?" Of course not. Inquiry-based learning is founded on students taking the lead in their own learning, but it still requires considerable planning on your part. Projects must fit into your larger program structure, goals and plans, but the students will be actively involved in planning the projects with you and asking the questions that launch their individual inquiries." In thinking about PBL and other inquiry-based learning, this post and the graphic of the inquiry process are easy to connect with.

Brendon Burchard talks on how "SMART" Goals are limiting. Instead, why not work on D.U.M.B. goals? A different way to view how to grow and work with an abundance vs. a deficit mentality. Question: How do SMART goals in education limit our work, vision, and enthusiasm?

The academic conversation on MOOCs is starting to polarise in exactly the talking-past-one-another way that so many complex conversations evolve: with very smart points on either side, but not a lot of recognition that the validity of certain key points on one side does not undermine the validity of certain key points on the other. I regret this flattening of online learning into a simple binary of 'politically and financially motivated greed' on the one hand and 'an opportunity to find out more about learning' on the other. Some of both in different situations can be true.

Self-directed learning on open online networks is now a possibility as communication and resources can be combined to create learning environments. But is it really? There are some challenges that might prevent learners from having a quality learning experience. This paper raises questions on levels of learner autonomy, presence, and critical literacies required in active connectivist learning.