"Good news for good teachers: It turns out, the old drill-and-kill method is not only boring, but -- neurologically speaking -- pretty useless. Relevant, meaningful activities that both engage students emotionally and connect with what they already know are what help build neural connections and long-term memory storage (not to mention compelling classrooms). "
educators have been encouraged to change roles again and again as we become more familiar with the capabilities of the technology and its uses in instruction.
instructors have been presented with the challenge of moving from center stage to more of a support role--a facilitator
we no longer need to be the sole source of all information nor the one who presents every aspect of the course or who controls how information is presented and re-presented for evaluation
we will be experiencing yet another change in our instructional role.
The challenge is now to retain certain aspects of facilitation but move actively into the learning process itself and become partners in the process.
the instructor is no longer at the center of the interaction and application of knowledge. The instructor remains as one of the resources available to students, a resource who can intervene when necessary and provide guidance in how to process the information of the course, how to better use the resources, and how to apply the core concepts to real life situations.
What 10 digitals tools should educators know about?
Here are some ways that I'm using RSS at my school and in my professional life to make things easier and to tie things together.
Using this same idea, students have to write a reflection about their GCW Trips (Global Citizen's Week) that we went on last week. The trip leaders don't have all the student blog addresses and we want the students to own the reflection, we want it to become part of their learning/eporfolio here at ISB.
Animation projects are a great way to integrate technology, encourage project-based learning and have a lot of fun. This month let's take a quick tour of seven Web 2.0 animation sites for students young and old.
Moving up a level of complexity is DigitalFilms.com. Like Fluxtime, numerous backgrounds and objects are provided. A character creator is also included so students can make characters that look just like them. You can add actions and text to the characters and then share them online.
A powerful, frame-by-frame, animation tool is DoInk. It features easy-to-use vector drawing tools and one-click frame cloning. After an animation is created (called a drawing), you can insert it into another, larger project called a composition. This is great practice before introducing students to Adobe Flash. Check out the DoInk featured compositions for project ideas.