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There's no one teaching them about the nuances involved in creating a positive online footprint.

if you’re not transparent or findable in that way—I can’t learn with you.

“Without sharing, there is no education.”

new methods to measure skills like critical thinking, creativity, and persistence.

"A lot of important stuff happens when playing games," Ms. Shute said. "You're just doing. You're in the process."

"Wouldn't it be lovely to actually pass along the log files of what students did in order to look at their scientific-inquiry skills?"

Put simply, project-based curriculum emphasizes learning through doing classroom projects that address a specific issue or challenge. Students typically carry out the projects in groups, and teachers guide them along

Tina Barseghian Editor of MindShift, a website about the future of learning Posted: January 7, 2011 02:48 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index Napa New Tech High: 5 Reasons This is the School of the Future Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important Weird Read More: Computer Tech School , Education Technology , Napa New Tech High , New Tech High Napa , New Tech Network , New Technology High , School Computer , Tech School , Tech Schools , Education News share this story 11481122 Get Education Alerts Sign Up Submit this story digg reddit stumble What does the high school of the future look like? It's one that emphasizes useful, relevant skills that can be applied

At Napa New Tech, you'll hear very little lecturing and see few teacher-led activities. For this school, the decision to use project-based curriculum was based not only on what topics students should learn, but also what skills they should acquire in school.

Singer describes critical thinking as the ability to simultaneously comprehend, analyze, and evaluate a line of reasoning, a concept, or a problem relative to one's own perspective and the perspective of others to arrive at deeper understanding.

AP physics class, students use the same deconstruction skills to break down free-response questions, examine the information, and then synthesize it to create diagrams and experiments.

"It's not about the tools, Bill," Sheryl pushed back. "It's about the behaviors that the tools enable."

After all, most schools are investing their professional-development technology budget in training teachers to use computers for non-instructional purposes even though new tools allow for a significant shift in pedagogy.

Instead of exploring how new digital opportunities can support student-centered inquiry or otherwise enhance existing practices, today’s schools are preparing their teachers to use office automation and productivity tools like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

"I like it a lot because I spend a lot more time talking with the students than talking at the students," he says

This group work is an example of team-based learning, an umbrella term for a teaching approach that emphasizes teamwork rather than isolation. Team-based classwork was rare a generation ago in many disciplines, but the ability to work with others has become as critical to employers as communication, writing and critical thinking, Nowic

Working with teachers to affect a deliberate culture and practice shift from teacher-directed instruction to inquiry-based learning Alternative pedagogical development Resource identification

Before approaching systemic change, we first considered the most prevalent instructional models. What we saw over and over again were relatively autonomous and singular teachers working with discrete groups of students. They were using directive instruction modes designed to impart information and learning within a specific topic area, often in isolation from other topic areas, and they were having inconsistent student achievement results with inner-city middle school populations.

More than 200 college presidents and employers are pledging to support a liberal arts education, expand access to hands-on learning and better track schools’ success in achieving learning goals like complex problem-solving.

One interesting tidbit from the survey is surging demand for, or at least acceptance of, electronic portfolios, which look something like this.

So says a new survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, in which 93% of respondent employers cite critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills as more important than a candidate’s undergraduate major.

Students at Manor New Tech typically complete nearly 200 projects over the course of their high school experience, with each project lasting about two to four weeks.

"How can we use mathematics to design and use a Dobsonian telescope?"

he rubric often includes time lines and information on essential elements of successful final products (for example, if a report may be produced as a podcast rather than a paper, the rubric specifies minimum length for the podcast).

“Our notion of authorship and originality was born, it flourished, and it may be waning,” Ms. Blum said.

Instead of offering an abject apology, Ms. Hegemann insisted, “There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity.” A few critics rose to her defense, and the book remained a finalist for a fiction prize (but did not win).

“If you’re taught how to closely read sources and synthesize them into your own original argument in middle and high school, you’re not going to be tempted to plagiarize in college, and you certainly won’t do so unknowingly,” she said.

In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the 3R’s they are tested on in school. It’s time to help them go “above & beyond”, by embracing the 4Cs – communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.  

How can we help our students embed meaningful purpose into BYOT? 1. As educators and librarians we can model the best practices by balancing innovation with tradition and requiring high standards of critical thinking. 2. We can model our own learning in this new era by showing our own willingness to “learn, unlearn, and relearn ~Toffler” and allowing time to unplug and reflect on the meaning of our learning. 3. We can put people first!  Teaching and librarianship are service-oriented professions.  We are not books or buildings, we are human beings.  We are not robots (yet). Just kidding on that last line.  Putting people first requires admitting that they are more important than our tech gadgets which we all turn to throughout the day.

Instead of writing traditional book reports, her students created video book trailers, in the style of movie trailers, which summarized their readings but also analyzed deeper themes.

“I want them thinking critically about the transitions they’re including, the font choices they’re including, the color selection, the music,” Beach said. “All of that is tying into their analysis of that story.”

On a departmental level, she is instrumental in running the English teachers’ wiki, a collaborative website for sharing ideas and teaching materials.