"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
“For decades, the center of computing has been the desktop, and software was modeled after the experience of using a typewriter,” said Georg Petschnigg, a former Microsoft employee who is one of the creators of Paper, a new sketchbook app for the iPad.
“People are living in the moment and they want to share in the moment,” Professor Sundar said. “Mobile gives you that immediacy and convenience.”
Something that I have thought about when we talk about open spaces in schools for the future. I attended an open school that didn't seem to work very well.
Sean Nash's presentation on What does a teacher need to know and/or be able to do to be considered 'technologically savvy' in the year 2012. Not much content but he lays out the big ideas and then sets up a chalk talk.
primary purpose of school should be to meet the needs of the individual. That if we meet the individual needs of students, we will ultimately meet the needs of all students. And if we truly meet the needs of all students, we will then meet the needs of society.
Article in Huffington Post from Karl Fisch. He's one of the co-creaters of Did you know? Talks about need for content and skills for individual students.
Diana works at the Science and Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. While it is a 1 to 1 school, she talks about real world learning experiences and learning that comes from failing.
This is really cool. How long until it becomes freely available to the public. I've seen a Ted Talk on these disks before, but this is even more developed.
To use twitter is to get it. To explain Twitter is a losing proposition. Twitter’s reputation as an application is its worst enemy.
How could this ever be taken seriously, not to even mention being used as a tool for Professional Development for educators?
We can contact individuals around the globe. Our thoughts and ideas can be suspended in time until retrieved by others. We can exchange ideas or information in the form of: text, audio files, photos, videos, Blog posts, articles, URL’s (links), charts, data, and live interaction. All of this is made possible with Social Media.
A huge problem with Twitter for some is understanding who is getting the message. Remember Twitter is Social Media and is based on social interaction. If you walked into an auditorium full of people and started talking without engaging someone first, no one would be listening. You would be talking out loud to yourself. If you introduced yourself to someone and then began a conversation you now have someone listening and interacting. You would then do the same with a second, third, and fourth person. You have connected with those people and selected them as persons you may interact with, and they have selected you as well, based on your intelligent contributions to the discussion. As that works in life, so it works in Twitter.
Twitter is only one component of a comprehensive PLN. There are many Social Media applications that serve educators well for communication, collaboration, and creation. All of these applications are constantly evolving or disappearing, to be replaced by new applications. We need to buy into the method and not the tool. Tools change, but learning continues. To be better educators we need to be better learners.