21st Century Learning…blah blah blah cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by mrsdkrebs Right now you probably hear as many people talk about how annoyed they are with the term “21st Century Learning” as you will hear people talking about the importance of it. I will have to admit, I am in the “annoyed” camp. We often talk about these ideals of what “21st Century Learning” will look like but I think we can start with something much simpler. I was reminded of this the other day while at a conference and the presenter started the session by saying, “I would like to start by asking everyone to put away their mobile devices.” How many educators could sit through 4-6 hours of lectures daily, with worksheets, for 180-200 days of the year? The more I go to conferences, I often see many people skipping sessions to talk and connect the material. Now I really do not believe that you can just switch schools to this more “adult” way of learning overnight. How do we like to learn? Thoughts?
25 Unmissable Social Media Articles Worth Reading This Weekend - 6th May Every week, we have a look at some of the biggest social media stories that are out there, sift through the thousands of articles on offer and bring you 25 stories that you simply have to read. These are never breaking news stories but rather some of the deepest thinkers and smartest minds from the world of technology and social media, offering their thoughts and views regarding the biggest stories of the week. You won't make it through them all in one sitting but it'll bring you up to speed with this week's happenings. So just sit back, grab a coffee and enjoy. - Why traffic from social outposts is an overrated metric. - The secret to Facebook's success. - Why developer success on iOS is nothing more than a lottery. - Why Google is making a huge mistake shoehorning G+ into all its products. - Klout is evil, but it can be saved. - From social TV to better TV: Will the 'second screen' deliver for networks, brands and users? - Don't underestimate the power of (social) collaboration.
Hypocrisy in the Profession of Education June 12, 2012 by tomwhitby Whenever I think of a teacher, I also think of a scholar. It has always been apparent to me that if one is to be an effective teacher, one must continually learn. I brought up topics like authentic learning; project based learning, the flipped classroom, and connected educators. I clearly understand that teachers are under attack, both locally and nationally. As educators, we strive to create life-long learners in our students. As educators we must be learners first. With technology today teachers can be connected to the information, sources and other educators to maintain relevancy. Like this: Like Loading...
About DIAL | DIAL The DIAL project Digital Integration into Arts Learning The DIAL project, partially funded by JISC Developing Digital Literacies Programme, is a two-year project (ending December 2013) at the university of Arts London. The project set out with a broad aim of exploring UALs digital literacies landscape, past, present and future, its key aims being cultural change and improve graduate employability. DIAL is a change programme and will strive to continue beyond the life of the project and support a sustainable and long-term future for UALs Digital Literacies Programme. The project method Support a number of self-identifying and mutually supportive communities of staff and students within the university (based on courses, disciplines or other naturally occurring communities) who identify goals for improving their collective digital literacies. Within the community, individual and collective aims and anxieties will be identified. Please see DIAL year 2 objectives.
JISC Digital Literacies programme: A history of Digital Literacy in UK & EU #JISCDigLit — Digital Fingerprint Sarah Payton & Tabetha Newman The EU describes it as digital competency. Lots of debate about what it is, but if we’re talking policy at institutions, it’s important to know what you are seeking to implement. Recommended books: Great (simple) definition of digital literacies: Arguments against “digital natives”: Students often get disheartened when they search the web. Students need to move beyond practitioner training, and into being strong independent learners, who are confident to go off and try for themselves. We have to accept that ‘new’ is here to stay, and that we will no longer be ‘masters’. Assessment needs to change, to ensure that students will NEED to remix the information that’s available, rather than the “digital parrot” [my words!] Mentioned in the chat: Majority of support available is processes. European Union – recognized the need for more training for a knowledge economy (rather than a production economy), see
Efficiencies, enhancements and transformation: how technology can deliver at JISC On Air Episode 4: Efficiencies, enhancements and transformation: how technology can deliver. (Duration: 23:56) Listen now Subscribe via RSS Subscribe via iTunes Download MP3 Read the show transcript In the fourth episode of our online radio programmes – JISC On Air – we are exploring how learning technologies can be used to support new ways of delivering curricula leading to benefits, efficiencies, enhancements and transformation. The show highlights how colleges and universities are using technology to enable flexible and creative models of curriculum delivery. Kim Catchesideintroduces two different curriculum delivery projects, Making the New Diploma a Success, a learning portal for diploma students at Lewisham College, and eBioLabs, a set of integrated tools that help students prepare for laboratory classes at the University of Bristol.The show then explores their approaches and achievements, with a focus on some of the tangible benefits emerging from their activities. Tell us what you think
40 Future Uses for Educational Technology [Infographic] Educators spend entire careers writing lesson plans and curricula to better prepare students for challenges they’ve yet to encounter. With the rapid advancement of technology, the nature of these challenges changes almost daily. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 65 percent of grade-school students will end up in jobs that haven’t been invented yet. So, what exactly will the jobs of the future look like? Beyond McLuhan: Your New Media Studies Syllabus - Christina Dunbar-Hester - Technology Editor's Note: A new generation of scholars is trying to come to new understandings of how technology and society shape each other. Christina Dunbar-Hester is among those young lions from her position at Rutgers School of Communication & Information. Here, she walks you through her PhD-level class on technology and media. It's tempting to see new technologies, especially new media technologies, as drivers of political and social change. "Technology is society made durable." In this course we ask, how can we think about media technologies in a smart and critical way? In order to answer these questions (or at least deeply consider them), the course starts with an introduction to theories of technology and technological change, drawn primarily from the scholarly field of Science & Technology Studies. However, I teach in Rutgers' School of Communication & Information, and this course is for our Ph.D. students. Week One: What is technology? Week Two: Some theories of media technology
Teachers Are Poor Consumers of Learning July 24, 2012 by tomwhitby There are only a few explanations that many educators offer up as reasons not to learn and use any technology as tools for learning. One of the most popular excuses, frequently cited by educators, is that there is not enough time to learn all of the stuff that is out there. In sales people are taught that if you can answer a customer’s objection to a product, you are more likely to make the sale. As educators, we deal with information, and once that was a limited commodity. As educators, do we throw up our hands and say that this is all too much, and there is not enough time for our students to learn all of the stuff that is out there? Why don’t educators learn from their own teaching? Like this: Like Loading...
10 Ways I Use Technology to Learn Talking to smart people at Startup Weekend SFO During the NYTimes conference this week a tweeter got frustrated with the old white men on the stage, “One last time: Would the panel mind talking about how they themselves use technology to learn?” So I thought I’d respond. Write a blog worth sharing with the world every day (or at least a couple a week). My learning with technology strategy isn’t very high tech: word processing, blog, search, email, social networking, and a spreadsheet.
Google launches YouTube curriculum to educate students on digital citizenship (video) Google has developed an interactive curriculum on YouTube to support teachers in educating students on how to be safe, engaged and confident model netizens. The initiative is aimed at students aged 13 to 17 and will help them to develop digital literacy skills on YouTube that would be applicable across the web. A list of 10 lessons has been devised, in which students can learn about YouTube’s policies, how to report content, how to protect their own privacy, and how to be responsible YouTube community members and, in the broader picture, digital citizens. Each lesson comes with guidelines for teachers and ready-made slides for presentation. Elaine Burke
Wrong Focus: Teacher-Centered Classrooms and Technology There is a buzz around me these days about how EdTech is failing to live up to its promise fueled primarily by the In Classrooms of Future, Stagnant Scores. What is surprising to most when they share this piece with me or ask me my opinion about the failures of EdTech is my response. For the most part, I agree that it is failing but that failure has more to do with us than with the technology. Why? We continue to focus on the value of EdTech by what the teachers do with it NOT what the students do with it.We continue to focus on the value of EdTech by what happens to high stakes, standardized test scores. Teacher-Centered Classrooms/Technology When the focus of technology is on the teacher and teaching not learners and learning, it is easy to see EdTech as a failure: a waste of time, money, and resources. Is it any wonder we find ourselves unable to fulfill the promise we’ve preached about EdTech? Look at the front of the classroom from the students’ perspective. Now flip it. Paper. Really?