What Is Design Thinking? How might we engage students more deeply in reading? -- Karen, learning specialist How might we create a classroom space that is more centered around the needs and interests of the students? -- Michael, second-grade teacher How might we create a more collaborative culture for teachers at our school? -- Patrick, third-grade teacher How might we connect more with our neighborhood community? How might we create a district-wide approach to curriculum that engages the 21st century learner? As educators, we are designing every single day -- whether it's finding new ways to teach content more effectively, using our classroom space differently, developing new approaches to connecting with parents, or creating new solutions for our schools. Wherever they fall on the spectrum of scale -- the challenges facing educators today are real, complex, and varied. Design Thinking is one of them. Design Thinking is a process and a mindset It's human-centered It's collaborative It's experimental It's optimistic
George Siemens's blog: Ideas, collaboration, and innovation It's always difficult to assess the trajectory and depth of change when you're in the middle of it. I wonder if people in the industrial revolution, American/French revolutions - or even in the long, steady progress of the scientific revolution - were aware of what they were witnessing. Revolutions look so neatly packaged and defined, i.e. "the industrial revolution started with the development of..." when seen in reverse. In contrast, revolutions are experienced chronologically. Since the early 1990's, I've heard a fair bit of hype around how the internet (and then the web, then web 2.0, now social media, and tomorrow "big data") would impact society and businesses. It is this stage - where new technologies change practice and changed practices in turn alter organizational structure - that fascinates me. This past week, I was at the Social Business Forum in Milan, presenting on Analytics in Learning and Knowledge (
College Readiness: Reading Critically We have a generation of students that are trained to automatically trust the textbook, or for that matter, trust anything that is written. Today, many students don't know how to read things with a grain of salt. So how do we go about fixing this? Well, first we have to get them to read, then get them to read critically. Mem Fox's book, Reading Magic, states that the love of reading has to start young. Parents and teachers have to read at least 1000 books to children to prepare them to read on their own. Dr. Today, Mike Rose is a professor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Between the Lines Reading has to be synonymous to thinking. With all of that creative learning juice flowing in student's brains while they read, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it. We should teach students to identify concepts while they read and then judge which of them is a key concept. Have you heard of the residue of thinking? Going Digital
Social media & learning – note taking on steroids With all this talk about social media and learning, we may be missing the essential benefit, which is simple note taking and the sharing of those notes. Social media is notes on steroids. I’m a note taker, whether it’s at talks, conferences, in margins of books or thoughts captured in my notebook. On top of this I write the equivalent of notes on Twitter, Facebook and longer blog posts. It’s a lifelong habit. I’m therefore astonished, when giving keynotes and talks at learning conferences, to see learning professionals sit there and NOT take notes and worse have no means to take notes. In addition, articles on ‘learning how to learn’ or ‘metacognition’ often disappoint me, as they seem vague and lack the sort of direct advice that really does lead to a dramatic increase in retention. Why take notes? 1. Studies on note taking (with control groups and reversal of note takers and non note takers to eliminate differences) show overwhelmingly that not taking increases memory/retention. 2. 3.
Students Evolve from Consumers to Critics and Creators Critical-thinking skills -- and fluency in multimedia production -- are integral to media literacy. Running Time: 8 min. For many students, what happens in the traditional American classroom is boring. Small wonder, when you compare such relatively inanimate stuff as pencil-and-paper-bound reading, writing, and math drills to the media mix of mind-bending imagery and hair-raising sound that consumes most of their waking hours outside school. A recent study, "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds," found that students in grades 3-12 spend an average of six hours and twenty-one minutes plugged in to some type of media each day. For this digital generation, electronic media is increasingly seductive, influential, and pervasive, yet most schools treat the written word as the only means of communication worthy of study. Credit: Edutopia One place kids live is the multiplex, where they indulge in popcorn and eye candy. Credit: The Jacob Burns Film Center
Learning Online Reflection: Learning is Not an Instructional Method by Beth Knittle, BethKnittle.net An individual’s learning does not take place online, on a computer, in a library, or in a classroom for that matter. Learning takes place within the learner. The classroom, a learning management system, online resources, books, teachers and other learners are part of the learning environment but are not learning themselves. I continually hear that online classes are not as rigorous or as valuable as a face to face class. I have sat in some pretty useless face to face classes in my day, the same can be said for an online class or two.
Critical Thinking Pathways Critical thinking is trendy these days. With 6.3 million hits resulting from a Google search -- six times "Bloom's Taxonomy" -- its importance is undeniable. Worldwide, critical thinking (CT) is integrated into finger-painting lessons, units on Swiss immigrants, discussions of Cinderella, and the Common Core State Standards. Definitions abound. "Seeing both sides of an issue." -- Daniel Willingham "An ability to use reason to move beyond the acquisition of facts to uncover deep meaning." -- Robert Weissberg "A reflective and reasonable thought process embodying depth, accuracy, and astute judgment to determine the merit of a decision, an object, or a theory." -- Huda Umar Alwehaibi "Self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way." -- Linda Elder Jarno M. Meanwhile, watch out for CT posers. "How is that critical thinking?" "It really gets students thinking about the dangers of rickshaws," he said. Critical Thinking
Конкурс 2011 - редактор электронных курсов CourseLab Подведены итоги ежегодного конкурса на лучший электронный курс, разработанный с помощью редактора Courselab. Конкурс проводится компанией Websoft, разработчиком программного продукта Courselab в четвертый раз (см. итоги конкурса 2010, итоги конкурса 2009, итоги конкурса 2008). Главная особенность этого конкурса в том, что в нем участвуют работы, созданные непосредственно в компаниях для обучения своих сотрудников, а не заказанные внешним разработчикам. Оценка работ проводилась как членами профессионального жюри, так и клиентами Websoft, а также пользователями портала HRM.ru. На конкурс было представлено 50 электронных курсов, разработанных в 27 компаниях Вы можете познакомиться со всеми работами представленными на конкурс, а также с их разработчиками, перейдя по этой ссылке Оценка проводилась по ряду критериев: Корректность формулировки целей и задач курса Соответствие используемых приемов оформления достижению целей и задач курса. Эксперты конкурса Результаты в номинациях приведены ниже.
What Teachers Need to Know about Critical Thinking Vs Creative Thinking December 7, 2014 When it comes to differentiating critical thinking from creative thinking, things get a little bit blurry as there is no consensus as to what really defines these processes. This lack of consensus is particularly reflected in the various meanings creative thinking takes in different disciplines.For instance, in business and corporate world, creative thinking is synonymous with entrepreneurship, in mathematics it stands for problem solving, and in education it carries connotations of innovation. While there is no agreed upon definition for these two types of thinking, a comprehensive body of literature confirms the fact that creative and critical thinking are not identical. They involve, more or less, different cognitive processes and have different strategies (see this page for references). Also, check out this table to learn about some of the differences between creative and critical thinking. Creative Thinkers
Learning is Not an Instructional Method Learning takes place within a learner it results in the change of the learners understanding and behavior. As toddlers we learn that fire is hot, and ice is cold. Those of us who watched A Christmas Story learned not to stick our tongue on a frozen flag pole. Though I am sure a few were inspired to try any way, they still learned the lesson. Learning takes place all the time as we engage with our environment and each other. Recently I have been part of discussions surrounding ‘Online Learning’ some of these discussion take place at work, others among my PLN and a few more at Moodle Boot Camp. I continually hear that online classes are not as rigorous or as valuable as a face to face class. Since learning is ultimately the responsibility of the learner, they should have a choice on what delivery and instructional methods works best for them.
The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking The Question Game by Sophie Wrobel, geist.avesophos.de The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking Big idea: Teaching kids to ask smart questions on their own A four-year-old asks on average about 400 questions per day, and an adult hardly asks any. In A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, Warren Berger suggests that there are three main questions which help in problem solving: Why questions, What If questions, and How questions. Regardless of the question, the question needs to be phrased openly and positively in order to achieve positive results – a closed or negative question only raises bad feelings against each other. Why questions help to find the root of a problemWhat If questions open up the floor for creative solutionsHow questions focus on developing practical solutions Learning Goal: A Pattern Of Critical Thinking Introducing The Question Game Evaluating Learning Progress
free online templates, samples, examples, articles, resources and tools for business training and organizational development - free downloads free diagrams - theories, processes, models (pdf) John Fisher's Process of Transition Diagram - revised Nov 2012 - pdf - colour/color - with Complacency stage - see Process of Transition explanation John Fisher's 2012 Process of Personal Transition diagram - pdf - see Process of Transition explanation The Psychological Contract 'Iceberg' Diagram - pdf - see Psychological Contract Theory notes TokPisin (for Papua New Guinea) version of John Fisher's Process of Transition diagram - pdf - (with thanks to Sharne Black of Ozi-K Ltd Papua New Guinea) - refer to Process of Transition explanation Spanish Version of John Fisher's Process of Transition diagram - pdf - (with thanks to Marcelo Rivadeneira for the translation) - refer to Process of Transition explanation French version of John Fisher's Process of Transition diagram - pdf - (with thanks to the Canadian International Development Agency for the translation) - refer to Process of Transition explanation Tuckman 'forming storming' diagram - pdf
13 Essential 21st Century Skills for Todays Students Educators and workforce experts alike often warn that our children need improved 21st century skills. Without these skills, they will not be able to successfully participate in the global economy. They won’t be adequately prepared for college and work. But what, exactly, are 21st century skills? It depends on who you ask. More than Computers & Technology Hanover Research recently analyzed six major educational frameworks designed to improve the development of 21st century skills. While each framework has slightly different list of critical 21st century skills, all agree on four critical areas for development: Collaboration and teamwork Creativity and imagination Critical thinking Problem solving “It is easy to see how these skills could be valuable to a new high school graduate and to employers, as well as how these skills can easily interact with one another,” according to the Hanover Research report. Other Critical Skills for Success Deeper Dives