The 21st Century Teaching and Learning Skills for Teachers and Students We have just finsihed working on our fourth ebook this year. The 21st Century Skills Teachers and Students Need is inspired by the popular post under the same title here in this blog.Since its publication last year, thousands of people have been reading it and so we decided to make an elaborate ebook where we can provide more information on this topic. As is the habit with each new ebook we publish, here is part of the introduction and you can scroll down to download and read the entire ebook. ......Digital era, information age, knowledge era are new terms that we start hearing recently because of this digital boom. Here is the table of content of this ebook to let you have an idea of what to expect to read. Use this Link to share the ebook ( ) Here is the ebook The 21st Century Skills Teachers and Students Need to Have -
Ways to Evaluate Educational Apps I am conducting a series of workshops in Florida and was asked to share a rubric to help teachers evaluate educational apps as part of the workshop. In 2010 Harry Walker developed a rubric, and I used his rubric (with some modifications by Kathy Schrock) as the basis for mine. (Read Harry Walker's paper Evaluating the Effectiveness of Apps for Mobile Devices.) I kept in mind that some apps are used to practice a discrete skill or present information just one time. Others are creative apps that a learner may use again and again, so it's a challenge to craft a rubric that can be used for a wide span of purposes. My rubric also emphasizes the ability to customize content or settings and how the app encourages the use of higher order thinking skills. Here's what I chose to spotlight in my rubric: Relevance The app’s focus has a strong connection to the purpose for the app and appropriate for the student Customization Feedback Student is provided specific feedback Thinking Skills Engagement Sharing
mooc.wikispaces Understanding Digital CitizenshipChange 11 MOOC - #change11Alec Couros - @courosa - - couros@gmail.com Overview This week, I would like to lead a conversation around the the emerging concept of digital citizenship as it applies to learners and the role that educators and educational institutions must play in developing citizenry. Media & Information Literacy: "Media literacy is a repertoire of competences that enable people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and forms." Copyright/Copyleft: "Copyleft is a general method for making a program (or other work) free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free as well." Network Literacy: Howard Rheingold writes, "Understanding how networks work is an essential 21st century literacy." Identity:
Principles of Democracy - Digital Storytelling Flat Classroom/NetGenEd Guidelines for Media Use While some of the following may still arguably be considered as qualifying under Fair Use in some instances, it is important to remember when participating in a project like this that we are utilizing a NING platform, similar to YouTube. Although not exact, NING has a Terms of Use Agreement that we all agree to abide by upon joining. NING reserves the right to remove anything they deem copyright infringement.Further, copyrighted material can cause a really fantastic video to lose out on a well-deserved award due to the inclusion of copyright especially music. Copyright May I use Copyrighted Material? If you are unsure how to determine if something is protected by Copyright, you can use this digital slider to help you.For our classroom purposes, you should NOT ever use mainstream, copyrighted music as background in any of your videos or digital stories. Fair Use Where does Fair Use come in? Was the Barack Obama "Hope" Poster fair use?
Teaching technology: we need a digital revolution in the classroom | Observer editorial | Comment is free | The Observer There's an old saying in business: if you don't know who the sucker in a room is, it's probably you. A similar adage can be applied to technology: if you don't know how to control the systems you're using, these systems are probably controlling you. As John Naughton argues in his special report for this week's New Review, Britain is in danger of producing a generation of technological suckers: people who know how to word process a letter, buy apps for their iPhones and to search in Google, but have no understanding of the inner workings of these services. This is, above all, an issue of education and training. Understanding modern computing means far more than typing at a desktop machine or picking up mail on a smartphone. Digital technologies are becoming an unprecedented force economically as well as socially. Keeping up is one of the most vital economic issues this country faces. This isn't just a pipe dream, either. This is where the government has most to prove.
Technology and Education | Box of Tricks Posted by José Picardo on September 25, 2011 Many of us look at schools in which there is 1:1 iPad or Netbook implementation and drool with envy. “If only our schools were as innovative” or, let’s face it, “as rich, as these other schools” we think to ourselves. However, the other side of the coin is that many teachers also see iPads as nothing more than overrated books that glow. I think there is. You see, we feel that iPads are a great idea but we think that we need to develop pedagogically sound strategies and good practice before we consider buying any more. The comic above, for example, was created in one of these activities using Comic Life, a fantastic and very reasonably priced iPad app. It’s still very early days and our iPad’s use is obviously limited by its uniqueness, as we only have the one tablet. The screenshots below were taken from a e-book (i-book?) So, the iPad certainly glows. What do you think? Cover photo by Leondel José Picardo
What does it mean to be literate in 2012? | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional As it currently stands, the school ICT and computing curriculum does little, if anything, to stimulate an interest in these key subject areas. From key stage 3 upwards, the focus tends to be on spreadsheets and databases, and an overuse of Word and PowerPoint, geared as it is to enabling pupils to pass the national curriculum and coursework requirements. You would have to be a very keen enthusiast to get to the end of your key stage 4 course and still want to learn more about computers and technology as the curriculum currently defines it. One of the main problems facing teachers in these subject areas, is the gap between what pupils know and do at home, compared with what they know and do at school. Many pupils go home to better computing facilities that they have at school, both in terms of hardware and software, and have much fewer restrictions in what they can and cannot access at home compared with school. Could you be one of our bloggers?
Best Learning Experiences of 2011-2012 Taking an idea from @coolcatteacher as seen below... I asked each of our students the following question, "What was your best learning experience of the year?" I created the entire movie on an iPad with iMovie and can't be more thrilled with the result. Some students gave detailed answers, some shortened them up. Digital classrooms for a digital age Led by Janet Hayward, currently headteacher at Cadoxton Primary School, the group considered what digital materials work in the classroom and how the Welsh Government can work towards all schools in Wales being able to deliver digitally. The report makes a number of recommendations including the creation of a hub to enable learners and teachers to share best practice resources. The report also recommends the creation of a national digital collection of teaching and learning resources. The Minister will now consider all of the recommendations set down in the report to see how technology in the classroom can be strengthened for the benefit of Wales’ learners. Education Minister Leighton Andrews said: “New technologies can offer new approaches to engage learners. Chair of the Task and Finish Group Janet Hayward said: “In Wales it is clear that there are some real pockets of outstanding practice in the use of technology to enhance learning outcomes.
Deploying iPads in schools So, what were our goals and what benefits did we expect? One of the big-ticket items for us was the iPad’s instant-on capability. Not having to wait for computers to log in at the start of a class is a huge benefit. Also, students can get through a full day without needing to find power. Apps, iBooks, fast internet access, the ability to quickly take notes, record audio and shoot photos – all of these can have a huge impact on classroom delivery. There are two ways iPads can be deployed in schools; as a shared resource or as personal devices. When iPads are deployed as shared devices, they’re loaded with whatever apps everyone might need and then booked out for use at specific times. This can work well, particularly with younger classes where handing out personal devices doesn’t work well. In our case, as we were starting with older students, the decision was taken to give each student their own device. This also brought some challenges but it also delivered a less tangible benefits.