21st Century PLNs for School Leaders cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by krossbow I have to admit that I was pretty excited to write my first post for the Edutopia group that has a great list of educators sharing some of their best practices. I wanted to share the piece in my own learning space, but you can see the original article posted on the Edutopia site. As many school administrators are enjoying their summer break, we all tend to think of ways that we can make our school better in the upcoming year. “Meaningful change ain’t gonna happen for our kids if we’re not willing to invest in it for ourselves first. With that being said, I have spent the last few years focusing a great deal on my work as an instructional leader within my role as school-based principal, and now as division principal. So for the administrator new to the world of social media and all of the possibilities that it holds for developing instructional leadership, here are three ways that I would suggest starting to learn this summer 2) Read Blogs
- 30 Online Multimedia Resources for PBL and Flipped Classrooms by Michael Gorman 1 Comment May 28, 2012 By: Michael Gorman May 28 Written by: 5/28/2012 12:30 AM ShareThis Welcome to the another in a series of PBL Mania Posts here at Tech & Learning. In this PBL Mania Post I explore Online Multimedia Resources. WGBH Teacher Domain - Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. PBS Teachers – Launched within the last year, PBS Teachers is an awesome place for all kinds of educational multimedia. The Khan Academy – At Khan, students and teachers are encouraged to “Watch… Practice… Learn almost anything for free”. YouTube – Let’s not forget YouTube and its amazing searchable collection. Thinkfinity – This site is worth an entire write-up in itself and will provide a wealth of activities for PBL products. NeoK12 - Take a look and you will find a vast collection of resources and Web 2.o tools that might fit into any lesson. PicsForLearning - Not everything has to be video.
What should students learn in the 21st century? By Charles FadelFounder & chairman, Center for Curriculum Redesign Vice-chair of the Education committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)Visiting scholar, Harvard GSE, MIT ESG/IAP and Wharton/Penn CLO It has become clear that teaching skills requires answering “What should students learn in the 21st century?” on a deep and broad basis. Teachers need to have the time and flexibility to develop knowledge, skills, and character, while also considering the meta-layer/fourth dimension that includes learning how to learn, interdisciplinarity, and personalisation. Adapting to 21st century needs means revisiting each dimension and how they interact: Knowledge - relevance required: Students’ lack of motivation, and often disengagement, reflects the inability of education systems to connect content to real-world experience.
Hoe meet je samenwerkgedrag? Als ik presentaties geef of met geïnteresseerden praat over Learning Analytics, krijg ik vaak de vraag: hoe meet je nu eigenlijk ‘soft skills’? Resultaten van vakken als rekenen en wiskunde zijn vrij makkelijk in cijfers te vatten, maar hoe ga je om met vaardigheden als samenwerken? Pas als je zoiets ook kunt meten, kan een Learning Analytics-systeem écht iets zeggen over de complete vaardigheden en voortgang van de leerling. Tot deze week kon ik nog geen bevredigend antwoord geven op die vraag. Het project heeft een oefen- en beoordelingsprogramma opgeleverd voor twee 21st century skills: collaboratief probleemoplossen en ICT-geletterdheid. In totaal bevat het systeem ruim 12 uur aan oefeningen, verdeeld over 14 verschillende taken. Het systeem klinkt veelbelovend, maar er is nog veel onduidelijk.
The 20 Features Teachers Should Know about The 21st Century Classroom We have been talking a lot about the 21st century skills teacher need to have but what about the 21st century classroom ? Do we know how it looks like ? How much of technology is used there and why should there be any technology it after all ? These are questions that Open Colleges is trying to anwser in their awesome infographic below. Honestly I was thinking that the Flipped Classroom is the type of classroom we will have in the future but I don't think I am right so far. Edudemic has also helped in the realization of this infographic and it even summarized its key elements in the following bullets : 91% of teachers have computers in the classroomJust 20% think they have the right level of technology in the classroomMore than half of all colleges surveyed say their biggest priority is upgrading their wi-fi system43% of teachers surveyed have used online games in the classroom29% of teachers use social networks… 80% of college professors do too.
12 Ways To Use Google Search In School, By Degree Of Difficulty Sunday, May 6, 2012 8:15 am, Posted by | Updates Topics: , , , , , , I’ve been completely obsessed with Google’s new mini-site devoted to finding better ways to incorporate proper web searches into the classroom. Dubbed ‘ Search Education ,’Google’s new site has an array of lesson plans, videos (check a sample out below), concept maps, and other tools designed to help any educator properly integrate Google. This is just the logical next step for the search (and basically everything else) behemoth as Google pushes its way into the classroom. As part of Search Education, Google has shared a bunch of lesson plans that are organized by degree of difficulty. So, if you consider yourself and / or your students Google experts, you should try out the more advanced plans. The following are just some of the many lesson plans brought to you by Google. Picking the right search terms Identify unique search terms to locate targeted sources and to use “context terms” to uncover appropriate evidence.
The Digital Education Revolution, Cont'd: Meet TED-Ed's New Online Learning Platform - Megan Garber - Technology TED's new tool lets teachers create customized lessons that revolve around web video. The iconic image of high school education, forged for most of us through personal experience and viewings of Dead Poets Society, is this: a teacher, standing in front of his or her class, lecturing. There are exceptions, definitely: the class discussion, the interactive lab experiment, the game, the field trip. For the most part, though, despite years of education reform, we tend of think of education as a highly vertical experience, one of active teachers and passive students, one in which knowledge radiates out from a single speaker to a roomful of silent listeners. That model is changing, though, and quickly. Increasingly, education -- in college, definitely, but in high school and elementary school, too -- is becoming more horizontally integrated, guided by conversation and interaction and the productive chaos of student curiosity. That's big.
Aan de horizon: ICT en informatievoorziening in het onderwijs Vanochtend had ik het genoegen aan te mogen schuiven bij een overleg over de rol en ontwikkelingen van ICT in het onderwijs van Windesheim. Ondanks vele jaren met veel goede voornemens en initiatieven blijft het toch bijzonder lastig voor een onderwijsinstelling om ICT ontwikkelingen structureel (of soms uberhaupt) een plek te geven in het onderwijs. Iedereen ziet het nut en de noodzaak maar in de waan van de dag is het experimenteren en een plaats geven van dit soort aspecten vaak te tijdrovend. Hoewel ik al jaren vind dat de scheidslijn tussen ICT (en onderwijs) en de ontwikkelingen in de informatievoorziening bijna volledig vervaagd zijn was ik aangenaam verrast toen ik constateerde dat de helft van de aanwezigen een onderwijskundige achtergrond hadden in combinatie met ICT en de andere helft vanuit de processen van informatievoorziening. Daarnaast beschrijft het rapport een groot aantal trends die min of meer los staan van de technologie. Raymond Snijders
Game-Based Learning to Teach and Assess 21st Century Skills Game-Based Learning, and particularly serious games that teach content, are fast becoming utilized in the classroom. Frequent success stories are appearing, from Minecraft in the elementary classroom to games that teach civics. There is curriculum that pairs World of Warcraft with language arts standards, and many other variations where the gaming focus is on content. What about 21st-century skills? Yes, games can be used to teach and assess 21st-century skills! Collaboration MMOs are hugely popular. Communication All of the games above, which require collaboration, also require communication. Critical Thinking/Problem-Solving Well-designed games require players to solve a variety of complex problems, some of which require standards-aligned learning and some that simply require general critical thinking and problem-solving. We must find time for students to play these games in and out of the class to teach content and 21st-century skills.
A Brooklyn High School Takes a New Approach to Vocational Education The building and its surroundings in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, may look run-down, but inside 150 Albany Avenue may sit the future of the country’s vocational education: The first 230 pupils of a new style of school that weaves high school and college curriculums into a six-year program tailored for a job in the technology industry. By 2017, the first wave of students of P-Tech — Pathways in Technology Early College High School — is expected to emerge with associate’s degrees in applied science in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering technology, following a course of studies developed in consultation with I.B.M. “I mean, in 10th grade, doing college work?” said Monesia McKnight, 15, as she sat in an introduction to computer systems course taught by a college professor. “How great is that?” Into this breach, school systems around the country have been aiming to start new high schools like P-Tech. Stanley S. “Because that is the problem,” he said.
What Is PBL Really? Do you want to engage your students in Project Based Learning (PBL)? Maybe you are asking yourself what is PBL really? Am I doing it right? Well, first of all, the most important thing to understand is that PBL is a construct made up by human beings and so there are lots of variations! And you are entitled to construct your own version, too, within some parameters. My suggestion is to study many of the great resources that are available to you and then create your own working definition and effective PBL practice. Some Parameters to Consider I have created this diagram, enhanced by the critical eye of Brenda Sherry, which may be useful as you consider what is important to you and to your students. We like to think with the frame of continua rather than dichotomies simply because things are rarely on or off, black or white, ones or zeroes! You could likely add other dimensions to consider as you build your own understandings and beliefs! Trust Who is in control? Questioning Collaboration
Forecasting the Future of Education An upbeat and hopeful video about what the future of education could look like, posted by the New Brunswick Department of Education, provides an insightful peek into the future of education and extrapolates some exciting innovations that we can expect to see by the year 2020. The Recent Past is a Distant Memory as We Rocket into the Future As an introduction to how far education has advanced recently, the video begins by examining some of the things that may not even be a part of education by the third decade of the 21st century: There are few students who would miss any of these artifacts of the previous century in education in part because students themselves have progressed so far in their own technological sophistication. In fact, according to the video, some students: The video then proceeds to examine the rate of technological innovation and states that in the next century we will experience the equivalent of 20,000 years of progress. What Does It Mean?
Five Essential Skills for Leadership in the 21st Century The 21 st century presents many new challenges for both employees and business leaders. In an interconnected, fast moving world, we need to learn cognitive flexibility, stress tolerance, and divergent thinking. While technology can make us more effective, new theories of leadership emphasize the importance of trust and establishing long-term relationships. In a competitive world, we need leaders with novel ideas, who are willing to take risks, inspire and motivate, and build new strategic partnerships to address global challenges. In these endeavors, leaders need to incorporate skills that are more in the realm of psychology and cognitive science. "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ – Bruce Lee There are so many people out there saying exactly the same thing. What are the short- and long-term challenges that your team/organization will address? “Fall seven times, Stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb