• Day 1Read the
Horizon Report (2008).
Post a blog on what technological trend you feel will become most prevalent in K12 learning within 5 years and why.
(see Rules of Engagement)• Day 2Please watch both of the Sir Ken Robinson videos linked below. Then post two slides on the shared presentation: 1) one way schools kill creativity, and 2) one way schools foster creativity.
Do schools kill creativity?Creatively Speaking(see Rules of Engagement)
• Day 3
Assignment 1 - See Blog entry on Web 2.0 Directory below for instructions.
Assignment 2 - See Blog entry on P21 Skills below for instructions.
• Day 4Assignment 1 - Wikipedia - see post below.Assignment 2 - Colliding Forces - see post below.
• Day 5 and Day 6Live Broadcast - post a response to the blog below on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)• Day 7 and Day 8 - Surprise.....Your assignment is optional - you will receive credit whether you email me yes or no, but you do have to email me. I do not believe in zeros, nor in failure as an option. However, you get what you put in, so I encourage you to say yes....;-)
If you email me yes, here's what you are committing to. Give me your email address at work, what grade level or content area you teach, whether you are an administrator, whatever. What school you are at and a short resume/introduction of yourself. I will leave your name and contact anonymous until I find another teacher/educator/administrator in PVUSD who might like to work with you on REACH, and in turn you with them. I will make an intitial email introduction of each of you to the other - from there, you are on your own to put into practice the communication, collaboration and creativity of 21st century teaching and learning, using information technology to bridge time and space constraints.
REACH (Real Experiences Advancing Childhood Humanities) is an initiative our district is implementing with other educators/administrators outside of our walls. We are connecting students/teachers/administrators, from differing classrooms, differing schools, cities, states, countries, using technology to communicate/collaborate/create in whatever ways possible and appropriate to postively impact student learning - totally up to you and your PVUSD counterpart on what you think would be useful - how big, how small, how deep, how thin, is up to you.
It does not have to be high tech, with tons of technology - in fact, the technology is not the point - learning with and about others is, being creative and taking a risk is the experience. One simple internet connection and a Google account can do wonders (you should now know that), to connect students, teachers, administrators, whatever. I suspect your kids, your school will be richer for the adventure and you will cross into something I believe is profound and necessary in education - REACH'ing beyond the walls......
So, if you want to REACH, give me the details and I will personally try to connect you with an appropriate counterpart. Then, you have the opportunity to extend your coursework learning into actual practice - the point of taking a class. Email me yay with details, or nay. What I wish for you is to REACH beyond this ASU class, throw optimism into the wind and see what emerges in your participatory networking experience.
Jeff......
13 comments:
Nicole, This is just a hard concecpt for my mind to wrap around. I know the possibilities are there it's just such a new concept for me I need to train myself to use this as a resource.
Nicole, I can empathize with you in that we both teach in the low socio-economic demographic. At times with talk about all this technology we should be utilizing I feel like I'm facing an uphill battle because my students leave school and are babysat by a television!
Yes, I couldn't agree with you more Nicole. In my response to the article I also said that cell phones were going to take us into the future. These devices have grown in power and capability exponentially.
It is scary to me or I guess I should say exciting to think of all of these new possibilities. I think it is evident that whether we are ready or not the technological advances are coming and so are the students who are skilled in the use of all of these new avenues!:)
Nicole, you are so right. The use of cell phones can really get kids engaged and hooked on technology. I think it is so important to be creative and insightful with the technology you do have.
I agree that cell phones hold amazing amounts of technology and could be very useful in a variety of areas but I could see parents expecting the school to provide them if they are being required for instruction.
I just can't imagine the day when I ask all students to take out their cell phones during class. Hey, at least that's one thing kids never forget.
Nicole,
I should have read your comment first before I made my comment. Anyway, we do have the same thought about "cell phone". Horay to CELL PHONE. If that is the day, I can't wait to say to my students, "OK kids, take your our cell phone."
Some are believing that SmartPhones represent the "convergence" of phones, computers and multimedia players (mp3). Immediate access, long battery life, quick power up time, ubiquitous, no network barriers, etc.. Applications are all over the place - from immediate posting (remind me to demonstrate posting to blogs through text messaging and voice to text), and through text messaging to Google (I'll demo it in class) one has immediate access to unbelievable resources, all from the palm of the hand. Trying texting something like "2 + 2 =" to 466453 (GOOGLE) and see what you get in return....enjoy....;-)
I used to laugh at people who had internet on their phone. I thought that they needed to get a life and get a hobby. My friend got a job with Sprint and I got a great all inclusive deal on a cell phone plan and now I couldn't imagine living with out it. I mean, it's a world of convience. I have GPS on my phone and it allows me to navigate anywhere and find restaurants, stores, etc... Not to metion I can check students grades on the software on my phone too.
I agree. Cell phones are amazing these days. Gone are the days of the Zack Morris cell phone that only allows you to send and receive calls. They really are like mini computers. I hope that as the technology in the cell phones increase they will become more affordable, especially for low income families. Yeah blackberry!
Interesting and true, especially with this generation of learners. I wonder how this would be received by the parents who are against their child having a phone until their teens. I have noticed, teaching in both a low socio and high socio economic area, that more kids at the low socio economic school had cellphones than there peers from a different area. By the way, what is twittering?
Yeah... when the iPhone becomes common place, then we're probably going to reach critical point and see the explosion of mobile broadband.
Post a Comment