RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms
Honestly, I was slightly shocked with the information presented. It's as if educators don't realize how incredibly boring their lesson plan is, so they randomly suggest that their students are uninterested or have a learning disability. It's CRAZY. It's also crazy how Sir Robinson pointed out that schools are functioning on factory lines with the ringing bells and separate facilities. A change is definitely needed.
The video was presented quite well, actually. It was very neat and well organized. If I could play a part in one of these projects, I would love to be a narrator.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Blog Post 10
An Open Letter to Educators
Morgan Bayda blogs about a video she came across, featuring a guy by the name of Dan Brown who dropped out of college because his "schooling was interfering with [his] learning".
Dan details much of the issues a college student goes through: sitting among dozens to hundreds of students in a huge lecture hall, all of whom are virtual strangers to the one professor, up at the head of the class, rambling off facts that the students frantically scribble down in hopes of remembering them for the test they'll be on. I've had at least one class like that, and yes, it is quite the hassle.
As Morgan states, this way of learning is not relevant to the forward moving world we're in now. Learning is easier and better (and FREE) via the internet. If we wanted to know something 20 years ago, chances are, we'd have no choice but to pay a pretty penny for it, and sit through all the gruel that Dan described. Nowadays, it's all at our fingertips at no cost to us. If the education systems would like to keep its students, then like Dan said, it's going to have to do more than adopt a few new tools. It needs a total upgrade.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
I believe this post encourages creativity in students that would have otherwise been hindered. Letting students take pencils home lets them know that they can also teach themselves, and in a way, teach others.
Two Questions That Can Change Your Life
I love how motivational this is! Everyone has their own question/sentence that reflects their goals. My sentence (which I've been thinking about a lot this week) is "I want my mom to say 'My daughter is a teacher.' rather than 'My daughter wanted to be a teacher, but...'" The question, though, is "Am I better today than I was yesterday?"
Morgan Bayda blogs about a video she came across, featuring a guy by the name of Dan Brown who dropped out of college because his "schooling was interfering with [his] learning".
Dan details much of the issues a college student goes through: sitting among dozens to hundreds of students in a huge lecture hall, all of whom are virtual strangers to the one professor, up at the head of the class, rambling off facts that the students frantically scribble down in hopes of remembering them for the test they'll be on. I've had at least one class like that, and yes, it is quite the hassle.
As Morgan states, this way of learning is not relevant to the forward moving world we're in now. Learning is easier and better (and FREE) via the internet. If we wanted to know something 20 years ago, chances are, we'd have no choice but to pay a pretty penny for it, and sit through all the gruel that Dan described. Nowadays, it's all at our fingertips at no cost to us. If the education systems would like to keep its students, then like Dan said, it's going to have to do more than adopt a few new tools. It needs a total upgrade.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
I believe this post encourages creativity in students that would have otherwise been hindered. Letting students take pencils home lets them know that they can also teach themselves, and in a way, teach others.
Two Questions That Can Change Your Life
I love how motivational this is! Everyone has their own question/sentence that reflects their goals. My sentence (which I've been thinking about a lot this week) is "I want my mom to say 'My daughter is a teacher.' rather than 'My daughter wanted to be a teacher, but...'" The question, though, is "Am I better today than I was yesterday?"
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Blog Post 9
What I've Learned This Year
Mr. McClung's post about what he has learned since becoming a teacher encompasses everything that a teacher or a future teacher should keep in mind among their students. An upcoming teacher is usually concerned with how they present information so much so that they forget to check for understanding or interest. An educator can get caught up in having a certain way for everything, and they forget to be flexible and considerate of their students. Once a person becomes an educator, they forget that they THEMSELVES still have learning to do, in order to make the learning environment a better place.
Mr. McClung's post about what he has learned since becoming a teacher encompasses everything that a teacher or a future teacher should keep in mind among their students. An upcoming teacher is usually concerned with how they present information so much so that they forget to check for understanding or interest. An educator can get caught up in having a certain way for everything, and they forget to be flexible and considerate of their students. Once a person becomes an educator, they forget that they THEMSELVES still have learning to do, in order to make the learning environment a better place.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Blog Post 6
The Networked Student: Wendy Drexler
This short video, directed by Wendy Drexler, an EdTech PhD at the University of Florida, discusses the idea of connectivism and the 21st century student. Connectivism, as defined in the video, is a theory that learning occurs as a part if socializing through the use of technology.
The video outlines many possible resources a 21st century student has. There are places on such as Google Scholar where a student can find reliable scholarly sources for their needs. Students have access to podcasts from teachers around the world on any topic. And students also have ways to share the gathered information with their peers.
So after all of this information was presented, I began to think that teachers are pretty useless nowadays. Why would a student need a teacher today? The video answered this question quite clearly. These days, a teacher is less of a teacher and more of a GUIDE. No one is born knowing how to approach all of these resources. The teacher can pass along their experience and knowledge to their students in regards to how to build networks and ask for help in gathering information. So perhaps the teacher isn't so useless after all.
A 7th Grader's PLE
For a 7th grader (by my "ancient" standards), this was quite impressive. She uses Symbaloo, and everything was very well organized. I like how she was able to access everything so quickly.
Honestly, I was ashamed at how I accessed my information. I simply relied on bookmarks and webpage history. Symbaloo seems like it would work miracles in my college life.
The Machine is Changing Us: Michael Wesch
Honestly, there was a lot of information in this video. It's hard to sum it all up. In the beginning, Wesch discussed a change in culture. People were being less interested in incoming information. "Whatever" and "Meh" became trending responses. In my college experience, I have seen this numerous times, especially in the case where a student is taking a class that may not directly pertain to their major. "Why should I care about this? This has nothing to do with me."As a teacher, I am sure that I will encounter the students with the "Whatever/Meh" attitude. In fact, even I might have that attitude: "Why am I teaching this? This has nothing to do with me."
Later on in the video, he discusses something that I found rather interesting, and also something I can relate to--YouTube. YouTube bloggers (especially for the first time), gain a true sense of awareness from the way they look to the way they appear and behave towards others. youTube also gives people the opportunity the "freedom to experience humanity without fear or anxiety". in other words, one would be able to see how others feel and behave without social awkwardness getting in the way. This idea is beyond evident in some of the comments one would see on YouTube, and other social networks. A certain sense of courage and confidence is developed when one is not face-to-face with another human being.
This short video, directed by Wendy Drexler, an EdTech PhD at the University of Florida, discusses the idea of connectivism and the 21st century student. Connectivism, as defined in the video, is a theory that learning occurs as a part if socializing through the use of technology.
The video outlines many possible resources a 21st century student has. There are places on such as Google Scholar where a student can find reliable scholarly sources for their needs. Students have access to podcasts from teachers around the world on any topic. And students also have ways to share the gathered information with their peers.
So after all of this information was presented, I began to think that teachers are pretty useless nowadays. Why would a student need a teacher today? The video answered this question quite clearly. These days, a teacher is less of a teacher and more of a GUIDE. No one is born knowing how to approach all of these resources. The teacher can pass along their experience and knowledge to their students in regards to how to build networks and ask for help in gathering information. So perhaps the teacher isn't so useless after all.
A 7th Grader's PLE
For a 7th grader (by my "ancient" standards), this was quite impressive. She uses Symbaloo, and everything was very well organized. I like how she was able to access everything so quickly.
Honestly, I was ashamed at how I accessed my information. I simply relied on bookmarks and webpage history. Symbaloo seems like it would work miracles in my college life.
The Machine is Changing Us: Michael Wesch
Honestly, there was a lot of information in this video. It's hard to sum it all up. In the beginning, Wesch discussed a change in culture. People were being less interested in incoming information. "Whatever" and "Meh" became trending responses. In my college experience, I have seen this numerous times, especially in the case where a student is taking a class that may not directly pertain to their major. "Why should I care about this? This has nothing to do with me."As a teacher, I am sure that I will encounter the students with the "Whatever/Meh" attitude. In fact, even I might have that attitude: "Why am I teaching this? This has nothing to do with me."
Later on in the video, he discusses something that I found rather interesting, and also something I can relate to--YouTube. YouTube bloggers (especially for the first time), gain a true sense of awareness from the way they look to the way they appear and behave towards others. youTube also gives people the opportunity the "freedom to experience humanity without fear or anxiety". in other words, one would be able to see how others feel and behave without social awkwardness getting in the way. This idea is beyond evident in some of the comments one would see on YouTube, and other social networks. A certain sense of courage and confidence is developed when one is not face-to-face with another human being.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Additional Assignment #2
How Kids Teach Themselves
First of all, this was an amazing video. I adore how both the time period to learn and the lack of adult assistance motivated these kids to accomplish the goals set--and with such accuracy! All of the children showed that they can teach themselves, either individually, or with peers.
There ARE conditions in which students--any student--would be motivated to learn. As stated in the video, and in several comments on the video, a student must have an interest for the subject. This poses an obvious issue because ALL students will never be interested in EVERYTHING they need to learn. Therefore, it would be the job of a teacher (or anyone else) to motivate.
It's hard to say how to motivate any particular student. However, the video suggests an interesting way to do so. By using "The Grandmother Method" (which entails someone standing behind the student and admiring their work),students are encouraged to show what they know, and possibly learn more, when prompted.
Personally, I am motivated to learn through encouragement as well. If someone believes in my abilities AND if I'm certain that I will need information later on in life, then I am motivated. On certain odd occasions, I am also motivated if I get to learn something that few to none of my peers know (I like having an advantage).
In the process of teaching oneself, computers and internet access are key. In fact, I have a perfect example of this. Today, my roommate and I were discussing a piece I saw on the History Channel. She became intrigued so much by it. I was a little foggy on some of the details, so she instantly looked up sites discussing the issue. I did the same and we compared our results. Without our present access to computers and the internet, we would have had to rely on my foggy details.
Questions and problems that arise can be important when teaching oneself. They are motivators as well. If a person really wanted to know the answer to an initial question, or had a desire to solve an initial problem, they would conquer anything that came in their path, while simultaneously gaining more knowledge.
Can anyone who is not motivated to learn, learn? Hmmmm... I was always a believer that those who were unmotivated to learn would remain ignorant for the rest of their life. But then I would have to use myself as an example. Math never motivated me. I never saw anything remotely attractive about math. I hated it, it hated me. We had that understanding. But somehow, I was able to retain some information from it, so it's not like I learned absolutely nothing. So in this case, I would say someone unmotivated COULD learn, but they wouldn't learn much.
A teacher does not necessarily sit on the back burner in the case of self-educating. A teacher could be there for a person as a guide. The teacher can show a student what reliable sources are and how to go about gathering other information.
There is one aspect of the video that I would like to discuss. In the beginning, there was a statement about good teachers and bad places: good teachers refuse to go to these bad places in the world, where obviously they are needed the most. I happen to think that this is very selfish on the teacher's part. The teacher could very well push their efforts into turning a bad area into a more desirable one, and yet they choose not to.
All in all, this was a great video. It was yet another eye opener for me in the world of technology.
First of all, this was an amazing video. I adore how both the time period to learn and the lack of adult assistance motivated these kids to accomplish the goals set--and with such accuracy! All of the children showed that they can teach themselves, either individually, or with peers.
There ARE conditions in which students--any student--would be motivated to learn. As stated in the video, and in several comments on the video, a student must have an interest for the subject. This poses an obvious issue because ALL students will never be interested in EVERYTHING they need to learn. Therefore, it would be the job of a teacher (or anyone else) to motivate.
It's hard to say how to motivate any particular student. However, the video suggests an interesting way to do so. By using "The Grandmother Method" (which entails someone standing behind the student and admiring their work),students are encouraged to show what they know, and possibly learn more, when prompted.
Personally, I am motivated to learn through encouragement as well. If someone believes in my abilities AND if I'm certain that I will need information later on in life, then I am motivated. On certain odd occasions, I am also motivated if I get to learn something that few to none of my peers know (I like having an advantage).
In the process of teaching oneself, computers and internet access are key. In fact, I have a perfect example of this. Today, my roommate and I were discussing a piece I saw on the History Channel. She became intrigued so much by it. I was a little foggy on some of the details, so she instantly looked up sites discussing the issue. I did the same and we compared our results. Without our present access to computers and the internet, we would have had to rely on my foggy details.
Questions and problems that arise can be important when teaching oneself. They are motivators as well. If a person really wanted to know the answer to an initial question, or had a desire to solve an initial problem, they would conquer anything that came in their path, while simultaneously gaining more knowledge.
Can anyone who is not motivated to learn, learn? Hmmmm... I was always a believer that those who were unmotivated to learn would remain ignorant for the rest of their life. But then I would have to use myself as an example. Math never motivated me. I never saw anything remotely attractive about math. I hated it, it hated me. We had that understanding. But somehow, I was able to retain some information from it, so it's not like I learned absolutely nothing. So in this case, I would say someone unmotivated COULD learn, but they wouldn't learn much.
A teacher does not necessarily sit on the back burner in the case of self-educating. A teacher could be there for a person as a guide. The teacher can show a student what reliable sources are and how to go about gathering other information.
There is one aspect of the video that I would like to discuss. In the beginning, there was a statement about good teachers and bad places: good teachers refuse to go to these bad places in the world, where obviously they are needed the most. I happen to think that this is very selfish on the teacher's part. The teacher could very well push their efforts into turning a bad area into a more desirable one, and yet they choose not to.
All in all, this was a great video. It was yet another eye opener for me in the world of technology.
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