Eclectic Technology

In this post Jackie Gerstein raises the question "if the research on the process of learning is compared to the practices being implemented in school, does this research influence school practices?"

After reflecting on her experience at school she shares five questions (shown in the image above) that will help guide learning:

* Is failure viewed as normal and as a productive part of the learning process?

* Is learning spaced out over time rather than crammed into a short time period?

* Are distractions during learning normalized?

* Is the learning practiced often and in a variety of contexts?

* Is the learning playful and fun? (especially important when one gets stuck at an impasse)

Each is discussed and there is also a link to a short video that provides a brief overview of learning from the book How We Learn by Benedict Carey.

Do you share current research on learning strategies with your learners? This post also references a post from Mind/Shift that discusses current learning strategies. Click through to the post to learn more and consider sharing this information with your learners as well as parents and staff in your school.

Connected Learning looks at digital technology and how we can use it to aide our learners. The image above shows their learning principles and design principles. There are three of each.

Learning Principles:

* Interest Powered

* Peer-Supported

* Academically Oriented

Design Principles:

* Production-Centered

* Openly  Networked

* Shared Purpose

Connected Learning provides opportunities for students "to experience learning that is social, participatory, interest-driven and relevant to the opportunities of our time."

You will find additional information on the Learning and Design Principles as well as a short video in the post.

How many times have you heard the phrase "We've always done it that way" but you are aware that the way it was done is not working? What if this year you choose to try new ways, such as project-based learning, or allowing students to help write rubrics. Take a few minutes as we enter this new year and decide what you might like to do differently. Make sure to collect the data, but be creative and push the envelope. Miracles may happen!

Are you interested in being known as an educator whom is also a maker educator? This post from Jackie Gerstein provides a great visual that looks as many of the roles you might play, including

* Process facilitator

* Resource suggestion provider

* Lead learner

* Relationship enabler

* Technology tutor

This visual is designed in ThingLink and if you click through from the post you will find additional resources in the visual

And you might also view a SlideShare where Gerstein provides  additional resources.

How many times have you heard or read about the school-as-a-factory, how public schools were created to help move children from farm-to-factory? Today this metaphor may be out of place, but conversations around education still revolve around terms that relate to factories. Think of Common Core and how business has been a prime player in the creation of the standards.

This post explores this issue and provides a number of great visuals that help bring the discussion into focus.

As we move closer to the implementation of Common Core testing in many states we might consider discussing what a "reimagined education system" would value and teach? Would it be Common Core curriculum or would it address other issues, such as the need to:
* Be student centered

* Be inquiry based

* Provide authentic learning experiences

* Teach students how to manage information (as more and more comes online daily)

* Teach students how to learn

This list could continue. The post addresses the issues listed above (and additional ones as well). In many ways we are at a crossroads in education and this post explores some of the issues. How would the teachers at your school feel about these issues? Is this a discussion that has taken place? Does it need to take place? Each of us may come to different conclusions but the conversation is worth having.

What happens when a fixed mindset is moved to a growth mindset? Gerstein states a growth mindset leads to  "focusing on what can work rather than what is not working. This is not to devalue the obstacles that teachers face. It becomes about noting where change is possible and making some small changes in teaching.  Small changes often result in larger, more systemic change."

She then goes on to explore teacher agency and provide strategies for teachers to "gain and increase their agency."

For education to change teachers must also be open to change, and the strategies are suggestions to help teachers gain their voice and become empowered.

Early in this post Gerstein states:
"Often, though, in schools the following tends to occur surrounding executive functions:

     1. There is an assumption that students possess these skills and 

         abilities.

     2. Students are punished if they fail to practice and use the skills.

As teachers when we think of executive thinking we may think of learners on IEPs or 504s, yet the tools that work well with students on IEPs and 504s also provide great support to our "regular ed students."

So the question of how we can help our learners who struggle with expectations that they may not have learned, such as "be organized" or "stay in your seat" or "raise your hand to speak" may not be understood.

In most schools the teaching of executive functioning skills is not the priority. Yet we do support technology and today technology provides a wide variety of support that is not expensive. This post goes on to share a presentation made by Karen Janowski, a teacher whom works with students with disabilities and knows her "stuff." (You may also be interested in exploring her website UDL Tech Toolkit at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/).

As always Gerstein has included additional resources which include a link to the Newton Public Schools Assistive Tech website (and at this site they have a presentation designed for parents on the same subject) as well as a detailed list of tools to assist learners with to do lists/task management, time management, productivity and note taking, organizing, and more. Read through the post and find some tools to suggest to parents and learners that may help the learner be more successful in school this year.

What do we mean when we speak of school and what do we mean when we speak of learning? This post by George Couros explores these two concepts by looking at how these two ideas become divergent. For example (and from the post):

* School is about consuming.  Learning is about creating.

* School is about giving you information.  Learning is about making your own connections.

Couros provides 11 examples of how these two ideas may be divergent and also raises the question of what would happen if you "combined statements" to make some new, something that schools could become.

As we approach the end of the year this post may make you think about how you approach work in your classroom and what you might like to do to change the culture of your classroom, or your school to make school and learning step out together.

Finding great educational videos takes time...so I am always excited when I find a list of suggested video. Jackie Gerstein shares her top 11. They range from just over three minutes to about seventeen minutes. Below is  a list of the videos.

* Malala Yousuf Nobel Prize Speech

* Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing You Can Improve

* Sir Ken Robinson: Can Creativity Be Taught

* President Obama on the Whitehouse Maker Faire

* Toxic Culture of Education: Joshua Katz

* The necessity of the student voice | Catherine Zhang

* Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age – Mitchel Resnick

* If I Knew Then: A Letter to Me on My First Day Teaching

In this post Jackie Gerstein states "to fully understand the purpose of school, the history of its evolution as an institution needs to be understood." After this is discussed she provides refers to an article that discusses "how to bring our schools out of the 20th century."

The next section shares quotes from a wide range of people on schooling. Three are below.

* Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.  Albert Einstein

* Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato

* Education is one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.  Bertrand Russell

She then looks at the messages sent out by our current school system and asks if we are questioning "What is the purpose of school?"

In fact, there are 8 questions that are raised in this post. You can find them in the image above, or you may click through to the post.

It is rare that I curate two articles from the same author over two days. This post by Jackie Gerstein is an exception. Gerstein has been discussing Maker Education for quite some time and in this post she states:

"...recent discussions with other educators and administrators made me realize that the idea of maker education is often vague and seems unrealistic in terms of regular classroom instruction.  As such, in the future, I am going to associate and discuss Maker Education in the context S.T.E.A.M. – science, technology, engineering, arts (including language arts), math, hopefully, encouraging regular classroom teachers to integrate maker education projects into their classrooms."

What follows is a lengthy list of articles and other resources that may assist you in learning about Maker Education and moving you towards implementing it in your classroom. The image above is also a ThingLink image, and will provide you with links to the same articles.

As an educator do you think of yourself as a design thinker? This visual by Jackie Gerstein shows how you impact your class and focuses on some of the areas we should consider as we design curriculum and work with students in our classrooms. You will also find links to a number of additional resources, including a great toolkit put out by IDEO that is geared to teachers in K-12.

This infographic illustrates how SAMR may be used as a framework as we move from Education 1.0 to Education 2.0 to Education 3.0. The actual post also includes a wide variety of links to additional resources.

Have you considered using the SAMR model as you develop new curriculum or revise curriculum. As you move up SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition) Gerstein would say that Substitution and Augmentation are Education 1.0, Modification is Education 2.0 and Redefinition is Education 3.0.

For more information on these concepts click through to the post.

As we look at education today ask yourself does the process support students ability to dream their vision? Do we promote a vision of the future as they move through the school system (and think K - 16)?

This post explores these issues and provides resources to help you explore them.

Find a link to Seth Godin's book Stop Stealing Dreams (What is School For?). Check out a video where students share their dream of the future. Consider the guiding questions provided to help your students think about the future (and see two answers from students in Grades 5-6). There are many resources to help you and your class think about this issue and how it relates to the 21st century.

In this post Jackie Gerstein provides a great list of books that you could use to teach children about the skills and attributes that they need to learn. She states " Children’s books, as they are written and presented as stories, have great potential to explain these often abstract concepts.  There is also evidence that the brain processes stories differently and more powerfully than facts and lectures."

The stories are divided into sections:

* Grit

* Resilience

* Hope & Optimism

* Vision

* Self-Regulation

* Empathy & Global Awareness

There is also a list of books suggested by Tony Wagner in the areas of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Collaboration and Curiosity and Imagination.

Although geared to children some are appropriate for older students.

Web 3.0 has been shared on this Scoop.it and this table is a bit different from previous ones. What do you think? Is your school heading towards a Web 3.0 environment, where teachers will not only be those whom are licensed professionals but also those who are accesible on line from all parts of the worlld? Will schools graduate students whom view industrywill view as co-workers whom are prepared for a knowledge economy? This table presents what may be in the future. What do you think?

As the Common Core tests becomes more of a reality there is also conversation about competency based education. We know that not all students learn at the same pace of in the same way and competency based education would address these concerns. This infographic by Mia MacMeekin provides  a great overview of the five steps to move in this direction:

* Define and state the goal.

* Design the path.

* Design authentic assessments for each competency.

* Add an array of content and discovery resources.

* Gamify the course.
Some additional information is found in the infographic.

What questions can we ask ourselves to assess our "pedagogical principles and instructional preferences"? Jackie Gerstein provides a list (and the list as a table as shown above) to help you reflect on your practice. As she states the process may be "simple but not easy." You may answer the question but how do you change your practice so that you may implement it in your classroom?

What is an active learner? This video provides one look at what a learner might look like today. In additon to the video there is also a SlideShare that would allow you to show the "video" at a pace that allows discussion, and a number of visual images that also explore the active learner. The visuals include Engaging an Active Learner that shares ways students learn (and do not learn), Open Your Laptop to Page 3, Learning Goes Digital: Electronic Education Moves to Head of the Class and many others.

These materials were created by an Agency working for Blackboard (a content management system). Using either the video or a number of the visuals would provide a opportunity for teachers, parents, or other small groups to discuss why education is undergoing a seismic change in many areas.