Innovating Pedagogy 2012 from The Open University The Open University has published an innovation report – Innovating Pedagogy 2012. The executive summary is as below for your preview. It’s an excellent timing to review them and plan ahead for 2013. This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. “ the innovations are not independent, but fit together into a new and disruptive form of education that transcends boundaries ” New pedagogy for e-books As e-book technologies evolve, they will offer new ways of interacting with massively shared, adaptive and dynamic books. Publisher-led short courses These are short courses offered by publishers either in affiliation with recognised educational providers, or independently. Assessment for learning Assessment can support the process of learning, not just measure its outcomes. Badges to accredit learning Badges offer a way of accrediting non-formal learning. MOOCs Seamless learning
How Teachers Are Learning: Professional Development Remix | EdSurge Guides There are two components to the EdSurge PD framework: professional learning stages and tool classification. On the EdSurge site, each of the 28 tools listed here have been analyzed according to this framework. You can read the analysis of each of these tools by searching the EdSurge site for the individual product page for each of those products. Stage One: Engage Teachers gain tremendous value from interacting with peers and colleagues--sharing challenges, successes, what works, and what doesn’t. Community support is a big part of the way teachers process and apply what they learn. We have included “Engage” as the first stage of the professional learning cycle because often it is from conversations with colleagues that teachers identify new practices that they want to implement or solutions to problems they would like to fix. Stage Two: Learn New methods for teaching are being created, reimagined or revived from the past. Stage Three: Support Stage Four: Measure Tool Classification Pedagogy
My 10 Favorite Learnist Boards Of The Year This week’s top ten Learnist boards is a “year in review” of ed tech boards. Some have popped up before and others are hot off the presses. As we talk more and more about getting tech in the hands of teachers and classes, which is a great conversation to have in honor of the 2012 Edublogger Awards, I want to take a moment to reflect on and review some of the best Learnist boards, apps and thoughts out there in terms of learning about and using educational technology. Favorite Apps for Education This collection is a compilation of tons of apps for educators–it’s a mega-collaboration board started by Crystal Morgan which has been added to by teachers all over the country.This is the type of board I’d love to see more of–collaborations. When people get together to work on boards, amazing things emerge. Free Elementary Ed Tech Apps Shawn Rubin’s board on Elementary Ed Tech Apps is a great resource for looking to technify the elementary classroom.
Teachers are Learning Designers Late in 2012, I wrote a blog for the Huffington Post that articulated what I really feel should be and is a role of great teachers. Great teachers are "learning designers" who seek to create a space where all students are empowered to learn. I was further inspired to rearticulate this idea when I saw this video from Sir Ken Robinson: What really struck me is that great teachers create the conditions for success, just as gardeners do. You can't make a flower grow, but you can design and improve the condition for that flow of naturally occurring events. It's the same for our students. Empower Yourself For so long, teachers have been disempowered to design. Stop Blaming Kids There is one pitfall in Sir Ken Robinson's metaphor of teachers as gardeners and students as fruit. Revise and Reflect As I mentioned earlier, if students are struggling, it's a great opportunity to revise and reflect on the learning design. Are more voice and choice or self-directed learning needed?
10 Reasons To Try 20% Time In The Classroom If you haven’t heard of 20% time in the classroom , the premise is simple: Give your students 20% of their class time to learn what they want. Yes, that’s it. Below is a list of the 10 reasons you should consider 20% time in your school, and you will not regret making that choice! 1. When I first did the 20% project with my students I didn’t have a community of teachers or learners. 2. One of the major issues we face in schools today is covering a wide breadth of information, instead of allowing students to get a real depth of knowledge. 3. When students in my school have their pitch day, they get to share with the entire class what they are working on. 4. Too often our students complete assignments for the grade. 5. Randy Pausch famously said, “If you think you can’t learn and have fun at the same time. 6. It doesn’t matter if you teach elementary, middle, or high school. 7. 8. Experiential and challenge based learning puts the mastery back into the student’s hands. 9. 10.
Are Existing Tech Tools Effective for Teachers and Students? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation just released a report detailing the results of 3,100 teacher surveys and 1,250 student surveys on the kinds of digital instruction tools that are useful and effective. The foundation has asked teachers and students what they need when it comes to digital instruction, aiming to close the communication gap between commercial developers and schools. One of the biggest takeaways is that most teachers — 54 percent — don’t find many of the digital tools they use effective. That’s partly because teachers often aren’t making purchasing decisions. When they do have a say in tool selection they often report on its effectiveness more favorably. [Click on images below for higher resolution.] In terms of content, teachers are looking for digital tools that support their efforts to help students become college and career ready, including tools that are aligned to Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. Related
Life of an Educator This school year has been a year of learning for me; learning both through my successes and failures. I have attempted to start a technology revolution at my high school, Seckman High School. As a Professional Development Representative at my high school, as well as fulfilling the requirements of one of my doctoral assignments, this task has great value and meaning to me. Some of the 10 following tips have been learned the hard way, while others just happened to work out well. 1 - Make sure the administration is on board... This first tip is not always 100% necessary, but I can say from experience that it will certainly make things easier. 2 - Lay the groundwork and foundation by asking simple questions... In order for this technology revolution to start you must have an idea of where your fellow colleagues are when it comes to technology knowledge and background. 3 - Some educators will be advanced...but most will not be - GO SLOW... 5 - Support and encourage your shining stars...
Technology Advances Professional Development for Teachers Posted by Herff Jones | Nystrom on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 · Leave a Comment While classroom technology provides a range of benefits for students, teachers can equally benefit from its use. Online sites, such as Twitter and Pinterest, offer perfect platforms on which educators can virtually exchange ideas, lesson plans and stories. There are, however, other ways that teachers can use technology to help further their careers. Using these devices as tools for professional development can not only lead to higher achievement scores for students, but also increase the impact educators may have on the field of teaching as a whole. Video coaching helps early educators The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Childcare recently announced that it would adopt a video-coaching software to help prepare early-learning instructors. Additional resources Want to learn more about integrating technology in the classroom?
10 (more) ways for teachers to learn You can’t be a teacher, if you are not a learner. I’ve written many times about teachers as learners, professional learning, reading groups and learning through collaborative planning. I once posted 10 ways to grow as an educator, based on my reflections on my own learning and growth at that point in time. 1. Twitter is a fine place to start, if you can’t meet them in person. 2. Talk about learning in your context. 3. Learn in a beautiful, natural setting. 4. Preferably one that’s very different from yours. 5. Learn from what they do… and from what they don’t do. 6. Sum up the key points 140 characters at a time. 7. If you’re lucky, you can find them in your school. 8. Stop and think about what you learned. 9. Share your knowledge, experience, expertise and ideas with people who know as much and more than you do. 10. There is something worth learning from every person you meet and every situation you find yourself in… IB Workshop Leader Training Day #1 Like this: Like Loading...
When classroom observations make sense Shared on flickr by Ralph Hockens People are incredibly sensitive to the environment and the culture—to the norms and expectations of the communities they are in. ~Chip and Dan Heath Full disclosure: I am no Instructional Rounds expert. The majority of our work happens on site with a school based group of teachers. Onto co-planning The co-planning stage sets up the tension for the underlying why of classroom observations (in my limited experience!). Why this kind of classroom observation makes sense: 1. But more than anything else this process helps remind us: We learn to do the work by doing the work, not by telling other people to do the work, not by having done the work at some time in the past, and not by hiring experts who can act as proxies for our knowledge about how to do the work. Like this: Like Loading...
What a classroom will look like in 10 years Technology is rapidly evolving. This evolution is occurring because people are sharing ideas, resources and themselves online 24/7. So what does this mean for our education? Although some schools are slower than others to adapt technology changes, that doesn’t mean others are not jumping in feet first and utilizing the open source way to change education as we know it. Here’s a wish list: Classrooms will be paperlessClassrooms will cater to more individualized instruction based on a student’s passionsCommunication will vastly improveNew learning spaces will pop up – that’s right, no more individual desks And here’s how this will happen because of an open source mentality: Classrooms will be paperless: Students will no longer trudge through their local value office store with a huge cart full of notebooks, folders, paper, pens and pencils. Classrooms will cater to more individualized instruction based on a student’s passions: Communication will vastly improve:
Recruitment and Retention Part 6: Enhance Teacher Career OptionsThe Educator I’m someone that needs a good challenge, whether it be in my personal or professional life. I like the thrill of facing a difficult problem and having to come up with a creative solution. For example, possibly my most exciting day this year was when my air conditioning went out and I had to figure [&hellip... courtesy of teacherleaders I’m someone that needs a good challenge, whether it be in my personal or professional life. The challenges inherent in teaching are one of the reasons I continue to do it. No educator should ever need to feel that teaching has become boring or mundane. Here’s how a teacher career ladder works in concept. Such systems have faced opposition from veteran educators accustomed to the old step and lane salary systems. Evidence suggests that a career ladder policy similar to the one outlined here would enhance our ability to retain irreplaceables in the classroom. Shelby County is fortunate in that a template for this type of career ladder system already exists.
10 Reasons Why Students Aren't Using eTextbooks When e-textbooks were first introduced, they were supposed to be the wave of the future, and experts thought we’d see e-reader-toting students littering college campuses, and of course being adopted in droves by online university students. But they haven’t taken off quite as expected: according to market research firm Student Monitor, only about 11% of college students have bought e-textbooks. So what happened? Here, we’ll explore several reasons why students aren’t yet warming up to the idea of e-textbooks today. The books they need aren’t available in digital format:For many students, e-book use isn’t about preference or price, but instead, availability.