Strategies to enhance student self-assessment Reflection activities Teachers often use proformae to encourage students to reflect on their learning experience. While these are convenient and provide a record of student thinking, they can become an activity devoid of any real thinking. Oral reflection, whether as a whole class or group within the class, might sometimes be more useful. Alternatively, teachers could devote some time to questioning students about what they have recorded on their proformae and asking them for explanations. View Sample reflective questions and prompts (doc,30kb) for younger students and Designing reflective prompts (doc,33kb) for older students. Student-led and three-way conferences Student-led conferences in which students present their learning to their teacher and parents are an opportunity for students to formally reflect on the learning that has taken place over a period of time. The student, with teacher guidance, is the one who selects the work. Use of rubrics Use of graphic organisers Specific Relevant
Learning In The 21st Century Might Only Require 3 Things by Iain Lancaster, TeachThought Intern Sugata Mitra’s award winning TED Talk about “building a school in the cloud” is more than just a compendium of thought provoking notions regarding the future of education. In the talk, he first contextualizes where education is and how it came to be this way. He then goes on to outline a plan to progress–self-organized learning environments, a kind of framework for self-direct learning and learning through play. Mitra argues for 3 critical ingredients for learning in the 21st century: a broadband connection, collaboration, and emotional support. For those of us in the field it might stir feelings of both eager anticipation and trepidation. In a nutshell, those are our options.
Evaluation: providing feedback for student learning - Macquarie University The following items (Questions 8 and 9) in the Learner Experience of Unit survey ask students to indicate their level of agreement in relation to feedback: I received feedback on my work in time to make effective use of it in my learning. Overall, the feedback I received helped me to improve my performance in this unit. Staff members are often disappointed at student responses to these items, as they tend to have the least positive ratings of all items on the Learner Experience of Unit questionnaire, in all disciplines and teaching contexts. This resource offers suggestions to teachers for providing students with feedback which assists their learning, and for ensuring that students recognise the various forms of feedback provided to them. 1. Feedback is any response made in relation to students' work or performance. Feedback is intended to acknowledge the progress students have made towards achieving the learning outcomes of a unit. Unfocused comments: Dismissive, sarcastic comments: 2. 3.
Self-Directed Learning The concept of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) is one which educators have investigated and discussed for many years. This Digest will examine the basic tenets of SDL, and it will discuss recently conducted research findings germane to its application in K-12 classrooms. What is Self-Directed Lerning? Self-directed learning, which has its roots in adult education, is an approach that has also been tried with learners in elementary and secondary schools. There may be slight variations in how different educators define SDL, but a survey of the literature on the subject identifies several tenets that are central to the concept. What are the Benefits of Self-Directed Learning? The benefits of SDL are best described in terms of the type of learners it develops. Self-directed learning allows learners to be more effective learners and social beings. What Can Teachers do to Support Self-Directed Learning? Learner participation in decision-making is another fundamental aspect of the SDL approach.
Evie Hantzopoulos: The Future of Learning: Lessons From a TED Prize Winner Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below. We often hear "our schools are broken." But are they in fact, obsolete? That is the bold question TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra will address as he begins his journey to design the School in the Cloud, which will focus on helping students in developing countries that lack teachers, as well as change the way children learn across the globe by shifting the educational paradigm and redefining the role of educators. Mitra states that the current system actually worked quite well in the past, before computers brought information to our fingertips in seconds, and before globalization and technology transformed what types of skills we will need for the future. He believes children can learn from one another, and the role of the teacher should be to ask the big questions, step back and admire, and let learning happen through the use of the Internet and self-directed learning.
Intel Education Assessing Projects Self Direction & Collaboration The ultimate goal of education is to produce students who can learn on their own. This is especially critical in the 21st century, a time of rapid technological change, when skills must be constantly learned and relearned. Self-directed learners are efficient at planning and following through without prompting. The literature shows that classrooms promoting self-directed learning develop students who are curious and willing to try new things (Garrison, 1997), view problems as challenges, desire change, and enjoy learning (Taylor, 1995). The table below includes an overview of the methods, purposes, and instruments used for self-direction and collaboration.
The Basics of Self-Directed Learning for Teachers What is self-directed learning all about ? There are a variety of definitions as to what SDL is all about and going through all of them I found that Knowles has been very articulate in the way he defined SDL. “In its broadest meaning, ’self-directed learning’ describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with our without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identify human and material resources for learning, choosing and implement appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes.” (Knowles, 1975, p. 18 Sugata Mitra: The Sole of a Student Winner Of the TED Prize 2013 In a special edition of TEDWeekends, TED and The Huffington Post are partnering to co-premiere a talk by this year's TED Prize winner. The TEDTalk by the winner is accompanied by an original blog post, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost and TED communities. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation! The Sole Of A Student From Plato to Aurobindo, from Vygotsky to Montessori, centuries of educational thinking have vigorously debated a central pedagogical question: How do we spark creativity, curiosity, and wonder in children? But first, a bit of history: to keep the world's military-industrial machine running at the zenith of the British Empire, Victorians assembled an education system to mass-produce workers with identical skills. Like most things designed by the Victorians, it was a robust system. But what got us here, won't get us there. Ideas are not set in stone.
Education innovator wins $1 million TED prize Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson (TED website) The winner of the first $1 million TED Prize for education innovation is (no, not Sal Khan) Sugata Mitra, for his plan this year to start the “School in the Cloud,” which is essentially a computer lab where children in Indian can learn in a student-driven environment. He has released a toolkit for parents and teachers who want to create what he calls self-organized learning environments, or SOLES, for kids ages 8-12, which you can find here. Here is his wish, taken from the TED Web site: “My wish is to help design the future of learning by supporting children all over the world to tap into their innate sense of wonder and work together. And here is his plan, from the same Web site: According to the TED Web site: Mitra has a history of research to back up this wish. Here’s a video about those experiments:
TED Prize : For a wish that can inspire the world » Blog Archive » Congratulations Sugata Mitra, Winner of the First-Ever $1M TED Prize! February 26, 2013 After a series of experiments revealed that groups of children can learn almost anything by themselves, researcher Sugata Mitra began his pursuit to inspire children all over the world to get curious and work together. In 1999, Sugata and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering a slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera). Soon, they saw kids from the slum playing with the computer, learning English and searching through a wide variety of websites on science and other topics, and then teaching each other. Sugata and his colleagues carried out experiments for over 13 years on the nature of self-organized learning, its extent, how it works and the role of adults in encouraging it. The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $1,000,000 and the TED community’s resources and expertise to spark global change. Are you inspired by Sugata’s wish? Here’s what you can do:
20 Tips To Promote A Self-Directed Classroom Culture 20 Tips To Promote A Self-Directed Classroom Culture It’s an age-old saying, “Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and feed him for a lifetime.” What separates good teachers from the excellent ones? So how do you cultivate a culture of “I can…” in your classroom? 1. The more I study education and psychology, the more convinced I become that failure is one of the most important tools for learning. Failure can be the doorway to great accidental inventions. 2. Curiosity is what propels a young child to venture away from the safety of his/her mother to explore the environment. 3. Students who have a platform and a voice feel more empowered than those that don’t. Teaching students how to disagree and debate respectfully helps them to develop their own internal voice – something that is crucial when there aren’t hordes of people patting you on the back later in life. 4. Terry Heick writes about the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Too Much Teaching, Too Little Learning | UnCollegeUnCollege By Jean Fan In my mind, there’s an enormous difference between teaching and learning. Teaching is when a professor stands up in front of the class and lectures for an hour while students zone out; perhaps a few will absentmindedly take notes. In teaching, teachers take the initiative. Unfortunately, very few students go to school to learn. Being a hackademic means that you’re committed to active learning — that is, to taking control of your education. All in all, being a hackademic is simple: it just means that you learn on your own terms. 27 Ways To Publish Student Thinking Publishing student thinking can be among the most powerful ways to improve learning. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that the “threat” of publishing moves the lodestone from the classroom to the “real world.” This, of course, changes everything. What To Publish Note that publishing finished products and the thinking process itself are two very different things–and the idea here is to publishing the thinking itself: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Most of the following can also be used to publish the finished products–essays, documentaries, and other project-based learning artifacts. Below are 27+ ways to make this happen–and most are available as apps. WordPress.comKidblogVoicethreadYouTube AnimotoVimeoGoAnimateEdmodoStoryKitIdea SketchJingStorifyPreziScribdSlideshareTwitterWordleiMovieTumblrInstagramGoogle+SkitchiBooks AuthorMookletBloggerBook Creator Creative Book Builder Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad
How 17-Year-Old Nikhil Goyal Is Disrupting Education At 17 years old, Nikhil Goyal is shaking up America’s education system. Goyal is a senior at Syosset High School, a public school in New York. While most high school students focus on athletics, academics, and socializing, Goyal aims to transform the American education system. Goyal’s book, One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School ,describes the flaws within America’s education system and provides solutions to fix the present challenges. He explains the importance of finding progressive leaders to transform our nation’s education system. “Everybody is born with innate curiosities,” Goyal said. Goyal encourages students to get involved in the education movement by writing about their personal experiences within the classroom through creating a blog. “When I was documenting some of the work schools were doing, it was very pragmatic,” Goyal said. “When we allow students to have a voice, we can revolutionize the education system,” Goyal said.