Students' experiences and expectations of the digital environment Over the last few years, the technology-enhanced learning (TEL) community has made the student digital experience a central concern. Of course we still worry about getting the institutional systems and infrastructure right, but we know that students are using a vast range of tools – including their own devices and services – and that it's how they use these tools that matters. Now with the digital student project we have had a chance to look squarely at how the student experience is changing. As well as incoming expectations, Dave White and I reviewed studies of how students feel about their digital experience – about their course of study and about the digital environment more generally. What we discovered As we imagined, arriving students' expectations vary a great deal. Beyond these we saw a more varied picture. So general expectations are rising, but students are still unclear about how the technologies they use at university can help them to succeed. Spaces and places of learning
Making to Learn The following post was written by Laura Fleming who is the Media Specialist at my school. It is also cross-posted at her blog Worlds of Learning. Here Laura describes our philosophy and journey to create a Makerspace for our students. Setting up a Makerspace has been a priority of mine from the moment I started here at New Milford High School, and it’s already well on its way to being achieved. Having a school principal who provides the perfect mix of encouragement and autonomy has, of course, been a great help, but it has also been very much a team effort: the school’s tech team and custodians have been very supportive and cooperative, along with a diverse variety of students interested in ‘making’ experiences. Makerbot (3D printer) that just arrived to NMHS At the heart of the vision for my Makerspace is to develop the space and to provide resources and opportunities that will aid in promoting web literacy. "What is Worlds of Making @ NMHS? NMHS students tinering with Legos
Digital Citizenship 3 TED Talks For Teachers In Need Of Inspiration Sometimes it is important to take the time to examine how we work and how we can do better. Professional development is somewhat about that, but I’m talking more about personal development. We’re all human – we can get stuck in our routines before we know it, and pretty soon those habits are hard to break. The TED talks below are three that we’ve selected because we think they’re important reminders to us as humans. Happy watching! Every Kid Needs A Champion The title of this one says it all – every kid does need a champion. Rita Pierson was a former teacher and administrator turned professional development seminar leader. Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten was from a brilliant but flippant high school English teacher. Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist best known for her research on stereotyping and discrimination, emotions, power, and nonverbal behavior. How Great Leaders Inspire Action
What do students entering HE expect from digital technologies? When we come across new technologies or digital platforms for the first time in further and higher education (HE), how do we decide what the technology does or should do, and how we can use it to help us? In the digital student project we have been investigating incoming students’ expectations of the digital environment in HE. Institutions will be working to meet or manage expectations as hundreds of thousands of new students arrive in September but it’s no small task to build a picture of students’ hopes and aspirations when there are modules to rewrite and technology to update over the summer. Clearly experiences of digital technology while at school will be a major influence, so we have looked closely at the sort of technologies schools own and how they use it. In the classroom Coming to an understanding of the use of technology in schools wasn’t straight forward. Shifting model Digital technologies in HE
eMeet.me - Free Web Meetings for all... 10 Interactive Lessons By Google On Digital Citizenship YouTube has a firm place in the current classroom. From Khan Academy’s videos to YouTube EDU and beyond, there’s a reason all these videos are finding a home in schools. In an effort to help keep the ball rolling, Google just launched a set of 10 interactive lessons designed to support teachers in educating students on digital citizenship. A topic obviously quite close to Google’s heart. Google (which owns YouTube) built the lessons to educate students about YouTube’s policies, how to flag content, how to be a safer online citizen, and protect their identities. Below is a list of lessons, and the recommended flow for delivery. Or you can download the Full Teacher’s Guide or the Full Set of Slides in PDF. The killer feature for this curriculum is the extra features that come with each video.
Key competencies / The New Zealand Curriculum / Curriculum documents / Kia ora Capabilities for living and lifelong learning The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies: People use these competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action. They are not separate or stand-alone. The development of the competencies is both an end in itself (a goal) and the means by which other ends are achieved. Opportunities to develop the competencies occur in social contexts. The competencies continue to develop over time, shaped by interactions with people, places, ideas, and things. Thinking Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. Using language, symbols, and texts Managing self Relating to others Participating and contributing
OU Digital Tools: Connected Learning Infographic Thanks to Karen LaBonte, I learned about this amazing infographic about Connected Learning. You can see the jumbo-sized version of the graphic for details. I find it wonderful but overwhelming, so I decided to break it up into piece that I can cope with! These infographic snippets will give me plenty to reflect on in the days to come. :-) Connected Learning. Peer Culture. Openly Networked. Academic. Active Relevant Real-World Effective Hands-OnNetworked Innovative Personal Transformative Shared Purpose. Interests. Production-Centered. Collaborate Share Empowered Supported Space Knowledge Achieve Recognition Cross-Generational Expertise Diverse Mobilize Credit: Connected Learning Research Network and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub This Connected Learning Infographic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Worlds of Learning @ NMHS As a 21st Century Library Media Specialist, part of what I strive to do is to serve as an instructional technology resource for both educators and learners. In my new position here at New Milford High School, I face the exciting challenge of reaching as many staff members as I could at one time. I threw around many models in my head until I finally found one that seems right for us. I am proud to announce Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School, a digital badge professional learning platform. Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School provides a framework to allow our teachers to earn digital badges through learning about a range of technology tools and applications. By putting them onto Credly, the free web service for issuing, earning and sharing badges – Credly is a universal way for people to earn and showcase their achievements and badges.
Focus on portfolios: 4 advantages of alternative assessment I’m happy to say that my school is currently dipping its toes into alternative assessment in the form of writing portfolios. Although I’m a big fan, it is the norm to view portfolios as a ‘non-traditional’ approach to judging performance. Nevertheless, portfolios, and alternative assessment methods in general, are frequently used in education to evaluate students based on objectives tailored to their learning needs. In contrast, traditional assessments such as multiple-choice exams estimate a learner’s improvement in content knowledge against other exam takers. As the sole criterion of improvement and/or competence, traditional testing can create faulty comparisons and overlook achievements. ‘Path by the river’ by @ALiCe__M from ELTPics 1. The portfolio process reviews a comparatively large body of a learner’s work, rather than a one off performance, to evaluate performance over a course of study. 2. 3. 4. How is it going? A few links
These Are Not Optional | Opening Doors and Turning On Lights cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Enokson Maybe its the fact I have had the misfortune of contracting shingles during the busiest month of school, or maybe its the fact it has forced me to cancel a trip home to see my family or maybe its just because I am grumpy, but this post is almost writing itself. I worry that because you are reading this, a blog, and you probably found the link from Twitter, that I am preaching to the converted so do me a favor and share this with someone NOT connected. I feel inspired to do a little venting about areas of our profession that I feel are simply no longer optional. 1. We live in a world that is changing at such a rapid pace, predicting what next year will look like is starting to get very difficult, let alone 12 years into the future of our eager little Gr. 1 students. 2. 3. This one really gets to me. What excuse is there for not using this “resource”. 4. Like this: Like Loading...
What is a Relevant Educator? - Corwin Connect Contributed by Tom Whitby Education in America has been around for several hundred years now, going back to colonial times in the 17th century. Back then, teachers were not only content experts, but also models for moral standards for children. I imagine that the concept of applying “moral turpitude” as a condition of employment for a teacher started back then. Teachers had to uphold the highest of moral standards within their communities, or be terminated. Teachers back then were covered by a common law doctrine of “in loco parentis” which empowered schools, and thereby teachers, to administer corporal punishment (hitting or paddling) to any students whom they felt warranted punishment. Change came slowly to education. Technology slowly crept into schools. Educators were slow in adopting technology beyond the word processor. The picture I have attempted to paint in words is a common experience most educators and parents have experienced in their contact with education.