Posts Tagged ‘education’
These are my notes from a Teaching and Learning Lunch I attended last October. I jotted these down in my journal, and I am putting them here so I have another place where I can find the notes.
- So, what is it? It turns lectures into homework. Do your lectures ahead of time, and students can watch them before they come into class. You can then spend the class time on interactive activities.
- The class dynamic goes from passive to active.
- This is based on “blended learning.” It is not just “online learning.” The technology supports the classroom.
- No “one size fits all” when it comes to using technology.
- You don’t have to be tech savvy, but you may become savvy as you use more things.
- Avoid being overwhelmed. Start with small steps. Pick and choose, see what works, adapt.
- To flip your classroom, you don’t have to create all videos or tutorials. You can often find good resources online, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Explore various screencast options. Some are online and free.
- Check the site of the Flipped Learning Network: flippedclassroom.org . Check out their book Flip Your Classroom.
Remember, you transform your classroom as a teacher. No technology will do it for you. The technology supports the classroom culture.
This is definitely a must watch. Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, via the RSA’s Animate series. You can visit the site for video, a transcript, and other information. Plus the site does have a lot of other topics.
The video on YouTube:
I thought this was a pretty neat list. I don’t agree with all of it, but there are some very good items. The two items I would emphasize right away are:
The first one on statistical literacy. This is a must. We need as a society to do a much better job in teaching people about statistics, how to figure basic ones out, and how they are used and misused. I liked the suggested assignment of comparing a liberal blog versus a conservative blog. This assignment is very good, and it should be something an average, well-informed citizen, “well-informed” being the key concept, should be able to do:
Daily Kos Versus BigGovernment.com
Find three examples of the same set of numbers presented in entirely different ways on the liberal blog Daily Kos and Andrew Breitbart’s conservative Big Government site. In each case, show which source is using the more aggressive spin and determine which side—if either—is being more honest in its presentation of the facts.
How often are you watching the news, and you get pundits debating back and forth about the latest numbers of such and such from the CBO (that’s the Congressional Budget Office). You think to yourself, “well, the CBO is nonpartisan, so the numbers must be good.” Sure, the numbers are probably fine, but you have to pay attention to how they are actually being used. And then you have figures and polls from all sorts of agencies, think tanks, nonprofit organizations, so on, which often have a bias or a particular agenda. I am not saying that some of those agendas are bad (personally, I think working towards things like social justice are important), but you still have to keep those things in mind. Expanding on that, this is where I would add a good course on information literacy, where you learn to evaluate information, more than just the statistics. So, if it was me, I would do more than just statistical literacy. We need broad ranging information literacy.
Second, I definitely like the Post-state Diplomacy course. Folks in the U.S. need some serious education on international affairs and how the world works right now. The folks at Wired write:
“Power has always depended on who can provide justice, commerce, and stability. Successful insurgents aren’t just thugs; they offer their members tangible benefits—community, money, education, and a sense of order (even if the rebels are the ones creating disorder in the first place). We must learn how they gain loyalty, even if our goal is to undercut it.”
Again, I don’t think the folks at Wired go far enough. It is not only about diplomacy, although that is extremely important. The statement above is not really a new idea; it is an idea that not many people understand or may be aware of. But we also need coursework on global awareness and citizenship, and I would also add geography.
The rest of the article is worth reading as well. Each skill description does include a “reading list” (I put it in quotes because some of the suggestions may be links to videos or other non-print material) and some questions you may want to consider. Whether you do some of the assignments or not, thinking about them may help you expand your horizons a bit more.
(Crossposted to The Itinerant Librarian)
As a former school teacher, and now education subject specialist for my library, I maintain an interest in things for and about teachers. The site Good had a couple of things of interest that I want to jot down for reference. I may share some of these later with some people locally.
- An infographic on how teachers use technology. This looks at things such as using e-mail or blogging.
- And a video where teachers get a little love for a change.
Some ideas from the talk:
- Human communities depend on a diversity of talent, not on a singular conception of ability.
- A 3-year-old is not half of a 6-year-old. College DOES NOT start at kindergarten. Kindergarten starts at kindergarten.
- The problem: education built on a fast food model, and we as a society have come to accept it and the soul crushing that goes with it. Personally this is something that makes me despair about the education endeavor. I have a daughter who is gifted as an artist, and I know the current education system will pretty much do its best effort to crush that. It won't happen as long as we keep encouraging and supporting her at home as well as supplementing what happens in school, but it is a battle. And not all children have supportive parents.
- Often people are really good at things that they do not care for. That is a deep concept there even as it sounds simple. It is one that forces some reflection.
- Why do so many opt out of education? It is because education does not feed their spirit, their energy, and/or their passion.
- We need to go from an industrial model (what we have now) to a more agricultural model. Agricultural in the sense that it is organic. A farmer lays out the soil and conditions for plants to flourish, and this is how education should work. Human flourishing is organic.
A hat tip to Libraries and Transliteracy blog.
