Friday, September 25, 2009
Week 4 - Blog Posting #7 -Second Life
YouTube video by: bourgery posted: April 20, 2007 on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkgNn50k14
I have to admit that Second Life has been a resource I haven’t used. I have wanted to use it, but have found it challenging for many different reasons. One, all of the time involved to learn about each environment. I find myself walking around enjoying the scenery, yet not getting a lot out of it because I don’t have hours to practice and learn how to learn.?.
I have wanted to use SL in my classroom for some time, yet I have K-3rd grades and they do not qualify for teen SL therefore the risk involved is too much for my administration to give me the go-ahead. So, two, SL is an adult environment…I want to create a children’s museum in the adult SL because I know the adults would love it and my students would love to create it.
I also want to take my students on virtual field trips because our school system doesn’t have the dough to let us go to a “real” museum. SL solves this for me; yet the risk of inappropriate behavior is great. I have been virtually groped myself and I only go onto SL occasionally. I think I am just going to ScreenFlow my SL visit and show it to my kids in that fashion.
Overall I love the concept and opportunities SL makes available. I have joined 3 groups and am excited to start collaboration: ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), IAEA (International Art Education Association), and Yo Jimbo School of SL Skills and Art.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/92/109/23 (ISTE)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dace/113/249/319 (IAEA)
These groups will help me to know how to create within SL (Jimbo), stay up to date within the world of Art Education (IAEA), and continue to integrate the most up-to-date technologies into my classroom via ISTE.
If you have any advice for me to integrate SL into a K-3rd classroom I would really appreciate the comment. Thanks Hilary
Research:
The Art world at SL
http://www.artcalendar.com/article.asp?ID=193
A paper written on the benefits of allowing SL in high school Education
http://www.trinity.edu/adelwich/worlds/articles/trinity.manny.alvarez.pdf
Museum 2.0 Virtual Art-The concept of it
http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/07/jumping-into-art-in-second-life.html
Virtual Art
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews1-23-07.asp
Second Life Art News
http://sl-art-news.blogspot.com/
Top 10 Art Installations in SL
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/08/top-10-art-inst.html
Monday, September 21, 2009
Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice
“Welcome all to NAEA's virtual home! This dynamic community of practice is where visual arts teachers, scholars, researchers and professors, students, administrators, and art museum educators, and artists come together around a shared belief in the power of the arts in developing human potential.” (naea, 2009)
http://www.naea-reston.org/olc/pub/NAEA/home/
“The Communities of Practice program provides ongoing professional development opportunities for teaching artists who work with students with disabilities. VSA arts has developed this professional learning community by drawing from the fields of teacher professional development, evaluation-research, and business management.
The core purpose of this VSA arts program is to cultivate meaningful professional discussion about student learning, universally designed curriculum, differentiated instruction, and assessment for students with disabilities. This discussion is grounded in reviews of curriculum documents and student learning evidence in relation to learning outcomes.
In the Communities of Practice, participants generate, evaluate, and share valuable curriculum knowledge with their colleagues. Expert instructional coaches and participants exchange feedback on their curriculum, assessment tools, and student work samples using a range of online and tele-conferencing tools. The Communities of Practice is meant to be an enhancement of existing professional development for teaching artists in the VSA arts U.S. domestic affiliate network. This year (fall 2008-spring 2009), teams from our Teaching Artist Fellowships and affiliates in Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Texas participated.” (vsa arts, 2009)
http://www.vsarts.org/x2252.xml
I am involved with both of these communities of practice, yet a once a year community event is not enough for me. I wish I had a community of practice within my school district or even better my school buildings.
Being an art teacher I am estranged from the art educational world because I am the only art teacher in the building. I am slightly involved with the educational community of practice; yet our tasks are different enough to cause the connection to be lacking. Therefore the sense of community for myself within the school building is poor.
Within the school district I also feel the community of practice is lacking; even considering there are 10 art teachers in the system. We meet a couple of times a year. Put on a district wide art show. Go to a free conference together and continue on with our separate lives.
Reading: “Communities of Practice Learning as a Social System” by Etienne Wenger [Published in the "Systems Thinker," June 1998]
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml
Impressed upon me that the art community of practice within my school district is important, and it is my responsibility to start that community by reaching out to my fellow art teachers and forming relationships with bonds of like practice. Where do I begin? How do I approach my colleges?
“Seven principles for cultivating communities of practice
In Silicon Valley, a community of circuit designers meets for a lively debate about the merits of two different designs developed by one of the participants. Huddling together over the circuit diagrams, they analyze possible faults, discuss issues of efficiency, propose alternatives, tease out each other's assumptions, and make the case for their view. In Boston, a group of social workers who staff a help line meet to discuss knotty client problems, express sympathy as they discuss difficulties, probe to understand each other's feelings, and gently offer suggestions. Their meetings are often deeply challenging and sometimes highly emotional. The fact-driven, sometimes argumentative, meetings of the Silicon Valley circuit designers are extremely different from the compassionate meetings of the social workers in Boston. But despite their differences, the circuit designers' and social workers' communities are both vibrant and full of life. Their energy is palpable to both the regular participants and visitors.
Because communities of practice are voluntary, what makes them successful over time is their ability to generate enough excitement, relevance, and value to attract and engage members. Although many factors, such as management support or an urgent problem, can inspire a community, nothing can substitute for this sense of aliveness.
From our experience we have derived seven principles:
1. Design for evolution.
2. Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives.
3. Invite different levels of participation.
4. Develop both public and private community spaces.
5. Focus on value.
6. Combine familiarity and excitement.
7. Create a rhythm for the community.
These design principles are not recipes, but rather embody our understanding of how elements of design work together. They reveal the thinking behind a design. Making design principles explicit makes it possible to be more flexible and improvisational.” (Wenger, 2002)
Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge - Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice (2002.3.25)
by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html
The full rendition of this article really lays out the focus points of starting a voluntary group. Why are these professional individuals going to give up their free time to meet with like minds? They aren’t unless they see that the meeting will help them within their profession, they find the topics of the meeting interesting and compelling, and novelty is constantly engaging them.
This sounds like a lot of work. Yes, but the rewards will be reaped within my classroom☺. It’s worth the effort for my students and me.
http://www.naea-reston.org/olc/pub/NAEA/home/
“The Communities of Practice program provides ongoing professional development opportunities for teaching artists who work with students with disabilities. VSA arts has developed this professional learning community by drawing from the fields of teacher professional development, evaluation-research, and business management.
The core purpose of this VSA arts program is to cultivate meaningful professional discussion about student learning, universally designed curriculum, differentiated instruction, and assessment for students with disabilities. This discussion is grounded in reviews of curriculum documents and student learning evidence in relation to learning outcomes.
In the Communities of Practice, participants generate, evaluate, and share valuable curriculum knowledge with their colleagues. Expert instructional coaches and participants exchange feedback on their curriculum, assessment tools, and student work samples using a range of online and tele-conferencing tools. The Communities of Practice is meant to be an enhancement of existing professional development for teaching artists in the VSA arts U.S. domestic affiliate network. This year (fall 2008-spring 2009), teams from our Teaching Artist Fellowships and affiliates in Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Texas participated.” (vsa arts, 2009)
http://www.vsarts.org/x2252.xml
I am involved with both of these communities of practice, yet a once a year community event is not enough for me. I wish I had a community of practice within my school district or even better my school buildings.
Being an art teacher I am estranged from the art educational world because I am the only art teacher in the building. I am slightly involved with the educational community of practice; yet our tasks are different enough to cause the connection to be lacking. Therefore the sense of community for myself within the school building is poor.
Within the school district I also feel the community of practice is lacking; even considering there are 10 art teachers in the system. We meet a couple of times a year. Put on a district wide art show. Go to a free conference together and continue on with our separate lives.
Reading: “Communities of Practice Learning as a Social System” by Etienne Wenger [Published in the "Systems Thinker," June 1998]
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml
Impressed upon me that the art community of practice within my school district is important, and it is my responsibility to start that community by reaching out to my fellow art teachers and forming relationships with bonds of like practice. Where do I begin? How do I approach my colleges?
“Seven principles for cultivating communities of practice
In Silicon Valley, a community of circuit designers meets for a lively debate about the merits of two different designs developed by one of the participants. Huddling together over the circuit diagrams, they analyze possible faults, discuss issues of efficiency, propose alternatives, tease out each other's assumptions, and make the case for their view. In Boston, a group of social workers who staff a help line meet to discuss knotty client problems, express sympathy as they discuss difficulties, probe to understand each other's feelings, and gently offer suggestions. Their meetings are often deeply challenging and sometimes highly emotional. The fact-driven, sometimes argumentative, meetings of the Silicon Valley circuit designers are extremely different from the compassionate meetings of the social workers in Boston. But despite their differences, the circuit designers' and social workers' communities are both vibrant and full of life. Their energy is palpable to both the regular participants and visitors.
Because communities of practice are voluntary, what makes them successful over time is their ability to generate enough excitement, relevance, and value to attract and engage members. Although many factors, such as management support or an urgent problem, can inspire a community, nothing can substitute for this sense of aliveness.
From our experience we have derived seven principles:
1. Design for evolution.
2. Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives.
3. Invite different levels of participation.
4. Develop both public and private community spaces.
5. Focus on value.
6. Combine familiarity and excitement.
7. Create a rhythm for the community.
These design principles are not recipes, but rather embody our understanding of how elements of design work together. They reveal the thinking behind a design. Making design principles explicit makes it possible to be more flexible and improvisational.” (Wenger, 2002)
Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge - Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice (2002.3.25)
by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html
The full rendition of this article really lays out the focus points of starting a voluntary group. Why are these professional individuals going to give up their free time to meet with like minds? They aren’t unless they see that the meeting will help them within their profession, they find the topics of the meeting interesting and compelling, and novelty is constantly engaging them.
This sounds like a lot of work. Yes, but the rewards will be reaped within my classroom☺. It’s worth the effort for my students and me.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media
Brown, G. (2009, July) Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.ted.com/talks/gordon_brown.html
This video showcases the bigger picture of social media. Helping within the entire human race community. Making the terrors of life known to the public for intervention. Social media using images, text, and music to communicate to individuals searching for a worthy cause to spend their surfing time on.
I agree that there is a global want to rescue someone in need, yet I don’t feel the bigger picture is the reality on the Internet. Do you? I rarely am faced with starvation, poverty, and torture. I am bombarded with sex, products, and self-indulgences. Greed and selfish ambitions flood the pages I pass through on a daily basis including sadly my own writings.
How do we hear about the critical needs of the world when we are not in contact with those individuals in need? That is where social media comes into play. In this video:
Soliya on CNN's Inside the Middle East (January 15, 2009) by CNN
It explains the Soliya project where individuals from all over the world meet to talk about sensitive global subjects via global video conferencing. This opened up the “true reality” for a lot of American and worldwide students involved. They stated that this project helped to debunk a lot of myths they had for each other’s countries, needs, and ideals. I imagine this project also drew action for mediation within the participants. Communication breads global community rescue.
Emerging Tech Talk #017 - Martin Murray on Using Social Media in Natural Disasters (Jan. 16, 2009) by Dan York
Social media tools are being used to help areas in disaster; and this suggests that the emotional pull of someone in need sends a frenzy of support when the word gets out.
This imposes upon me to take action toward need in my immediate area and needs that I feel passionate about within the world. I need to broadcast my concerns through photos, paintings, songs, blogs, twitter, and face book to get the acknowledgement these situations deserve. When human beings connect and empathize with injustice, abuse, or helplessness they act because they have soft and giving hearts☺.
The key: communication. And that is what social media gives us; a way to communicated these needs. Now march global missionaries. We have the tools. We have the concern. Now all we have to have to do is take the first step and BROADCAST.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning
http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/are-we-our-right-minds-lfas-interview-bestselling-author-dan-pink
Are We in Our Right Minds?
LFA's Interview with Bestselling Author Dan Pink. By Claus von Zastrow on February 27, 2008
“You might want to put your kids through art school after all. Best-selling author Dan Pink's prediction that the MFA could become the next MBA is sure to kindle joy in the hearts of underfed visual arts majors everywhere, but it also has profound implications for K-12 public schools. Right-brained skills are becoming an increasingly important ticket to success in the post-information age, Pink argues in his book A Whole New Mind.
Public schools will have to do much more to promote such skills, he suggested, at a time when employers can easily automate or outsource traditional left-brained activities.
The Demand for Right-Brained Skills in a “Conceptual Age.
” Pink argued that we have entered a “conceptual age” in which right-brained attributes such as artistry, empathy, inventiveness and big-picture thinking have become every bit as important as logical, sequential and analytical left-brained skills.
Are Public Schools Ready for the Conceptual Age?
Pink told me that the conceptual age has enormous implications for public schools, which unfortunately still give right-brained skills very short shrift. He laid much responsibility for this misalignment at the feet of policymakers. Educators, he argued, intuitively understand the importance of right-brained abilities, but they are hamstrung by outmoded and often counterproductive policies.” (Zastrow, 2008)
This interview both empowered me and emptied me at the same time. I have struggled with the feelings of unimportance within the school building because of the lack of interest and support for the arts. The students LOVE to come to my room. They create individualized and extremely creative artworks; yet my job would be the first one cut if the schools ran low on funds. We are supposed to be giving the students 21st century education and the arts lend themselves to the six areas:
(A Rare Chance:
Showing 21st Century Skills
Are Taught in the Art Classroom
by Steve Stone
Davis Publications &
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008)
Slide show by Steve Stone on Showing 21st century skills are being taught in the Art Classroom.
"21st Century Skills
• Creativity & Innovation
• Collaboration
• Problem Solving
• Critical Thinking
• Global Awareness
• Media & Technology Literacy" (Stone, 2008)
Creativity, innovation, problem solving, and critical thinking are used daily in the art room through experimenting with different mediums, shapes, color, lines, space, patterns, and textures. Students are always learning methods that can work and ideas that don't work. Giving students the security to try without the fear of failure breads innovation and creativity. Providing the supplies without a plan invites critical thinking, collaboration with their peers, and problem solving.
Global awareness is seen through the study of time and distance. Art has been done from the beginning of time and all over the world. Comparing their differences and similarities brings about great discussions of history, cultural differences, and global humanity.
Technology is all about creating and recreating you. Creating a website takes composition skills. Graphics design is a powerhouse! Advertising=Art=creativity=innovation=problem solving=21st century skills. Our students need to be taught the skills they need to live in today's world. Our schools need to be trained with this knowledge and hopefully through this process will see that the arts are already leading the way with 21st century education.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Week 2 - Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy
Gever Tulley (2009, July) Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html
I only wish I had this much time in my classroom to create Art!! I would call it Tinker-Art-School:). This is the exact theory I have adopted into my classroom this year: Art of Choice.
Incredible Art Department: Teaching for Artistic Behavior
by: Princeton Online an Art Education website.
"Choice Based Art Education fosters imagination. Teachers all across the country are "discovering" how to motivate children through the method of instruction known as Choice Based Art Education (Teaching for Artistic Behavior - or TAB™ Choice is an organization of teachers who teach using this method ). Centers are set up in the elementary and middle school art classrooms and students choose which centers to participate in for the day. High school students are self directed in their studies and studio work. While definitive research on this topic is not available online, some Choice teachers are finding a positive affect this method has on learning in the core curriculum." (Princeton, 2009)
By: Carolyn Kinniery an elementary art teacher by day and budding mixed-media artist by night.
I only wish I had this much time in my classroom to create Art!! I would call it Tinker-Art-School:). This is the exact theory I have adopted into my classroom this year: Art of Choice.
Incredible Art Department: Teaching for Artistic Behavior
by: Princeton Online an Art Education website.
"Choice Based Art Education fosters imagination. Teachers all across the country are "discovering" how to motivate children through the method of instruction known as Choice Based Art Education (Teaching for Artistic Behavior - or TAB™ Choice is an organization of teachers who teach using this method ). Centers are set up in the elementary and middle school art classrooms and students choose which centers to participate in for the day. High school students are self directed in their studies and studio work. While definitive research on this topic is not available online, some Choice teachers are finding a positive affect this method has on learning in the core curriculum." (Princeton, 2009)
At he beginning of the year I asked my students what they wanted to do or learn about in Art this year. It pretty much boiled down to 1. Make anything I want out of Clay 2. Make anything I want out of building materials. 3. Draw anything I want and 4. Paint a lot of anything. These ideas do leave me a lot of room to throw in my mandated benchmarks and standards, but not a lot of security for me to know that all of the art projects will be successful.
This video has shown me: that I also need to teach my students that not all art projects are going to be successful, that art is not about Mrs. B coming up with great ideas for the class to do it is about the class coming up with new inventive creative ideas for the class to try, and the classroom is much more beautiful when I let it be organic. By organic I mean let the students be the artist they already are. Can I suggest; yes. Can I encourage; yes. Can I have a class critique to look at success and failure; yes.
I am turning into a facilitator instead of a teacher. At times I have felt devalued, but at the moment I am feeling empowered by the classroom environment I have created. My classroom has no need for my constant refocusing (my blurting out the reminders of their expectations). My classroom is quiet and focused at all times because they are totally engaged with their original ideas and the freedom of choice.
Are things perfect? No, but I see what needs work and I feel it is a start. I see that my students in the Art room not only the choice of material and outcome, but they also need choice of time because some students want to create lots of simple things and some students only want to create one extremely complicated artwork over the entire year in Art! I see that my classroom really just needs to be a workshop room where the different supplies is segregated into different departments of the room and the students have a choice of what they do everyday with an option of following a lesson demonstrated by me.
I also realize I need to document continuously so parents know the activities happening in the classroom and can witness artworks that are not able to be taken home like: sandcastles, block building, collaborative painting, and collaborative sculptures.
The problems I see though are space for extra large projects. Should I put a cap on size? The storage of multiple projects that are continuing throughout the entire year may be tricky. What if students want to continue multiple projects all year and I have to store all of them continuously? This could be a game of 'Where's Waldo', but instead 'Where are everyone's Art projects'. Can there be limitations or is that limiting the students?
On a recent blog I found on Choice Art Room the teacher explains her current problems as "* the use of "safe" symbols like the heart, flower, names, etc. I think I am going to place a ban on using these images in class. I know it is censorship but I do not see growth in some of my students and it is so frustrating
Students creating same art. I need to set up a chart like Bonnie that has the names of students with the centers they visit so they can see where they work and how they need to try other things. Art idea sheet. I may create one of these that I can give to students when they look like they are not being productive. I've noticed some students not using their time well and by having them fill in a sheet that explains what they plan to do, it may help with their focus. Messy classes. I have closed the collage center for two classes because they "trashed" it and did not clean it up. The classroom teachers say they are the same way in their room, but that is no excuse and I will not have it in the art room. It is messy enough due to its size (sharing with music) a students craeted mess is uncalled for." (Kinniery, 2007) Ultimately, this adventure just needs my commitment. I need to let go and let this happen. I need to be more concerned with what my students are learning instead of being so full of pride for what and how I teach.
Finally, what does this have to do with Media Literacy? Although art isn't being creating on the computer a lot of the time; I do feel that choice Art program is influencing an artist community that the children are learning in instead of a classroom teaching environment. The students are learning more because they are not just learning from me they are learning from each other.
My students are moving around. They are collaborating. I am giving instant feedback. I am documenting and we are revisiting experiences. The students are totally engaged. I often come up with a story-line to engage them emotionally. The students are self motivated. My classroom has become more literate. More learning is going on:).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0
Robinson, Sir Ken, (2006, June) Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Being an art teacher this video speaks right to my heart. Ken Robinson is a masterful communicator. He didn't need a KeyNote. He gave such visual descriptions one could use their own imagination to draw their own interpretation of his words. "Our bodies are just transports for our heads." (Ken, 2006) I can just imagine our heads in a box with a handle on top so we can reach up and dismantle our heads to be placed on a table with everyone else's heads we are meeting with. Not that this is wrong. Some people are geared to be college professors who are totally concentrated in the brain, but what about those individuals who are constantly dissatisfied with their lives? Were they the next best artist, dancer, or gamer?
I am fortunate to have had a mother who fussed over my art. She told me I was talented. She framed my art and showed it off to all our friends and family. It could have been totally different for me. Right now I could be a manager of a Pizza Hut wondering where I went wrong. For this reason I tell every student in my classroom that their artwork is wonderful because I believe they created this "thing" from something inside of them and I would hate to degrade a part of someone's being. My students never get sick of my constant approval they look forward to it daily; it shows through how hard they work in my class.
Marc Prensky (January 2006) Educational Leadership article about learning in the digital age posted to:
http://www.ascd.org/authors/ed_lead/el200512_prensky.html
I feel Ken Robinson's theory about education crushing creativity also explains education's non-response to technology. Our children are begging for it; they are "Digital Natives". (Prensky 2006) Our current students have grown up with the internet, cell phones, gaming systems, computer games, and Webkinz. They think in technological language. These formats of information are reaching them; teaching them. Why shouldn't we use them in our schools? Teach the students in a language they understand?
Massively Multiplayer Online Roll Playing Game produced by INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION found at:
atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
Quest Atlantis comes to mind when I think about our students and 21st century learning. This is a perfect way to give those students who love gaming an opportunity to learn in their individualized way. I feel that individualized education is what technology and the integration of web 2.0 tools can give the classroom. This not only takes computers, know how, and programs it also takes teachers who will step out of the box. it takes teachers who are willing to change; willing to go against the grain to gain ground in a technological world that is causing public education to become extinct. We can either jump on board or wait to be thrown overboard, because a lot of the times students are getting a better education online after school than they are in the school building during the day.
This is because they are engaged through gaming, art, dancing, music, and socialization. Put these things back into the schools and our students will come back to us.
Stop with the tests; start with the students.
Being an art teacher this video speaks right to my heart. Ken Robinson is a masterful communicator. He didn't need a KeyNote. He gave such visual descriptions one could use their own imagination to draw their own interpretation of his words. "Our bodies are just transports for our heads." (Ken, 2006) I can just imagine our heads in a box with a handle on top so we can reach up and dismantle our heads to be placed on a table with everyone else's heads we are meeting with. Not that this is wrong. Some people are geared to be college professors who are totally concentrated in the brain, but what about those individuals who are constantly dissatisfied with their lives? Were they the next best artist, dancer, or gamer?
I am fortunate to have had a mother who fussed over my art. She told me I was talented. She framed my art and showed it off to all our friends and family. It could have been totally different for me. Right now I could be a manager of a Pizza Hut wondering where I went wrong. For this reason I tell every student in my classroom that their artwork is wonderful because I believe they created this "thing" from something inside of them and I would hate to degrade a part of someone's being. My students never get sick of my constant approval they look forward to it daily; it shows through how hard they work in my class.
Marc Prensky (January 2006) Educational Leadership article about learning in the digital age posted to:
http://www.ascd.org/authors/ed_lead/el200512_prensky.html
I feel Ken Robinson's theory about education crushing creativity also explains education's non-response to technology. Our children are begging for it; they are "Digital Natives". (Prensky 2006) Our current students have grown up with the internet, cell phones, gaming systems, computer games, and Webkinz. They think in technological language. These formats of information are reaching them; teaching them. Why shouldn't we use them in our schools? Teach the students in a language they understand?
Massively Multiplayer Online Roll Playing Game produced by INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION found at:
atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
Quest Atlantis comes to mind when I think about our students and 21st century learning. This is a perfect way to give those students who love gaming an opportunity to learn in their individualized way. I feel that individualized education is what technology and the integration of web 2.0 tools can give the classroom. This not only takes computers, know how, and programs it also takes teachers who will step out of the box. it takes teachers who are willing to change; willing to go against the grain to gain ground in a technological world that is causing public education to become extinct. We can either jump on board or wait to be thrown overboard, because a lot of the times students are getting a better education online after school than they are in the school building during the day.
This is because they are engaged through gaming, art, dancing, music, and socialization. Put these things back into the schools and our students will come back to us.
Stop with the tests; start with the students.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Week 1 - Blog Posting # 1 -Web 2.0
(2007, Nov. 14) by Mike King
This YouTube video alludes to the fact that Web 2.O tools can only be utilized if educators know that they are available and if they are given the tutorials to use them. I feel this is the leading concern when in hopes to believe that "Co-creating may become one of the most powerful engines of change that the education world will experience." (King, 2007)
(2009, May 15) by BECTA
This video explains that "Web 2.O is not anything but a change to the structure of learning". This may calm the nerves of some educators that feel the Internet is opening their students up to risky social interaction. If they truly compare the risk to everyday social interaction risks they would realize that "web 2.O has the same risks as any other social surroundings" (BECTA, 2009) Field trips, school visitors, and bathroom graffiti are a few of the social risks of going to school. They seem harmless; yet occasionally one hears of school abductions and abuse, but these are a rarity as so they are on web 2.O tools.
Rather educators should focus on the potential of learning web 2.O tools have for their students. "Web 2.O is helping learners customize their own learning." (BECTA 2009) by giving them the opportunity to focus on their own interests. "Education has been individual learning taking individual tests. We have to give students space for collaboration." (BECTA 2009) Collaboration is key to learning. We learn from one another. Yes we can learn from one teacher standing in front of the room giving out her knowledge piece by piece, but we all know she also got her knowledge from somewhere. How much more could we learn if we were all talking together? Given more freedom for our individual input on the subject? I think this method is far more advantageous.
I also believe that when a teacher collaborates through web 2.O tools it changes his/her classroom environment. He/she is learning through group collaboration and realizing the excitement that pairs with the learning. How can this not change a way one teaches? I know it has changed my art room for the better. Actually it liberated my classroom...gave my student’s individual freedoms that were greatly accepted and appreciatedJ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
