Traditional education is facing a major "disruptive innovation" called personalized learning and education is going to be hit by a huge wave and washed up on the beach if we don't change the way we do business! I enjoyed this video and now realize through each video clip, presentation, blog or discussion in class, that school 1. is not good enough. Not to sustain us and our students in the 21st century. Why would we want to settle for good enough? I am feeling frustration with not quite knowing how this is all going to play out and how I can play a role in the obvious transformation that needs to happen. I will remain optimistic and enthusiastic for my students and do my best to incorporate as many new web 2. tools as possible into my classroom.
Appreciated the attention given to policies and digital citizenship. Devoting time to deciphering policy information, interpreting laws and discussing copyright and fair use was important, since teachers need a code of best practices to follow to help them do their job and be as effective as possible. I learned that copyright laws have nothing to do with protecting the creator and have everything to do with promoting creativity. Interesting and informative presentation from IU12, using Ellumination and Skype.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Reflections on Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat"
There are so many things to take away from this video. Friedman's chapter one entitled "while you were sleeping" really intrigued me when he mentions the 3 eras or tiers of globalization. Many parallels to education can be drawn from this chapter. The ten flatteners were interesting and really made sense. Their convergence that created the flat world where everyone is on the same playing field and all can plug in and play is mind boggling. I especially was interested and intrigued by the insourcing example of UPS...some companies never touch their products! He stressed that connecting all knowledge pools together is what makes collaboration and it is how the world became flat. I was glad to hear that he felt the roles of schools and teachers were still very important and that the United States should be focusing on the insurance that every American who wants an education should somehow be able to obtain it.
I think many of the ideas he expressed have great relevance for schools and education. Back to his first chapter "while you were sleeping"...that is really a wake up call for schools and our educational system. Individuals (our students) can and are learning globally through the click of a button. Look at how Firefox began...two students who never physically met collaborated and wow, that name is in the upper left corner of my screen and thanks to them, I am talking to many people I have never met. This is a great example to share with students. Anything is possible and can happen if you keep an open mind and allow for thinking outside the box.
I was surprised that he identified the Berlin Wall as the starting point of the world turning flat. The UPS example also surprised me. I will never look at the guys in the brown shorts the same way again!
Yes, other teachers in my building could benefit by hearing comments such as "we must all adjust to this new horizontal world". We cannot just do our jobs in the same manner as previously done. It just won't work in this collaborative, flat world. I agree with his last line...America needs to export hope, not fear. For me, this translates to....I must at least try some of these new technologies and not let my fears get the best of me. Hopefully my students will benefit from my experimentation and be interactive with their world.
I think many of the ideas he expressed have great relevance for schools and education. Back to his first chapter "while you were sleeping"...that is really a wake up call for schools and our educational system. Individuals (our students) can and are learning globally through the click of a button. Look at how Firefox began...two students who never physically met collaborated and wow, that name is in the upper left corner of my screen and thanks to them, I am talking to many people I have never met. This is a great example to share with students. Anything is possible and can happen if you keep an open mind and allow for thinking outside the box.
I was surprised that he identified the Berlin Wall as the starting point of the world turning flat. The UPS example also surprised me. I will never look at the guys in the brown shorts the same way again!
Yes, other teachers in my building could benefit by hearing comments such as "we must all adjust to this new horizontal world". We cannot just do our jobs in the same manner as previously done. It just won't work in this collaborative, flat world. I agree with his last line...America needs to export hope, not fear. For me, this translates to....I must at least try some of these new technologies and not let my fears get the best of me. Hopefully my students will benefit from my experimentation and be interactive with their world.
Reflections on Day 4 of LTMS600-03
Loads of good stuff was presented today.
Instructables was intriguing. Because much of the subject matter in my class is hands on and active learning, I can see this tool being used as a mini-demonstration for a refresher of a technique previously taught or for students to review if absent. It could also be used as an independent activity for advanced or speedy students to explore while waiting for other students to finish a class activity.
The various timeline tools such as Dipity, XTimeline, and Timetoast have possibilities in my classroom. I have wanted to set up a class timeline for years, but the set-up time deterred me. I am exploring the idea of requiring each student to post 2 finds to a class-created timeline and allow the timeline to constantly be edited and updated so they could see the evolution of events and products in the field of FCS. Examples could include: when did Home Ec change to Family & Consumer Science, the first credit card, the first TV dinner, the first cake mix, coupons, rebates, the sewing machine, the dishwasher, the microwave, etc. etc. etc. Imagine the class discussions that could stem from why these inventions and products evolved...convenience, cost, time periods (during wars, women went to work), dual income families, less time to spend in kitchen, family dynamics, and today we are slowly seeing a shift back to more home cooking due to the economy...the topics of conversation are endless. These could be turned into blogs. I also would like to challenge my students to create a future invention, service, tool or product that families or individuals might need and where they would place it on the timeline of the year 2010. This activity would certainly blend several disciplines together (history, science, sociology, reading), not to mention I believe it would address quite a few rungs on Bloom's ladder.
I also liked and plan to explore and use Wordle, Edmodo, Wallwisher and Dabbleboard.
Do I have unanswered questions in regard to using these tools? That would be a resounding Yes, but I must say I am starting to gain a little bit of confidence with my ability to move around within these various web tool sites. I am not as afraid to explore as I was the first day of class and I can always ask my colleagues for help and advice.
Today was my favorite day of this class so far. I appreciated the time spent exploring web tools of our choice and sharing our discoveries. Extremely helpful.
"Never, never, never give up!" ~ Winston Churchill
That's the lesson that Joanne and I learned today as we attempted to complete our Google Earth assignment. We will keep it a secret as to the time it took us to reach the end, but the important thing is that we reached the prize...our google tours found a home on Jeff's designated page.
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