"Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant."
How true is this statement? Weather its a college course, PBS Class, or Professional Development Conference, I am able to learn what I want when it is convenient for me. Convenience for me is at 11:00 pm when no one is up to bother me. Convenience for me is when I can sit here and not worry about "getting ready."
As I was reading through the Connection Meets Content section, my brain was racing with ideas on how I can incorporate group projects with students from other schools. Can I utilize our Video Conferencing Systems to have guest teachers, or sit in on a similar lesson delivered from another teacher from another school.
Finally, the section on Opportunity Cost got me thinking; There are school that CAN afford to move ahead and are not; there are are schools that CANNOT afford to but want to; and there are a school that CAN afford to and are moving ahead. How do we as interested Web2.0 teachers get our schools or continue to move our school ahead both financially and physically?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Mike, What you say here is true of our own students. One of the speakers last week talked a lot about the classroom wiki he developed for his class. He found that the kids were working on it later in the night, when it was good for them. It was learning on their own time at their own pace. It has been shown that teens need a lot more sleep in the morning because their brains are making them stay up later and later into the night. It is not their fault they can't get to sleep at the normal 9-10 pm time anymore. It is their brain that is keeping them up until 1am. What a better time to be learning and communicating with your peers. These are lessons they will continue on during school hours and remember a lot longer than many pencil and paper exams. (Not that there is anything wrong with those either!)
ReplyDelete