Changing Teaching and Learning

Unit 2 of the Digital Learning Transition Course begins today! And registration doesn't close until Feb 7!

Digital Learning Transition MOOC-Ed Unit 2 Introduction from MOOC-Ed on Vimeo.

Answer the following questions by leaving a comment:

• What changes in the culture of teaching and learning would you recommend for your school or district?
• What do you see as the major challenges to making these changes?

Tech Standards for Students

On slides 17 through 23 you will find the ISTE NETS Standards for Students. I think those are excellent and go deeper into 21st Century Learning than the EALRS. 

What do you think?

Khan on Lecturing

Closing the Gap

PowerOn Texas

Digital Learning from Student POV

Digital Youth Portraits

Edutopia provides profiles of technologically sophisticated students, with both a video and a written interview for each. The 10 students range in age from nine to 18. They are engaged in a of variety productive, creative uses of technology, including: producing videos; forming groups engaged in social activism; creating animations; writing blogs; and creating educational and other types of web sites. The link above  takes you to a menu where you can choose the profile of one or more students.

What takeaways are you getting from the profiled kids? How can the ways they are using technology be used with our students?

Digital Learning Transition MOOC Intro

Unit 1: Envisioning Schools in the Year 2020 from MOOC-Ed on Vimeo.

More 1to1 Ideas

Making 1:1 Work

1/6/2014 On Tech&Learning:

We checked in with some districts that have been using 1:1 programs for a long time to get their insight into what makes these initiatives strong and how they can be sustained. Here are their thoughts.
Scott Ribich

Director of Technology, Bluffton-Harrison (IN)
Metropolitan School District
Describe your 1:1 program “Each of our 1,483 students (K-12) has a third-generation iPad. Students in grades K-4 leave their iPads in the classroom, and those in grades 5-12 take them home,” says Ribich. Grades K-4 have 16GB iPads, the older students have 32GB ones. All teachers and administrators have MacBook Pros as well as iPads. “We are in the second year of our 1:1 program. We decided to move toward a 1:1 [program] in 2010, but we wanted to take our time and do things right. In the summer of 2010, we purchased SMART Boards for every teacher. In 2011, we upgraded our infrastructure so that it could handle a district-wide 1:1 [program]. In 2012, we handed out the iPads.”

What have been your biggest successes? “We went from a district that wasn’t heavily invested in technology to being one of the leaders in the state in a very short time. Our middle school is the only SMART Showcase school in Indiana and our district was just named an Apple Distinguished School District. We’ve hosted more than 40 school districts across the state to see our 1:1 program, and we were awarded the Imagining and Creating Grant from the Indiana DoE last year. I was named the 2013 Technology Coordinator of the Year at the Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators conference. We have stories of teachers who barely knew how to use a computer who now create their own digital curriculum, students who were below average who are now on the honor roll, and our test scores have risen. We know that technology isn’t the reason for this, but we feel the increased student engagement has led to better scores.”

Your biggest challenges?

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In a 1to1 Classroom

5 Demands Placed on Students in a 1:1

by Shawn McCusker

1. Manage the Technology: In addition to learning and completing assignments students have an array or responsibilities simply in managing the device.  The device needs to be charged, apps and programs need to be updated so that they continue to function correctly. At first students and perhaps parents may scoff at the idea that these tasks are part of learning. It can be hard to keep them accountable for them, but just as important as it is to have paper, a pen, a PE uniform or safety goggles, having a functioning device is key to being “ready to learn.”

2.  Make Learning Choices:  The volume of data being evaluated and sifted through and the freedom for students to construct ideas with their own information make 1:1 powerful. One roadblock to this is the “Tell Me What To Do?” mindset that many students have. 

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iPads in Schools

8 Frequent Mistakes Made with iPads in School

By Teachers With Apps

MISTAKE ONE – Underestimate the power of the iPad
Students do not need to be taught how to use the iPad, but rather how to get the most out of it. They need to be taught how they can use it to create and demonstrate incredible things, to share their learning and connect it with the real word, and to promote deeper thinking.

MISTAKE TWO – Neglect to make real world connections
Most students’ use social media, but not necessarily in a way to learn or to connect in meaningful ways. Blogs, Twitter, Instagram all of these programs work on the iPad and can be used to allow students to learn from each other and to share their learning with others. These tools allow them to take REAL action in the REAL world.


MISTAKE THREE –The iPad alone will not help kids think deeply

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