Category: Reform

Key & Peele’s TeachingCenter (A Parody of SportsCenter)

 

TeachingCenter

The comedy duo provide a “spot-on parody of SportsCenter’s hyperbole-laden talking heads, busy CGI ticker screens, and obsessive play-by-plays, the clip cleverly reimagines athletes as the educators we entrust our children to every day” (Source).

A New Paradigm for Education from Sir Ken Robinson

Ken RobinsonSir Ken Robinson suggests that education needs to be reformed and offers a new metaphor to help guide the change process. He taps into many of the things that educators have been noticing and “feeling” about schooling. As he often does, he clearly articulates these ideas and offers strategies for moving forward.

Take a listen to Sir Ken’s message (6 minutes) and share your reactions in the comments section.

Technology and Design Are Facilitating a Revolution

Real Industrial Revolution (Small)

I’ve continued to reflect on Alastair Parvin’s TEDtalk for several weeks. It is eminder about the importance and prevalence of design in today’s world. This quote, in particular, has stayed with me, so I used it to create this poster. Alastair’s presentation is an example of just how important it is for creativity to be fostered. Outside-the-box thinking like his may very well resolve some of the difficult issues that we’ll be facing in the coming decades.

Event Tags: FOL2013, hgsepzfol

Can Rocketship Launch a Fleet of Successful, Mass-Produced Schools?

Rocketship EducationPBS’ NewsHour aired this story last month.

“John Danner has built seven “Rocketship” charter schools, whose model has produced results at or above average in low-income neighborhood by using technology, community engagement, and teaching coaches. Special correspondent John Merrow profiles the California program, which aims to mass-produce quality schools” (Source).

You can also read the full transcript from the news report.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Future Teachers: Your Help Is Needed — #edchat #idt6061 #idt3600

America’s future teachers are invited to participate in the “Speak Up 2012 Survey for America’s Future Teachers” to share your ideas about teaching.

Speak Up, a national online research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow®, gives individuals the opportunity to share their viewpoints about key issues in K-12 education.

Any college student, who is participating in a degree or credential program that will prepare them for a career as a K-12 teacher, is eligible to take the survey, regardless of prior student teaching experience.

Speak Up for America’s Future Teachers is facilitated through online surveys and will be aggregated at the national and institution level. All of the data is 100% confidential and no specific institutional findings will be shared with anyone outside of the participating college or university.

Participate in “Speak Up 2012 Survey for America’s Future Teachers” and share your ideas about teaching.

Bring on the Learning Revolution!

“In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.” (Source)

“Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be, or if they have any to speak of.” — Sir Ken Robinson

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DIY Learning: A Path toward Personalized Learning

The following is an excerpt from an article by Marie Bjerede on O’Reilly Radar. It spotlights a few educational innovations that continue to gain traction.

The “DIY ethic is now seeping into one of the most locked-down social institutions in existence: education. Educators, parents, technologists, students, and others have begun looking at the components, subassemblies, assemblies and specifications of excellent education and are finding ways to improve, reimagine, and reinvent learning at every level…In every way, they are looking at the components of teaching and learning, and finding ways to re-create them to be more efficient; more effective; and, critically, more modular.” (Source)

Key Terms

The following are few terms that are included within the article. Regardless of your philosophical leanings it is important that we are aware of current trends and innovations within education. Take a few moments to make sure you are familiar with their meanings.

  • Schoolers
  • Edupunks
  • Makers
  • Maker Faire

Personalized Learning

Bierede concludes, “In a pretty fundamental way, DIY is intrinsically about owning your learning as well as your hardware. No wonder there is a growing movement to open it up, void the warranty, and tinker. What will you make of it?” (Source)

We’re on a path toward personalized learning.

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Interest in Math and Science Careers Sparked in Classes Where Learning Is Directed by Students & Supported by Technology

This post is a follow-up to an earlier blog entry about the findings in the Speak Up 2011 report. The following information provides additional insights and comes from a press release from Project Tomorrow.

— — — — —

For Immediate Release
Contact: Amber Taylor
703-201-4893, amber@sambertaylor.com

Just Nine Percent of Students Describe Their Most Recent Math and Science Classes This Way; More than 40 percent Still Describe Traditional Format

Washington, D.C. – Nearly one-third of high school students who experience math and science classrooms where instruction is led by teachers, learning is directed by students and where technology is used to support both, express a strong interest in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) career, according to the latest findings from the 2011 Speak Up survey (View as: HTML, PDF). Nationally, just nine percent of students described their most recent math or science class this way.

Only 20 percent of students in traditional classrooms, where the instruction is teacher directed and the use of technology is limited, expressed the same interest in STEM careers.

“This is the first time we’ve noticed this correlation between the type of math and science instruction and the students’ interest in STEM careers,” said Julie Evans. “For a nation concerned with developing the next generations of scientists, engineers and innovators, this finding should raise some eyebrows.”

When asked to describe their most recent math or science class, the majority of middle and high school students chose one of these three classroom paradigms:

  1. Traditional class with teacher-directed instruction – lectures, textbook assignments, group projects and labs (43 percent)
  2. Traditional class with teacher-directed instruction as in #1, but with some technology used to support instruction (33 percent)
  3. Traditional class with a mix of teacher-directed instruction and student-directed learning and the use of technology tools to support both teachers and students (9 percent)

“For three-quarters of today’s students in grades 6-12, math and science class is still much like it was when we adults were in school: predominately teacher-centered with little or no opportunities for students to direct their own learning, at their own pace, with their own tools,” said Evans.

“Think about that in contrast to what is being called for by the new Common Core Standards for math. The Common Core approach is based on teachers laying out a specific task and inviting the students to dig in and solve the problem using appropriate tools and resources,” explain Evans. “If our schools are able to implement this type of teaching and learning, the potential for interest in math and science should grow.”

These findings can be found in a Speak Up 2012 report, Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey – K-12 Students and Parents Connects the Dots with Digital Learning. That report and more can be accessed here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/2012_PersonalizedLearning.html

This year’s survey findings also show:

  • Significant increase in students’ mobile Internet access outside of school with more than half of all students (urban, suburban and rural) reporting access through 3G/4G mobile devices.
  • Middle and high school students’ access to a personal tablet device doubled from 2010-2011 (26 percent of middle school and 21 percent of high school students now report personal access to a tablet).
  • Students are adopting technologies and then adapting them to support their own self-directed learning (tweeting about academic topics, tutoring other students online, using mobile apps to organize school work, used Facebook as a collaboration tool for classroom projects, etc.).

The 2011 online survey – completed by more than 416,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians and administrators – offers the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered input on education and technology from those ‘on the ground’ in the schools.

Now in its 9th year, the annual survey about education and technology is facilitated through public, private and charter schools all around the country; every school is eligible to participate. The results provide important insights about education, technology and student aspirations to individual schools, state departments of education and national leaders.

Since 2003, more than 2.6 million K-12 students, educators and parents from more than 35,000 schools in all 50 states have participated in Speak Up. The online survey is facilitated by Project Tomorrow and supported by many of our nation’s most innovative companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations including Blackboard, Inc., DreamBox, Hewlett-Packard, K12, Inc., Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach Initiative, Schoolwires and SMART Technologies.

Project Tomorrow partners with more than 75 different education associations, organizations and think-tanks for outreach to the schools and development of the survey questions including the American Association of School Administrators, Consortium for School Networking, iNACOL, International Society for Technology in Education, National School Boards Association, National Science Digital Library, National Secondary School Principals Association, Southern Regional Education Board and State Education Technology Directors’ Association.

About Project Tomorrow
Speak Up is a national initiative of Project Tomorrow, the nation’s leading education nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world. The Speak Up data represents the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder input on education, technology, 21st century skills, schools of the future and science instruction. Education, business and policy leaders report use the data regularly to inform federal, state and local education programs. For additional information, visit www.tomorrow.org.

 

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Speak Up 2011: National Findings for K-12 Students and Parents

About Speak Up

The Speak Up National Research Project provides participating schools, districts and non-profit organizations with a suite of online surveys and reports to collect authentic feedback from students, educators and parents. In addition, they summarize and share the national findings with education and policy leaders in Washington DC and in each state.

The top three reasons schools and districts participate in Speak Up are to:

  • Collect unique data from their stakeholders.
  • Conduct a needs assessment and create a vision for 21st century learning.
  • Use the data to create and inform technology initiatives or create strategic plans.

Across the nation, educators report that Speak Up:

  • Gives them a better understanding of issues important to their stakeholders.
  • Provides a mechanism to empower students to voice their opinions.
  • Provides meaningful input into their planning process.
  • Enhances their ability to implement technology initiatives more closely aligned to students’ expectations and needs.
  • Helps identify meaningful benchmarks for measuring success.

Since 2003, educators from more than 30,000 schools have used the Speak Up data to create and implement their vision for 21st century learning. Register to participate in Speak Up. (Source)

Speak Up 2011 Report

On April 24, 2012, Project Tomorrow released the report “Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey – K-12 Students and Parents Connects the Dots with Digital Learning” at a Congressional Briefing held in Washington, DC. Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow CEO, discussed selected student and parent national findings from the Speak Up 2011 report and moderated a panel discussion with students and parents who shared their insights and experiences.

The report focuses on how today’s students are personalizing their own learning, and how their parents are supporting this effort. The ways that students are personalizing their learning centers around three student desires including how students seek out resources that are digitally-rich, untethered and socially-based. The key questions being addressed in this report include:

  • How are students personalizing their learning?
  • How are parents helping students to personalize their learning journey?
  • What are the digitally-rich, untethered and socially based learning strategies that facilitate this process?
  • How can education stakeholders support students as they seek to personalize their learning?
  • What are the gaps between administrators’ views of personalized learning compared to parents’ and students’ views?

Key Findings

  • Students are adopting technologies and then adapting them to support their own self-directed learning. For example, 1 in 10 high school students have Tweeted about an academic topic. 46% of students have used Facebook as a collaboration tool for schoolwork.
  • Parents are supporting their children’s personalized learning journeys. 64% of parents report that they would purchase a mobile device for their child’s academic use at school.
  • There is a gap in offerings between what schools offer and what students want to learn. As a result, students are looking outside of the classroom to meet their personalized learning goals. For example, 12% of high school students have taken an online class on their own, outside of the classroom, to learn about a topic that interested them.
  • In math and science classrooms where students and teachers direct learning supported by technology, students’ interest in a STEM career is 27%, compared with 20% for students in traditional math and science classrooms.
  • Parents’ definition of academic success for their children places a strong emphasis on learning the right skills to be successful (73%)- more than any other metric for success, including monetary success or getting into a good college (Source).

At a Glimpse

Below is an infographic presenting many of the key findings from the Speak Up 2011 Report. Click on the image to download the full-size PDF.

 

So, Now What?

Speak Up 2011 demonstrates how students are personalizing their own learning, and how parents are supporting their efforts. As reflective educators it is important that we consider the implications of these findings. I’ve used a modified Compass Points Thinking Routine as a framework for guiding our reflection and conversation.

  1. How do these national findings compare to your local experiences?
  2. Are there changes that need to be made so that your local classrooms can be more reflective of these findings?
  3. What excites you about these findings? What is the upside?
  4. What do you find worrisome about these findings? What is the downside?
  5. What else do you need to know or find out about the findings? What additional information would help you to evaluate things?
  6. What is your current stance or opinion on the findings? How might you move forward in your evaluation of this report?

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A Message to Teachers from George Lucas

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day filmmaker George Lucas shares his thoughts about the importance of education. In a blog post at Edutopia he shares, “There is no other job more important than education. It is the foundation of our democracy. By seizing on what’s working, and recreating those successes from one classroom to the next, we can make it better for everyone” (Source).

I encourage you to read the full post and consider George’s personal experiences in the classroom and recommendations for education as we move forward.

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