Activity 10- Sharing (Publishing) Online

I like the idea of bringing students to a place where they have to demonstrate their understanding of what they learned from research, interaction with experts or through collaboration with peers and then collate these bits of information into a format that can be shared in the community beyond the classroom.  This in my view supports the theory of constructivism which is the basis for knowledge building.  By gaining this knowledge the opportunity to share it further reinforces that knowledge, which came about as they carried out their various roles  throughout the project.

In my exploration of projects in this course,  I have been exposed to various mediums that students can use to culminate their projects. One common thread that each thrives on is the need for being creative.   For starters, I will introduce my students to Google Blogger,  Video and Audio Production to produce CD Rom's and the simple software of Power Point.  As an English teacher, I find that these and those listed below will  work very well since English fosters a communicative, collaborative , knowledge building environment.  My list of final products to culminate a project includes:

·         Video and audio production- to produce a CD Rom.

·         Podcasts

 

·         You-Tube- For sharing videos online

·         Google Blogger for sharing and publishing completed reports

·         Photostory 3 for Windows – a tool used for sharing photo stories

·         Sharing Compiled notes on Adobe Acrobat Document which can be posted on the web to extend the learning beyond the classroom environment

·         Art gallery expedition featuring multimedia profiles

·         Creation of models that can be exhibited in galleries

·         Create virtual tours on Google maps on art work in an area or historical sites

 

P.S.One thing that struck me in some of the videos and samples was that at times teachers themselves had to learn some skills before engaging students in the projects themselves.   Noteworthy also, all projects went through a phase of intense planning with other colleagues and experts.  Teachers were able to determine the best suited end product for the project design.  This shows that even the teacher encounters a continuum of knowledge building experiences too.

Activity 4-Knowledge Building

As one writer has put it "we learn... through making connections between stuff we already knew and the stuff we didn’t. This meant we actively constructed the knowledge as we needed it. "  This is pretty much the premise on which knowledge building stands.

Our students enter the classroom having being exposed to many strands of thought and information.  To some degree there is the isolated case of cases of small hunches (as indicated in the online video on WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson) This unit has challenged me as a teacher to launch the proverbial net into the great minds of my students and provide avenues for them to make sense of their ideas; merge their ideas with other ideas from their peers and explore possibilities in expanding these ideas to even create new versions of thought.  My mind takes me to  Mark Zuckerberg who, with his college roommates, founded facebook. Note that they were college students.  I would want to believe that their learning environment was that of knowledge building; and hence, they had the scope to explore those 'hunches' and finally reach a "Eureka" moment.

In my context where linear learning is the norm, it will be difficult at first to incorporate this new trend into my present context.  One implication of creating a knowledge building environment would require  a  reconstruction of the teacher training programme so the phasing in of this trend can begin to filter through the school system.  The monitoring and evaluation of teachers  will also need to be refocused so that teachers can be assessed on the incorporation of 21st Century learning which will nurture a knowledge building environment.

Activity 5- Engaged Learning

NCREL's view on what meaningful, engaged learning  has made me rethink  what engaged learning is all about.  Engaged learning is not just restricted to letting students just talk to each other but rather it suggests that some objective is being achieved as they do so. It could be considered engagement with a purpose.  In this environment, and based on the task given, this engagement can produce different outcomes. Key though to all activites is ensuring that all students are working in an explorative environment which fosters critical thinking, problem based learning whilst teaching them to be self-regulated and self-directed. The activity should be in concert with the national standards or curriculum and can include multiple disciplines. The end result is the building of a knowledge community.

Activity 3- Critical Thinking

Mind Meister is pretty neat. I like the interactive components. I struggled with it a bit, but I will get there.  I want to learn it well enough to be used in our classrooms. On the matter of critical thinking, this seemingly is suppressed because our students are limited  in knowledge in a number of areas. Their vocabulary base tends to be poor and they tend to very inhibited where expressing their feelings is concerned.  I foresee that we will have to hold mini workshops/lessons on learning how to engage in critical thinking before actually incorporating in our disciplines. Although students have knowledge of I.T. there is greater need to teach students how to Access, Analyze, Evaluate and Communicate the information they have come in contact with.

Activity 2- My Vision for my Subject

As an administrator, I am hoping to see all of our disciplines become more collaborative, encourage critical thinking, develop information literacy skills and ultimately bridging the great divide in communication skills.  The greatest challenge is getting others to get onboard. There may be the odd one who will see this new paradigm as more hard work. Nonetheless, we have to start somewhere. 21 st Century skills and learning are greatly lacking in our contexts and this course will continue to broaden my understanding as to how to impart and steer our learning environment into this much needed path.

Module 7 Activity 1

21 st Century Learning

More and more the classroom is shifting from the 3 r's to 21st Century concepts of learning. The vast amount of knowledge at our figure tips requires one to have the ability to sift through it all and be able to make sense of it all. At the end of it all the question is, What aspects of this knowledge would I accept? On what grounds do I accept this knowledge?  Processing, criticial thinking, collaborating , communicating and analysing are key components to establishing a fast and vast knowledge building community.