Equipping the 21st Century Learner with 21st Century Tools

1. Distributed Learning Symposium 2009 Karen Adolf (adolfk@rvvs.com) Equipping the 21st Century Learner with 21st Century Tools

2. WHY?

3. Alvin Toffler The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

4. Rapid Change • If our grandparents were suddenly transported to 2009, what elements of our society might be incomprehensible? • If you were to wake up from a 10-year coma, what might you find confusing?

5. farming

6. phone

7. check out

8. photography

9. printing

10. banking http://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/learning/how/imteller.html

11. paying for goods

12. music

13. personal communication

14. information search

15. education

16. Education – not such rapid change • Our current educational model was designed in 1920s, based on the 1890s assembly line model – so, at best we’re preparing our students for the INDUSTRIAL world, a world which we left behind long ago, and a world in which change was glacial. • The way we gather, transmit, and share information is changing constantly and rapidly, so if we're going to engage students, we're going to have to focus on some different communication methods, evolving our teaching practices with the technology as it evolves.

17. Shift Happens • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8 • We ARE living in exponential times – perhaps the reason why Fisch regularly updates this presentation.

18. Karl Fisch • Literacy means being able to consume and produce the media forms of the day. Our students are doing this when they play. Are they doing this at school? • Think of all the various media forms today – the five paragraph essay not on the top of the list - if that is all we're teaching our kids it is "educational malpractice".

19. Fisch continued • What should 'school' or 'learning' look like in a world where all factual information is just a click away? • WE aren't delivering knowledge. • We have to help our students make sense, repurpose, remix, interpret >> wisdom.

20. Norman Douglas • "If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them things." ~~ Norman Douglas • . . . including knowledge, instructions, specific assignments? • How does this apply to what we are doing in the field of education?

21. WHAT?

22. Metiri Group • Digital-Age Literacies– basic, scientific, economic, technological, visual, information, and multicultural literacies, and global awareness • Inventive Thinking – adaptability, managing complexity, self-direction, curiosity, creativity, risk-taking, higher-order thinking, sound reasoning • Effective Communication – teaching collaboration, interpersonal skills; personal, social, and civic responsibility; interactive communication • High Productivity – prioritize, plan, and manage for results; effective use of real-world tools; relevant, high-quality product

23. Partnership for 21st Century Skills • Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes • Learning and Innovation Skills - creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration • Information, Media and Technology Skills- Information Literacy, Media Literacy, ICT Literacy • Life and Career Skills 21st Century Support Systems: 21st century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development

24. Bloom’s Taxonomy - revised

25. John Connell • “There probably are a number of skills that can be identified particularly with the age in which we are living, but most ’21st century skills’ were actually useful skills even in the 20th and 19th centuries, and perhaps since human civilization emerged - so what are the factors, if any, that might cause us to view certain teachable / learnable skills as somehow different from what went before?”

26. more Connell • “A requisite skill today (although one that has always been important) is the ability to differentiate between data, information, and knowledge - in an age in which the volume of data and the volume of information confronting us on a daily basis is growing exponentially, the further ability to filter and check what is useful, what is questionable, what is illogical, what is opinion, what is ‘fact’, and then to use that filtered data/information to build knowledge, is critical.”

27. from Knowledgable to Knowledge-able • “This new media environment can be enormously disruptive to our current teaching methods and philosophies. • As we increasingly move toward an environment of instant and infinite information, it becomes less important for students to know, memorize, or recall information, and more important for them to be able to find, sort, analyze, share, discuss, critique, and create information. • They need to move from being simply knowledgeable to being knowledge-able.” • http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/knowledgable-knowledge-able • Michael Wesch

28. What it is not. • technology-focused • Studies of workforce readiness show that employers rate written and oral communication skills very highly, and collaboration, work ethic, critical thinking, and leadership all rank higher than proficiency in information technology. (NCTE) • new tools coupled with old pedagogy(Smart boards) • online learning • “Alex is wondering how a text book and a couple of webpages qualify as an on-line course.” • “I think if you add a powerpoint slide pack .... THEN you have a course!”

29. HOW?

30. Universal Design for Learning • Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation • Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge • Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know • ISTE’s 2009 Book Selection is Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age, Universal Design for Learning,(2002) by David Rose and Anne Meyer, published by ASCD. • one size does NOT fit all

31. Understanding by Design • The emphasis of UbD is on "backward design", the practice of looking at the outcomes in order to design curriculum units, performance assessments, and classroom instruction. • big idea • essential question

32. Inquiry-Based Learning • “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” • Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's world. Facts change, and information is readily available -- what's needed is an understanding of how to get and make sense of the mass of data. • is question-driven • students arrive at understandings themselves • responsibility for learning rests with students • encourages self-direction • instructor models inquiry, promotes reflection

33. Janet Allen (inquiry-based learning) • Offer students the opportunity to examine information from many perspectives. • From this data, students sort through facts, opinions, and use them to form their own questions for reading, discussion, research, writing. • Who is the source? • What are the facts? • What are the opinions of this person? • This makes me wonder . . .

34. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) • The Alberta ICT program of studies emphasizes technology as a ‘way of doing things’ – the processes, tools and techniques that alter human activity. As a curriculum it specifies what students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 are expected to know, be able to do, and be like with respect to technology. This ICT curriculum provides a broad perspective on the nature of technology, how to use and apply a variety of technologies, and the impact on self and society. • As technology is best learned within the context of applications, activities, projects, and problems that replicate real-life situations, the ICT program of studies is structured as a ‘curriculum within a curriculum’, using the core subjects of English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies as a base.

35. ICT Illustrative Examples Database • http://education.alberta.ca/apps/ict/ie.asp • Searchable for Grades 1-12 and for subjects: English, Math, Science, Social Studies • Results: • Background and Student Task • Rubric • Related Tech Outcomes • Related Curricular Outcomes

36. ICT Literacy Maps • Partnership for 21st Century Skills • http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?Itemid=33&id=31&option=com_content&task=view • English, Math, Social, Science, Geography • 9-17 pages – ideas focused on various 21st century skills • 4th, 8th, 12th Grades

37. Technology • It's never about technology, it's always about sound instructional practice. • Need to feature new technologies, but technology cannot be the be all and end all. Technology can help us, but it cannot be the monster that displaces everything. It should be used to compliment 21st century literacies. • If you spend money on tools, focus not on HOW to use tools, but WHAT to do with them.

38. Tools and Ideas – where to start? • Blogs: • Stephen Downes: http://www.downes.ca/ • George Siemens: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/ • Barry Dahl: http://barrydahl.com/ • Karl Fisch: thefischbowl.blogspot.com • Who are you reading?

39. Tools continued • CMS/LMS – D2L, Moodle . . . • Facebook • Google • Open Office • Wordle • YouTube • Glogster • Photo Story 3 • Wikipedia • Audacity • Concept Maps • Podcasts – variety of tools • Cool Tools for Schools: http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ • What do you use?

40. Problems • Problems are our friends, they are opportunities to respond to the real issues with creative solutions, and mark the route to deeper change and satisfaction; effective organizations embrace problems rather than avoid them.” ~~ Michael Fullan, North American Leader in School Improvement

41. Arthur C. Clarke • "How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 -- and half the things he knows at 40 hadn't been discovered when he was 20?"~~ Arthur C. Clarke

42. closing words • "To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains." ~~ Mary Pettibone Poole • "What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers." ~~ Martina Horner • “The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." ~~ Albert Einstein

43. online references • Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8000050/Blooms-Digital-Taxonomy-v212 • Digital Literacy: http://infosearcher.typepad.com/infosearcher/resources/digitalliteracy.html • ICT (Alberta Ed): http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/ict.aspx • Inquiry-based Learning: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html • ISTE: http://www.iste.org/ • The Metiri Group: http://www.metiri.com/ • NCTE: http://www.ncte.org/ • Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php • Technology’s Influence on High School Completion: http://education.alberta.ca/media/823068/techandhighschoolsuccess.pdf • Understanding by Design: http://www.ubdexchange.org/ • Universal Design for Learning: http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html

44. textual references • A Practical Reader in Universal Design for Learning David Rose & Anne Meyer, Harvard Ed Press, Cambridge, MA, 2006 • Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design Carol Ann Tomlinson & Jay McTighe, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2006 • Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age, Universal Design for Learning David Rose and Anne Meyer, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2006 • The Universally Designed Classroom David Rose, Anne Meyer, Chuck Hitchcock, Harvard Ed Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005 • Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nded Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2005 • Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2007