Next Generation Learning

Next Generation Learning is the concept of using technology to develop learning models and personalized education pathways. Currently in the United States nearly 30 percent of students don’t complete high school and only 42 percent of students graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree. How will we address the learning styles and needs of the next generation of students?


The publication Next Generation Learning was produced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The foundation has invested $5 billion in programs and partnerships in the United States to address” the challenges faced by our education system and lack of qualified workers that is impacting our economy. The foundation supports the Common Core State Standards Initiative that has produced a set of standards for states to follow for language arts and math skills that students need to learn to be successful in college. Based on these core standards the foundation is investing “in the development of instructional materials that align with those standards” and “assessment tools that provide real-time feedback to students and teachers.”

The goal of developing innovative learning models and personalized pathways is to provide “access to high-quality, relevant and engaging content in a variety of forms” to all students. The elements of the next generation learning model include:

• Effective assessment tools that align with college preparation standards and clear postsecondary learning objectives
• Engaging digital content
• Algorithms and match student needs with content and delivery methods
• Technology-enable professional development tools
• Learning management platforms that integrate and deliver these components

Technology-based solutions can be a cost-effective way to provide effective learning solutions for schools across the nation in this time of tight school budgets.

Next Generation Learning Challenges is a nonprofit partnership that aims to “improve college readiness and college completion through the use of technology and digital media.” The main objectives are:

• To encourage more investment in technology-enabled solutions that improve the quality of learning and student outcomes for low-income students
• To support a portfolio of solutions that demonstrate evidence of success
• To encourage large institutions to partner with innovators to support adoption of their solutions
• To establish a network of collective learning among innovators and adopters

The Next Generation Learning Challenges is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College, iNACOL the International Association for K-12 Online Learning the Council for Chief State School Officers, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with other funders. It is the belief of these organizations that providing the intelligent use of technology in combination with new emerging evidence-based models of teaching and learning will improve college readiness and college graduation rates in the United States providing a workforce of qualified employees.


To read this publication please go to:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/postsecondaryeducation/Documents/nextgenlearning.pdf

To learn more about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation please go to:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Technology Fun in December



Image from Crayola.com

 Many times some of the most fun that students can have is with colored pencils, crayons, markers, paper and glue. I enjoy reading the monthly Crayola newsletter to see the list of projects and craft ideas.  This month as I read thru the list I started thinking of how many of these projects students and teachers could create with available technology. 

The first one that caught my eye was taking old CDs and turning them into ornaments. Instead of students painting over the CDs, create a double circle template in Word or a double circle template in Publisher. Let students use the drawing tools, adding shapes and colors to each circle on the page, print and glue to both sides of the CD.  Students and teachers can create all kinds of cards and projects with Publisher, uploading pictures and adding their own creative touch.

There is lots of coloring pages, crafts and educational ideas at Crayola. Teachers should check out the resources provided by Crayola:  lesson plans, art tips and techniques, Crayola Dream Makers, success guides, parents & teachers as partners, certificate maker and color science.  Dream Makers is a guide that provides fun and creativity to standards-based learning lessons for Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science. Currently Dream Makers is not available for North Carolina Standards but the free sample guides will show a subject area lesson complete with objectives, background information, resources, assessment and suggestions to extend the lesson.

Crayola continues to build lesson plans for all ages. If you haven’t looked at the lesson plans in a while here’s a list of available lesson plans by grade levels.

• Grades K-3      695 lessons
• Grades 4-6       929 lessons
• Grades 7-12     452 lessons
• Special Needs students - 355 lessons

To check out all resources for educators please go to:
http://www.crayola.com/educators/index.cfm?n_id=5

Have you heard about TweenTribune?

TweenTribune is a news site for tweens (ages 8-14) that posts daily news stories from a tween’s perspective. The stories are chosen by tweens who work with professional journalists. The tweens can also submit links to stories they would like to share and well as comment on any posted story. The site makes it easy for tweens to find current news stories, some off-beat stories and promotes the habit of reading and being well-informed.

Tweens are not required to submit any personal information and a login is not required for tweens to submit stories or post comments to stories. All comments are moderated and TweenTribune complies with the COPPA - the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Here’s a list of the topics tweens can choose from:

So how does this work?
Teachers create an account and register their classroom, then, the students sign up. Once the class begins using TweenTribune the site automatically generates the following pages:

• The stories your class has commented upon
• Individual comments by each student, on his or her own page
• All comments by your students, in one report that can be sorted by students’ names, comments, or dates
• Teachers can moderate, edit, or delete student comments before they’re published

Teachers can also print individual reports showing the comments posted to the news stories. Teachers can also comment on the student’s writing, analysis, or critical thinking. TweenTribune also has a Teacher’s Lounge where teachers can share ideas and lesson plans with other teachers around the world. There’s also a Top Ten Lesson Plans section for teachers.

As summer approaches I encourage teachers to check out this site, especially the Top Ten Lesson Plans to find ways to allow students to interact online with the news, and have forum-like discussions with other tweens from around the world. One teacher commented that she had found classes from Australia, Japan, Canada and Taiwan.

To check out the site:
http://tweentribune.com/frontpage

Do you write more or type more?

Here's an interesting article I read today.  Since students spend more time using computers, cell phones and texting how often do students actually write with pencil and paper except for school?  Becuase of the use of technology in school how much time should teachers spend teaching cursive writing?

I remember spending a portion of every school day doing practice cursive writing, flowing letters neatly scripted to each line of the paper.  Many of us took pride in our cursive skills as if flowing cursive writing was a right of passage from little kid work to big kid work in school.  But todays' students are spending less time writing and more time texting.

By December 2008 110 billion text messages had been sent by cell phones.  I wonder how many letters were written on paper, poems composed in a notebook and thoughts from the heart were written in a diary in 2008?  Where does writing fit into the curriculum for today's students?  In some school districts teachers embed handwriting into writing for other subjects, according to Kathleen Reddy-Butkovich, curriculum coordinator for English language art in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.  Instead of taking time to do practice writing students write to complete subject assignments.

What do you think?  How often do you write with pencil and paper compared to using word processing or texting?  How important is penmanship in today's schools and in society?  Certainly we all need to be able to sign our names but how many of us sign our name in print?  How many of us sign our names in cursive and does it really matter?

Here's another thought - if you send thank you notes to people who give you presents at Christmas will you send a hand-written note or will you send them a text or email?  Surely I wasn't the only child who hand wrote thank you notes to all my relatives who gave me presents for Christmas and my birthday? 

How should writing be taught in schools today and should cursive writing still be taught? 

To read the entire article please go to:
Schools Adjust How Writing is Taught in Text Age
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091216/NEWS05/912160379/1001/NEWS/Schools-adjust-how-writing-is-taught-in-text-age&template=fullarticle

Image taken from the article (SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press)

The Morning Announcements

Do you remember morning announcements when you were in school? Not very exciting but times have changed with audio and video communication technologies. Many schools have learning stations, interactive boards, on-demand resources and Kiosk viewers in the halls. With all of this technology what is the best way to do the morning announcements?

Let’s look at three examples –

Formal Model
Some schools use a journalistic organizational approach with news meetings where the group discusses past, present and future stories for the morning announcements. The teachers who work with these students usually have a strong journalistic background. These high school students are producers, directors, reporters and anchors who were trained in middle schools. Many of these schools have production studios with students learning skills that can transfer to television and journalism jobs.

Informal Model
Each student has a job and usually rotates through the jobs to learn each position. Rather than a journalistic model these students produce a more expressive, democratic model. Students collect news from various sources including the Internet and present a more personal style to the morning news. These schools usually have a designated place to broadcast each morning using the computer, some type of camera and they show videos clips from earlier events. Somewhat scripted but certainly open to creativity and flexibility.

Morning Announcements as “Local News”
At some schools morning announcements are a unique blend of local news by students for students keeping them informed. It’s a presentation that meets the needs for that day. Throughout the school year many students will be involved with the morning news learning how to speak to the camera and present information to the school. These segments can be recorded that morning and presented as a short clip along with the principal's morning announcements for that day. Short, impromptu segments videoed by the teacher or other students for the next day's announcements.

Whatever style your school chooses it’s important for teachers to spend time teaching students how to create and present the morning news building their skills, confidence and understanding of how to use technology to create a presentation that best serves the school community. This is one way that schools and teachers can incorporate technology into the morning news and create opportunities for students to be involved in the learning process of creating and producing short informational presentations.

Article title: Morning Announcements – Reflections on a Timeless K-12 Ritual written by Michael Schoonmaker:
http://www.school-video-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=490:morning-announcements-reflections-on-a-timeless-k-12-ritual&catid=24:concepts&Itemid=39

From School Video News: http://www.school-video-news.com/ the For Teachers section.