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/

How to turn current events into Real-World Projects

Teachers have been looking for ways to do more than talk about current events in class by finding ways to apply science and math to real-world situations. But “how do you plan for academically rigorous projects that are ‘ripped from the headlines’?”

Here are some suggestions from the article.

1. Think about creating a project where your students take the role of the problem solvers, designing a rescue within a certain amount of time. Use the rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean mine workers as an example. Have students think about what they would need to know about human biology and conditions to sustain life Include knowledge about geology and what experts they would need to create a plan to rescue the miners.
• The Learning Network has a lesson for students to create a multimedia project focusing on universal themes. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/chile-y-el-mundo-connecting-the-chilean-miners-story-with-universal-themes/
2. To bring real life events closer to students teachers are implementing projects where students discuss and see events thru other students who live at the effected site, such as the Gulf oil spill in Louisiana.
• Not only can student talk and share pictures from the site but students can discuss the “psychological, economic, and ecological dimensions of the crisis.”
• Does your school use Skype, webcams or pen pals to reach students around the world?
• Voices on the Gulf provides a blog forum for students to discuss ongoing issues related to the Gulf coast - http://www.voicesonthegulf.org/
• Project-Based Learning Camp provided by Edutopia provides a toolkit real world projects using various software programs: Delicious, Twitter, Wallwisher - http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-summer-camp
3. Look at real-life events where students live, such as water shortages, forest fires, water pollution and how polluted or dwindling resources affect their lives, the eco system and what that means for the future. Have students create multimedia presentations to present to the community or to run on local TV cable.
4. Students may also want to take part in service projects where they live or to provide help to victims in other countries.
• Here’s an outline of projects from schools in the Washington area where students researched problems and designed solutions using science, art and technology. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203425.html
5. Here’s a list of resources for teachers and students to use when developing service-learning or community service projects.
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse - http://www.servicelearning.org/disaster_response
• Do Something promotes youth action within their communities. Students can be involved by receiving mobile volunteer alerts, posting a video, adding comments to discussion forums, setting up a DoSomething club or volunteering. http://www.dosomething.org/whatsyourthing/Disaster+Response+And+Relief/Disaster+Preparedness

To read the entire article from Edutopia please go to:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/real-world-projects-news-events-suzie-boss

Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology

How is technology being used in the classroom for more effective teaching, differentiated instruction and to meet the needs of every student in the school? This article outlines how one elementary school uses technology. Each classroom in the school has an interactive whiteboard, eight computers and access to digital cameras, flip cameras, remote-response clickers and PDAs.

Here are some tips from the teachers on how they use this technology with their students.

1. Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media
• Teachers access instructional videos, audio clips, animations, instructional games and other available online resources.
2. Gather and use immediate feedback on students’ understanding
• Teachers use remote-response clickers with practice questions to see where to customize subsequent lessons to meet the needs of all students.
3. Give students options
• Using digital media students are allowed to show learning through a variety of media tools.
4. Automate basic-skills practice
• Teachers use Study Island and EducationCity to identify weaknesses in student skills and then assign lessons according to the students’ needs.
5. Practice independent work skills
• Teachers have procedures so students know how to use the technology and what to do if they have a question.
6. Create a weekly “must-do” and “may do” list
• Teachers provide a list of personalized “must-do” tasks that all students need to complete and a list of “may-do” tasks that students may choose from so all students always have something to do.
7. Pretest students’ knowledge before each unit
• Teachers assess prior knowledge and tailor lessons to each child’s needs.
8. Be flexible when plans go awry
• Teachers model good problem-solving behaviors and involve students in devising alternative approaches when technology isn’t available or not working.
9. Let students drive
• Teachers let students lead the lesson at the whiteboards giving them the opportunity to capitalize on their skills.
10. Share the work of creating differentiated lessons
• Teachers work together to plan units of study with activities to meet the needs of all students.

From this list of ideas think of ways to use technology to provide differentiated instruction, feedback and choices for all of your students? Also, how are you using technology to assist in planning with other teachers?

To read the entire Edutopia article:
http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons

Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

Lots of teachers use brainstorming as a way for students to share ideas and possible solutions to a problem. Always define the problem to make sure students clearly understand the problem. Make sure all ideas are written down.

There are four basic rules to brainstorming:

1. Focus on quantity – the greater number of ideas produced generates a greater chance of producing an effective solution.
2. Withhold criticism – focus on extending ideas and suspending judgment.
3. Welcome unusual ideas – help students to look at ideas from different perspectives and not make assumptions.
4. Combine and improve ideas – help students to combine ideas to form a single better idea.

Mind Mapping Steps:

1. Once all brainstormed ideas have been written down students will move to mind mapping. At this point students should begin identifying relationships between the ideas and key points by drawing lines, arrows, or using colors.
2. Students should begin finding contrasts/similarities, cause/effect relationships. These ideas can be written down beside the linking lines.
3. Students will use the map to arrange all the items into a logical order.

Here are some free tools for Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

1. Slick Plan – create sitemaps and flow charts
• http://www.slickplan.com/
2. Thinklinkr – fully collaborative outliner
• http://thinklinkr.com/
3. Webspiration coming this fall – map ideas and organize outlines – subscription
• http://www.webspiration.com/
4. Kidspiration and Inspiration software are used in our school system for all K-12 students.
5. Diagrammr – create and share diagrams by writing sentences
• http://www.diagrammr.com/
6. Imagination Cubed – draw mind maps online, can be used with whiteboards
• http://www.imaginationcubed.com/
7. Edistorm – real time mind mapping and sticky notes
• http://www.edistorm.com/
8. Education Eye – brainstorming with a search engine
• http://www.educationeye.org.uk/
9. Mind42 – collaborative mind mapping
• http://mind42.com/
10. Mindmeister – mind mapping that can be embedded into a site
• http://www.mindmeister.com/
11. Mindomo – detailed mind mapping site with web 2.0 features
• http://www.mindomo.com/

As teachers begin creating fall lesson plans check out these sites for ways to incorporate technology into brainstorming and mind mapping with your students. 

To read this article please go to Tech&Learning:
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/31158

Top 6 Technologies for the Next 5 Years

According to researchers from the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition, cloud computing and gaming are among the six technologies that will have a major positive impact on K-12 education in the next few years. The article outlines key technology areas for the next five years has been broken down into technologies that will have an impact in the near futures, technologies in the early stages of adoption, and technologies that are further out.

Cloud computing and collaborative environments will have a significant impact on education. In the next two to three years game-based learning and mobile technologies will foster collaboration and engage students more deeply in the learning process. According to the article in the next four to five years augmented reality and discovery-based learning will have an impact on education. Augmented reality is the convergence of various media tools and mobile applications to create “a portable tool for discovery-based learning, enhancing the information available to students when visiting historical locations, doing field work, interacting with real-world objects, and paging through books.”

But there were challenges identified as critical –

1. Inadequate digital media literacy training for teachers
2. Out of date learning materials and teaching practices
3. Lack of agreement on how education should evolve, despite widespread agreement that change is needed
4. A failure of education institutions to adapt to informal education, online education, and home-based learning
5. Lack of support or acknowledgement of the forms of learning that usually occur outside the classroom

Many schools have provided more computers, interactive boards, software applications and opportunities for students to enroll in online courses and within the regular school day teachers need to provide learning through real life experiences because students need to see the connections between the world, their lives and the school. Outside of the regular school day students are finding online resources, practicing skills using games and interacting with their peers through social networks. Students shouldn’t have to power down when they enter the school and not be able to communicate with the outside world.

To read the entire article written by David Nagel:
http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/04/13/6-technologies-that-will-shape-education.aspx

To read the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition:
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2010-horizon-k12-report

The Learning Power of Digital Storytelling

I recently downloaded a copy of Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner from Microsoft Education. Within this guide it states that there are many educational benefits for teachers to use digital storytelling learning projects with their students. Teachers who have used digital storytelling note that student grades improve and students are more likely to do homework and engage in classwork. Digital storytelling also helps students develop technology skills and can inspire them to be lifelong learners. When students are given the opportunity to create digital stories students are inspired to dig deeper into the subject and communicate what they learn in a creative way.

Here is a list of the educational benefits that prepare students for success in the 21st century:

1. Encourage research
2. Fosters critical thinking skills
3. Encourage students to write and to work at becoming better writers
4. Gives students a voice
5. Tells a personal narrative
6. Helps students retain knowledge longer
7. Enhances learning by encouraging students to communicate effectively
8. Helps students make a connection between the classroom and the outside world
9. Encourages creativity
10. Works well with portfolio assessments
11. Promotes digital literacy

Another benefit of digital storytelling is that all six 2007 National Education Technology Standards (NETS) are addressed:

1. Creativity and innovation
2. Communication and collaboration
3. Research and information fluency
4. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making
5. Digital citizenship
6. Technology operations and concepts

The guide shares examples of digital stories created by students, a suggested outline of how to create a great digital story and a list of resources for teachers. The guide also helps teachers decide which tools are best suited for their students by outlining how Powerpoint, PhotoStory and Movie Makes could be used to help students research, create and share digital stories.

To download a copy of Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner from Microsoft Education please click on the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/digital_storytelling.aspx

Image from the Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner - Microsoft Education page 3. 

Building an Online Writing Toolkit

Beth Goodwin, a special ed consulatant and Cheryl Oakes did a presentation in January 2010, about how to blend the resources of Web 2.0 with the needs of their students. They took their idea from Karen Janowski and Joyce Valenza who created the UDL Tech Toolkit. The Universal Design for Learning states that to promote learning for all students, teachers need to use these three methods:

1. Representation
2. Engagement
3. Expression

Beth and Cheryl took ideas from UDL and created Writingtools4all to look at how the read-write web resources could help students become more independent writers. Teachers can create specific toolkits for use with their students and students can create toolkits to meet specific needs they have in writing. Since the resources Beth and Cheryl use for the toolkit are free, students would be able to use the toolkit at home or school.

Students can certainly build their own toolkits allowing them to differentiate for their needs or collaborate with other students while working on projects. By having access to these free tools at home students will extend their learning beyond the regular school day.

Here is a list of free tools that teachers and students can use to create toolkits:

1. Photopeach- use images in a presentation, project or concept.
2. Wordle – can capture vocabulary in a book, for pre-teaching and comprehension.
3. What kind of learner are you? – students can find their learning style.
4. Find a book at your Lexile – students check their Lexile reading level choices.
5. Mad Libs – students can create their own Mad Libs.
6. Library of Congress – great source of information for students and teachers.
7. Ask.com – good place to begin a research project.
8. Citation Machine – students learn to cite their sources.
9. Graphic Organizers – place to find graphic organizers.
10. Visual Thesaurus – place to look up words and see the word in a visual thinking map.
11. Awesome adjectives and Sensory words – a guide to grammar, punctuation and style.
12. Spell Checker – Spell Checker also helps students check grammar and use a thesaurus.
13. Create your own checklist – create a personalized editing checklist.
14. Listen to your work – the site will read text to the student.

What resources can you add to help students build an Online Writing Toolkit?
Here are a few resources that students at WSFCS have access to:

1. NetTrekker – safe search engine that has read aloud and a section on writing.
2. Curriculum Pathways – the Writing Reviser will analyze a student’s writing and provides information on how to construct a paper.

To read the entire article:
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/27632

Getting Girls Engaged in Digital-Game Design

Do middle school students spend too much time playing digital games?  If so, is there any value in what they are doing within those games?  There is a push to have all students, especially girls, to be more interested in STEM fields of study (science, technoloyg, engineering and math).  During the middle school years it's important to expose students to STEM careers as these students begin thinking about future careers and the classes they will need to take in high school. 

Girls and boys approach computers from different perspectives - boys enjoy being competitive and girls typically enjoy interacting with the characters and the environment of the game.  To meet this need "requires a much more sophisticated technology that has only been possible in recent years to create those kinds of games", according to Cornelia Brunner, the deputy director of the Center for Children and Technology at the Newton, Mass.-based Education Development Center.

Karen Peterson, the executive director of the Lynwood, Wash.-based Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, states, “The gaming industry understands that they need to attract girls and women. Games and the virtual world can be a really great hook for getting girls excited about STEM careers.”

How can teachers differentiate their instruction to better meet the diverse interests of boys and girls?

Strategies for Girls from Education.com
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/best-teaching-strategies-girls/

1. Collaborative groups encourage girls to be leaders during instructional time.
2. Provide a more face-to-face nurturing environment rather than a shoulder-to-shoulder environment found in a coed or boys' room.
3. Consider comfortable seating - bean bag chairs or sofas.
4. Challenge girls as much as the boys.
5. Include the context surrounding the curriculum - who, what, why, when, where.
6. Tie the lesson to real world situations.
7. Encourage girls to ask questions in class.
8. Provide opportunities for role-playing within the curriclum.
9. Create a learning environment of openness and and understanding to encourage girls to take risks and be more willing to answer questions.

Strategies for Boys from Education.com
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/best-teaching-strategies-boys/

1. Move around the room - front to back and side to side.
2. Teach with a strong, loud, tone of voice.
3. Frequently interrupt the lesson to directly ask questions of students.
4. Provide clear instructions.
5. Find non-fiction literature with strong main characters.
6. Provide opportunitites to move and be flexible within the classroom.
7. Use games or models to engage them in a serious conference.
8. Use team competitions in academics.
9. Remember that feeling-based questions are uncomfortable for boys.

To read the entire article please go to Digital Directions and read Getting Girls Engaged in Digital-Game Design. 
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/10/21/01girlgames.h03.html

To learn more about companies and schools who are making games for girls check out:
Universe Quest from the Hands On University Project
http://www.universequest.com/

Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab
http://gel.msu.edu/

Her Interactive
http://herinteractive.com/

Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning

How can teachers in an online environment ensure successful communication? There are four skills that every online teacher must have.

1. An effective online teacher must be able to facilitate interaction and act as a motivator, guide, mentor and listener to the students.
2. An effective online teacher needs to be responsive to student and parent questions by maintaining open communication.
3. An effective online teacher must know web-based technologies that provide collaborative learning for the students.
4. An effective online teacher must be knowledgeable in synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

In addition to the above skills iNACOL also looked at what communication practices and policies help to make a successful online school. The report focused on three types of communication:

1. Communication between teachers and students.
2. Communication between teachers and parents.
3. Communication between students.

It is best for online teachers to have multiple ways to share information with parents and students since not all parents have access to technology. The iNACOL article found that:

1. Online teachers need to be multifaceted, facilitating instruction through synchronous and asynchronous technology. Teachers need to also provide tutoring to students, lead discussions, and evaluate student activities.
2. Online teachers need to utilize online communication, email and phone calls as needed.

To read the entire article from iNACOL please go to http://www.inacol.org/forum
Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning
Posted October 6, 2009, by Allison Powell at iNACOL

Creating Cities of the Future

Remember the movie WALL-E? Everyone was evacuated from Earth to live on a fully automated luxury spaceship to spend five years on a cruise in space while the earth was cleaned up by an army of robots - WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth Class). But in the movie the earth is still covered in trash seven hundred years later. Could this really happen? Can man build a spaceship that could sustain life in outer space for seven hundred years?

Children watch cartoons and movies with elaborate futuristic worlds all the time. What if you asked students to create a new city for the future? Where would students choose to build a city? What would the city be like? How would the city be built? Would students create a city where everything could be easily controlled by computers? What would students include in their cities – housing, food, schools, entertainment, and jobs? Lots of questions.

Do you think only cartoons and movies have futuristic worlds? Let’s look at The Seasteading Institute: http://www.seasteading.org/
In February the Seasteading Institute announced a contest for architects, engineers, students and hobbyists to design a seastead, a permanent, stationary structure that is specifically designed for long-term living in a marine environment. Participants were given a patented 3-D model of a seasteading platform to create an architectural design. The winners were announced May 18, 2009.

Check out these winning designs:
http://seasteading.org/design-contest-winners#overall

How can teachers bring real-world projects like this to their students? What software could teachers use to help students create future cities and worlds? How about Google SketchUp?

http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsu.html
Students can create 3D models and share them with their friends. There are Training Videos, a warehouse of models that people have created to give students ideas, and a section that covers a list of features. Teachers can access the K-12 SketchUp for Educators section to learn about the free version and the Pro version.
http://sketchup.google.com/industries/education.html

Teachers and students can begin with the self-paced tutorials to learn the concepts of modeling with SketchUp from Google. Check out this Introduction to SketchUp:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=901231215767ef7a545172f70efed474&prevstart=0
Other tutorials are located here:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=36e1fa0d054a15eecc725c514c21d975&prevstart=0

To help you get started check out the 3D Vinci site for K-12 ideas using SketchUp.
http://3dvinci.net/?gclid=CM2gi7qE0JoCFQWfnAodDiIL3Q

Google image found at: http://sketchup.google.com/

So You Want to Teach Online

What steps should you take to change face-2-face
course content to online content?

First you will need to know what course management system (CMS) your school system is using. Is your school system using Moodle, Blackboard or WebCT? Take time to learn the features of the CMS, the interactive components, the gradebook and decide what features would work best for your course content. If there are features missing that you would like to use, then look for free Web 2.0 tools such as Flickr, Google Blogger, Webpaint, VoiceThread or other free online tools.

The modules of the CMS form the navigational structure of the course so make sure to know the layout of the CMS your school system will be using. Now begin to organize your course content into the modules. To make this easy use a concept mapping tool such as Inspiration, Microsoft Word or just map out the course with pencil and paper. Make sure each module of the online course focuses on the goals and objectives of the curriculum. There are three areas the course should be organized around – course materials, discussions and assignments/activities. Make sure to include completion times for each course task to help students plan time to complete all work.

Let’s look at each area:
Course Materials. Course materials can be web sites, video clips, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts, online articles or lecture notes. Remember to find ways to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of all students.

Discussions. A discussion board is one of the primary tools for connecting with the students to see how well they understand key concepts of the course. Make sure discussion questions require students to engage in higher-order thinking. Also, think of ways to use the discussion board to motivate the class and remember that teachable moments will occur in the discussion board. Use a detailed scoring rubric for the discussion board so students know the expectations required for postings.

Assignments/Activities. Think about listing all assignments, due dates and scoring rubrics in a downloadable document to help students stay organized and to make sure they understand expectations. Make sure students know the file formats accepted for posting assignments. Instructors should not have to spend a lot of time trying to open student assignments from various software applications. Think about using a Frequently Asked Questions forum where students can ask questions about the course and assignments.

Once the content modules are created and organized, decide how many modules to make available to students at a time. Post modules weekly to prevent students from jumping ahead while allowing students time to post missed assignments from the past weeks. It’s also helpful to make sure students have a complete understanding of the past modules before working on future modules.

Whether posting complete courses or supplemental materials online for a face-2-face course, instructors will need to know the technology skills of the students. Instructors can prepare a student information sheet listing the necessary technology skills for the students. Make sure to outline all course expectations for the students letting them know that online courses usually need more time than face-2-face courses. Even though online courses are accessible 24 hours a day, students need to know they should expect responses to assignments and other postings within a time period set by the instructor.

If your school system offers online courses and/or online supplemental materials it would be helpful for students to complete an orientation to familiarize them with the online course software and the navigational structure of online courses. As students work through the online materials always look for ways to improve the course, making note of what worked well and what changes are needed. At the end of the online course provide students with a course evaluation to help decide if the online course met the objectives for the course.

Once an instructor decides to remake a face-2-face course to an online course there are many helpful resources. Here are just a few resources.

• The Technology Source: Creating Online Courses http://technologysource.org/article/creating_online_courses/
• Moodle Community: http://moodle.org/
• E-Learn Magazine: The Reluntant Professor http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=case_studies&article=41-1
• Blackboard Tips: 10 Easy Steps to Creating Your Online Course http://med.uth.tmc.edu/administration/edu_programs/ep/blackboard/text/10ezSteps.pdf
• Leading & Learning with Technology: Turning Face-to-Face Content inot Meaningful Online Courses http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200902/
  

Seven Skills Students Desperately Need

Recently eSchoolNews had an article by Tony Wagner about the seven skills that students desperately need to acquire before graduating high school. Several groups have been offering advice as to how federal policy makers and state and local education leaders can transform education and help students obtain 21st century skills through technology.

One misconception is the fact that a lot of people think the skills that students need for the workforce and the skills needed to be good citizens are two separate things, but they’re not. Students who become successful in the global workforce will also be successful people at life. Employers want people who can ask good questions and people who can engage others in thoughtful conversations.

Employers know that technology changes so fast that they are not concerned if their employees know the latest version of software when hired, they want employees who know how to think. Teaching to the test is not helping the future workforce achieve success in the job market. The future workforce needs to be able to see a problem and come up with a way to fix the problem and not wait for the employer to tell them how to fix a problem. If students are not taught how to think beyond multiple choice answers and to find solutions to problems then the future employees for America will not be able to compete with the global market.

Many teachers who feel pressured to cover a lot of material to teach to the tests are not allowing students the time needed to search and work through problems, finding the answers on their own. The pressure is to cover “x” amount of material in so many days and prepare the students to take a standardized test. Many students today who graduate high school don’t have the skills to make it in college or the workforce.

The article states that education needs to move from content standards to performance standards and that education stakeholders need to think of ways to start assessing 21st-century skills. I think teachers need to teach the content and allow students to show what they have learned through performance standards. We need to design assessments that measure the performance and 21st century skills of the students. Many students who are bright are being turned off from AP classes and other accelerated programs because of all the testing. Students should be encouraged to study subjects they love but many times the subjects they love require too much testing which turns them away from the more challenging courses.

Today’s students are multi-taskers, who like visually stimulating websites, who want to be in constant contact with their friends who also use Web 2.0 tools and they enjoy working in collaboration with their peers. What we as educators need to do is find a way to motivate them to learn using Web 2.0 tools and the technology already provided by the school or through the technology the students use every day. Just going to the computer lab to type up a paper is not using technology. We need to teach our content while reaching out to our students in a more creative, productive way using the technology the students are using.

Here are the seven survival skills that students need by the time they graduate from high school:
1. Problem-solving and critical thinking
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship
5. Effective written and oral communication
6. Accessing and analyzing information
7. Curiosity and imagination

I agree with Tom Wagner’s quote from the article –
“We are making [Adequate Yearly Progress] at the expense of failing our kids at life. Something has to change.”

Website to access the complete article –
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=56127

What is the River City Project?

River City is an interactive computer simulation for middle grades science students to assist them in learning scientific inquiry and 21st century skills. River City looks like a videogame but the content for the game was developed from the National Science Education Standards and the National Educational Technology Standards. River City is funded by the National Science Foundation.
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Basically River City is a MUVE (Multi-User Virtual Environment) that enables many students to access the virtual worlds simultaneously, communicate with other students through instant messaging and to interact with digital artifacts.

This is a view of the four areas of the interface for the students taken from the River City website:

Students travel back in time to address 19th century problems that are based on historical, sociological and geographical conditions in a town called River City. The city’s citizens are falling ill and the students must work together to help the town understand why the citizens are becoming ill. Students work in small research teams to look for causes of the illnesses, form and test hypotheses, develop controlled experiments to test their hypotheses, and then make recommendations based on the data they collect. This is all done in an online environment.

The River City Project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation which provides access to the simulation, provides the curricular materials, professional development and assistance free of charge to the schools. The River City Project mainly works with middle grades science teachers but they have also worked with social studies, math and language arts teachers.

River City is a 17-hour curriculum that students will begin by taking a pretest and a research conference at the end of the unit. The curriculum is designed to replace existing science lessons. The curriculum is interdisciplinary covering ecology, health, biology, chemistry, earth science and history. Students will explore three diseases and learn how the diseases are spread and how the human interactions will the diseases affect the people and city. Students are given situations to identify problems, investigate the problem, and determine the multiple underlying causes for the diseases. Screen shot from River City.

How do teachers determine if River City is right for their students? Check out the section on “Is River City Right for You?”

Also several videos have been created to help teachers better understand River City. The videos may be viewed in Quicktime or Realplayer. Here is the link to the River City videos: http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/view/rc_videos.html

Images for this blog were found at:
http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/index.html
http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/view/rc_views_interface.htm
http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/join/right_for_you.htm