muddling about » learning

When did your world go flat?

Dustin Swanson — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 02:24:17 +0000

I was introduced to Friedman’s book “The World is Flat” by one of division’s consultants, Dean Shareski, about two years ago. At first, some of the ideas were hard to internalize because they really disrupted my reality. However, over time, I have become more familiar with his work through experiences in grad studies, reading blogs, and hearing Dean and others speak about the topic. However, to date, I have yet to actually read the book – but it is on the list.

Yesterday I had my own little “flattening” epiphany while participating in a online connectivism online conference. I was truly stunned by similarities around the globe in how schools are challenged by a data and connection rich reality. Over 1300 teachers, administrators, researchers, and others from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Japan, China, and so forth all talking about how connectivity is changing learning. It truly opened my eyes to how small our big world can become when we connect. So, when did your world go flat?

Educating the “New” students

Dustin Swanson — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:26:35 +0000

I learned a new word today – Millennials. In essence it describes people born since 1982 and who are described by the following indicators (as taken from Oblinger’s article in Educause):

gravitate to group activity
feel close to their parents
spend time on homework – not TV
fascinated by new technologies

I can’t say that my experience with teenagers would entirely support their descriptors. Regardless, the summary of the article is that these Millennials “prefer teamwork, experiential activities, structure, and the use of technology”. The article then extends how the characterisitics of these “new” students has impacted post secondary education. For example, online experiences, connectivity, competitiveness between universities, and a large increase in customer service.

In the end, I’m struck with the image that what “new” students, or Millennials, really want is to be meaningfully engaged in learning. Universities are being forced to become more learner centered in order to remain viable. But, what about in a secondary environment where competition for tuition is not largely and issue? I have seen some very exciting things happening in my school division that address some of the needs of “new” students. However, I think we can still go a long way to engaging our youth in more meaningful ways. Where can we start? One place is to to continue trying to understand these “new” students and try to adapt our schools to more closely meet their needs. What exactly does this look like? In fact, this is one of the reasons I have started a blog. To start developing, testing, and reflecting on this issue. If anyone out there has any good starting points – please let me know!

Engaging youth through homework?

Dustin Swanson — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:46:39 +0000

I recently found a back issue of Educational Leadership in my “to do” pile. It was titled “If They’d Only Do Their Work!” and examined how to help students complete their homework. Here were their findings on how to help students engage in their schoolwork:

Assign work that is worthy of effort. Make sure it is engaging and relevant – that kids have a reason to actually do the work other than avoiding a zero. Above all ask the questions – does is make sense? Is it necessary? Is it useful to what we are studying?
Make the work doable. Design homework to require little assistance as it may not be available to them at home. It also helps to get homework started at school before taking it home.
Find out what students need. Take time to help kids find out what they need to get the the homework done.
Create a space and time for homework. This refers to systematic ways of helping students comlpete work. For example, several teachers in our school work before school and at lunch provding “structured support” for students who are struggling with homework. This has been a raging success for us.
Make work public. Share your work with others. This is a very exciting thought given our abilities with online publishing…hmmm….web2.0…
Collaborate! Ned to work with others to find solutions.

At first I felt quite guilty reading the article and thinking back to my beginning teaching days. I recall assigning many math questions for rote learning and giving little perspective to why and how they were to be completed. My frustration when few students completed the work was clearly a product of my poor preparation.

I’m excited to start my new computer science 30 course next semester as students will be making 90% of their work public via the Net. One of my primary objectives for the course, outside of content, is to increase student engagement. I’m glad I found this article.