Archives: 21st Century Skills

Now that I have your attention…

Lesley shared an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that really makes you think. We know that putting computers in classrooms doesn’t always make for a better learning experience, but what about taking them out? What are the advantages of “teaching naked”?

Jeff Young’s July 20th article entitled When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom tells of a dean who is so unimpressed with the poor use of technology in instruction that he removed all computers from classrooms to encourage faculty to think about how they spend that classroom time between the bells. If your next lesson is to be presented as a lecture with [dare I say it] a PowerPoint presentation, is why take up precious face-to-face class time to deliver it? Technology allows for the publication and pre-class consumption of that lecture using podcasts, video, and screencasting. Class time can them be used for more engaging learning experiences including group discussions, hands-on activities and other more collaborative learning opportunities.

I would never think to encourage the removal of technology from a classroom and that is not, really, the point. It is not about shunning the use of technology in teaching, it is about effective technology use in teaching. To quote an excellent related blog entry from academhack,

This is not a story about a luddite professor, but rather about a professor who has developed an effective way to use technology in education. In fact what Jose has done, is allowed technology to thoroughly change the way education happens, rather than just treat it as a supplemental, incremental change.

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has identified 25 websites deemed “Best for Teaching and Learning.”
AASL provides a description of each of these free, user-friendly web-based resources, teaching tips for using them in the classroom, and alignment of each to Standards for 21st Century Learners. The Top 25 include tools and resources in:

• Organizing and Managing
• Content Collaboration
• Curriculum Sharing
• Media Sharing
• Virtual Environments
• Social Networking and Communication

The Top 25 Web sites for Teaching and Learning were named so because they foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation and collaboration. The Web sites honored include: Animoto; Classroom 2.0; Curriki; Diigo; Edublogs; Facebook; Good Reads; Google Reader; Mindmeister; Ning; Our Story; Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Polleverywhere; Primary Access; RezED; Second Life; Simply Box; Skype; SOS for Information Literacy; Teacher Tube; Twitter; VoiceThread; Wikispaces; Wordle; and Zoho.

Happened upon the January 2 issue of Science magazine** today and thought there was a great deal of interesting content there, especially in light of our interest in the use of online resources, the development of game-based learning, and the improvement of teaching in the STEM disciplines.

The Table of Contents from this issue provides easy access to the articles. Of particular interest is an article by Merrilea J. Mayo about the use of video games in STEM education, something she’s been in discussion with various researchers in North Carolina to get developed. There is also an article that discusses the potential and reality of teachers’ use of digital assets from the National Science Digital Library.

If you are interested in media other than print, start with the video introduction to this special issue, or the podcast of an interview with Chris Dede on immersive interfaces for engagement and learning.

**note** You may need to access this while on campus or use NC LIVE to gain access to this subscription-based resource.

Check out the powerful new professional materials posted by the Center for Social Media at American University. The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education is available for download in .pdf format, and there is a video introduction to understanding fair use in today’s media-rich environment that will clarify misconceptions and reassure teachers about their rights (and their students’ rights) to employ all sorts of media in classroom teaching.

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/

Thanks to Gerry Solomon, Media Specialist to North Carolina, for bringing this to our attention.

A reminder forwarded by Tim Poe of MCNC. We can look into using CCEE or since MCNC will be participating, there may be an opportunity for you to join in through their facility. Contact Tim if you are interested. tpoe@mcnc.org

The Tenth Anniversary Megaconference will be held on Nov 6, 2008, all day, everywhere.
Because this is the 10th Megaconference, some very special things will happen then that have not occurred in previous Megaconferences. The Megaconference is the largest video conference in the world, with many hundreds of participants from all over the world.
http://www.megaconference.org. Keep checking there for updates.

There is no cost, and everyone in the world with H.323 capabilities is invited to participate.

Registration closes on Oct 15, so you have only a short time to join this event.
http://digitalunion.osu.edu/megaconference/registration.html

There are many interesting presentations and events on the program, as you can see here:
http://digitalunion.osu.edu/megaconference/program.html

Door prizes (video conferencing related) will be given away by random drawing during the Roll
Call events. So far we have 44 prizes donated by 8 vendors. The Roll Calls also give everyone a chance to say hello to the world, in whatever creative way they wish. See
http://digitalunion.osu.edu/megaconference/prizes.html

A number of people who participated in the first Megaconference 10 years ago will be giving brief “Then and Now” presentations about how video conferencing has evolved and how they predict it will evolve in the future.

Special awards will be presented to those people and institutions who have participated in all 10 Megaconferences.

The event is fully interactive, and you can ask questions of the presenters, etc.

Both High Definition and Standard Definition video conferencing is available. People using HD will see SD participants in enhanced resolution, provided by a Codian MCU.

The Megaconference will appear in Second Life, on a big screen in an outdoor amphitheater, provided by the Technology Enhanced Learning and Research group at Ohio State University
(TELRPort in Second Life).

The Megaconference is available to people using the new Vidyo technology.
http://www.vidyo.com

Still under discussion are availability to people using Elluminate, and a guest appearance by the President of Ohio State University.

The Internet2 Commons, OARnet, Ohio State University and many other organizations throughout the world provide support to make this event possible.

The video and its impact have been noted for years on the internet, and chances are you have already seen this (or a version of this) but just in case…

Carl Fisch’s blog post and presentation entitled Did_You_Know? has been attracting the attention of political and education leaders, teachers, parents and other citizens for some time. What better way to get a discussion started about the importance of global education and 21st Century Skills than to play this video as people enter the room? That’s what Bobby Hobgood did at his session at the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina conference and I have been meaning to read and write more about it. Check it out, what do you think?