WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?
WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?
Up at the Learn 21 conference at The Ohio State University. Wow...kind of like drinking water through a fire hose...
If I had to have a list of "take aways" here is what I would offer.
First, the keynote speaker Rob Mancabelli was great. Bottom line for the kids of today...the question is not "what will they learn today" but "how will their networks help them learn today"? Kids are "networked" on the internet in ways that I have never imagined. The best way to help them is to somehow navigate their "networked" world of facebook, twitter and all of the other millions of social media networks that they are involved in.
Also, I think I am going to try twitter again. I think through hash tags I will be able to follow other educators and better be able to communicate with students. I am considering assigning a lab or research in which they would need to find the social media or technology to best help them find the answer and then tell me about it.
Another great lesson learned was from Infohio. It is a great free tax payer supported site. They have developed an absolutely wonderful online tool that helps students with the proper way to do research that is authentic and not plagiarized (called "research 4 success"). Also, it takes them through six modules from start to presentation on a research project. It would be perfect for a science fair or capstone class. I hope to introduce it into the science labs.
Finally, I learned about "google forms". Essentially, I can make quick, dirty, fast online quizes, set up a link and get the results through something called "flubaroo". Quick fast and easy. This might work great for pre lab quizes where we could never really get it to fly with blackboard because of glitches.
My goal this summer is to pick one or two of these and insert it into my teaching....I will keep you posted.
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