In the video,"The iSchool Initiative", Travis Allen, a 17 year old senior from Georgia, gives his solution to America's education problem. In his high school, like many schools, they experience budget cuts, teachers being let go, and class sizes getting larger. His solution to these problems is allowing technology to completely take over the class room by using the iSchool. The iSchool will eliminate cost of books, paper, pencils, and copy machines. Apple iSchool would be built based off of the Apple iTouch and would cost around $150 per student. He states that iSchool will connect parents with teachers and what their students are learning. There are many apps he mentions that would teach students many subjects, including usage of scientific calculator app for math. The iSchool would be a more environmental friendly way of learning.
In the video "Zeitgeist Young Mind's Entry", Travis Allen said, he was 17 when he made the first youtube video,and at 18 years old he formed the iSchool Initiative, which is student lead and non profit organization that revolutionize education. Now that he is 20 years old and in college, in this video, he has a team of 25 people that travel the country to motivate school to try mobile learning. This revolution has been publicized around the country with many schools adopting this new technology. He states that we have to change the way we do things to prepare our youth for the digital age they were born in.
I think this is a great way to teach school, be more environmental friendly, and save money. The students would benefit from learning in a different and a more fun way. It would prepare students to be more technology savvy, considering that is the direction we are headed in. My questions to iSchool are, unless there is an app created for writing with a digital pen, how will students learn to write? What would happen if the power went out, if they were not in a solar powered school? And what would happen if the internet crashed? Is a solar powered school, for this technology, necessary and would it still be cost efficient to change the schools for this purpose? These are just a few concerns that I have, but if these were not problems, I think it is a great idea.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
I watched the video "Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir". Wow! That is an awesome way of utilizing the internet. I cannot fathom how we have got this far in technology. It seems like, not too long ago, we advanced from cassette tape players to CD's, VHS to DVD's, and now to blue rays. Technology has came a long way in a short time, it seems. To be able to connect peoples voices, that have never met, and put them together with a harmonization like that, is amazing! The people looked to be in many different locations including their home or office. This is awesome!
Teaching in the 21st Century
In the video,"Teaching in the 21st Century", by Kevin Roberts (John Strange version), Roberts is saying that we cannot merely teach the basics we need to teach students how to use technology. Yes the students have access to all kinds of knowledge on the internet with many resources, but they need to know how and how not to use them. Students need to understand what are the proper ways to use the internet. I think that the need to teacher will always be around.
Teacher are essential for encouraging and motivating students to continue learning and doing their best. Teachers also can give more non-bias opinions about topics on the internet. Just because the internet is out there and accessible, it doesn't meant that people are just going to use it or know how to use it. That is where teacher come in, they teach students to read and how to write to be able to use the internet. I think there will always be a need for teachers.
Flipped Classroom
In the videos,"Why I Flipped My Classroom",by Katie Gimbar, "Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ-Flipping the Classroom",by Dr. Lodge McCammon, and "Flipping the Classroom-4th Grade STEM, by Ms. Munafo, they flipped their classrooms. I like the idea of making videos, teaching lessons, for student to watch at home. The student can learn at their own pace and ask for help in the classroom if they are not understanding what is being taught. I like this because I ask my own children what their teacher said about a subject that they are struggling with. If their teacher flipped their classroom, I could watch the video with them to understand how the teacher wants them to do something and help them with it. It truly does seem to be able to connect the teacher to the students and even can involve the parents.
I think that I could use this in a classroom. It would be a great way to teach a lesson. I would be nervous to make my own videos, but I think it would get more routine and less nervous. I think making the videos myself for my students would be more personalized and sincere, than just using prerecorded ones. This is a great idea.
Hello Amanda. I liked a lot of the questions that you brought up in your post. Some of my favorites were in the "ischool initiative" portion. I didn't think about a power outage and the chaos that would follow. Another excellent question was about the digital pen. Typing is already an important skill to have this day in time, however good writing skills will always be important.
ReplyDeleteThe virtual choir video was awesome. When I watched it I asked myself "Why did we have to watch this?" Continuing with the theme of the blog post I saw this as a future classroom.
Your thoughts on "Teaching in the 21st Century" are correct. Teachers will always be needed. The function of the teacher might be altered, but we will be needed to meet tomorrow's demands for our students.
I'm glad you agree with me on flipping the classroom. The amount of time this would save would be massive. The saved time could be spent ensuring each student understood the subject material.
Unfortunately I did find some grammar errors with your post. It is very important to proofread your work before you submit it. Make sure you use an apostrophe to show possession. In the first sentence you wrote "Americas education problem" it should be "America's education problem" Keep in mind your number agreement rules as well you wrote "This revolution has been publicized around the country with many school adopting this new technology." The correct way is "This revolution has been publicized around the country with many schools adopting this new technology. In the "teaching for the 21st century" section you seemed to "double back" a lot. I think that if you would have expanded on specific aspects of the internet that must be taught your point would have been clearer.
Remember that computers are not as smart us. The red line will show you when you misspell a word, but it won't show you grammatical errors, or words that are spelled correctly that are incorrectly used. In the first section you wrote "It would prepare students to be more technology savoy, considering that is the direction we are headed in." I think you meant to use the savvy.
Did you know that you can put the source of your picture in the HTML code? In the img tag, right behind the letter img put alt="picture description goes here" TITLE="source:source goes here".
I know this was a long response, but don't get discouraged. We must remember why we want to be teachers, and continue to improve ourselves so that we can have a positive effect on the next generation.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteWow, Daniel gave you an excellent comment. I'm not quite sure if I have anything else to add to that, especially since I don't want to be repetitive. Actually, I do have something. You said, "My questions to iSchool are, unless there is an app created for writing with a digital pen, how will students learn to write?"
Well, Amanda, there actually are apps designed specifically for learning to write, such as Writing Letters. Magmentis designed a few apps for children learning to write letters and numbers, as well as the basics of spelling. There are apps for everything, if only you take the time to look. And these apps are very inexpensive. Only $2.99.