- student-centered classrooms;
- teacher as coach/facilitator;
- students engaged in producing knowledge; ownership of knowledge -- not just the information;
- real learning, real-world connections;
- enables differentiated instruction;
- immediate exploration and development of understanding result in deeper understanding;
- students have pride of ownership of laptops;
- students have their own workspace, studios;
- empowering for students
Do you want to share more information about one of these ideas based on the video clip you watched? Does one of these ideas strike you as most important for enhancing student learning? Other? What are your thoughts?
2 comments:
I feel that one of the most important varibles for students to learn something is their attitude towards learning it. In the video I watched, I saw students who were engaged in what they were doing, which made it much easier to hold them responsible for their learning. When students are not particularly interested in what we are learning they are not concerned with mastering the material in the way we hope they would ( I know that is no big surprise).
Using the laptops with the knowledge and flexibility they provide students will allow much more student involvement in the teaching process, not just the learning process.
One question this does raise in my mind is how to "train" the students about what is appropriate computer use. How do we make sure students aren't reading their email or instant messaging when they should be doing something else? Are there consequences?
I just lost my whole message having to go back and make a password.
In essence, I was agreeing with Jen that teaching the HOW TO is critical.
I have found recently that 8th graders who are working on a history project on the laptops have been highly engaged relative to some classroom situations. I have also reflected upon some limitations of the cart provision ( similar to the article we read) in that just getting them booked drove the direction of my project, and having students have to save work and send to their home email takes time -- and if they had their own lap tops some of these logistical issues would have been resolved. I could have used them at any point in the project.
The positive aspects still outweigh these concerns, I feel. Some of the less motivated students have become more invested in the project and I hope to maintain that interest even when we do not have the laptops. That is another weakness of the cart system.
I happen to think that it is ok to let them use You Tube for 3 minutes at the end of a session if they have worked for 30 minutes on task. I have seen motivational strategies like this work for students whose interest is otherwise inconsistent.
I wish I felt better trained to teach them -- but in the interim, I was thinking in the car that a default position could be to try to impart to them the knowledge that we as adults have had to grasp in order to make good use of the internet and that is not rocket science. It is not so different from teaching them how to recognize bias and limitations in text books, for instance.
I hope this will be accepted by the blog this time!
Lois.
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