10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners in Being Self-Directed

10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners in Being Self-Directed

This blog post has a GREAT ideas about innovative ways to have kids demonstrate knowledge and responsibility for their learning.  I particularly like:

• YouTube  & iTunes Learning
• Authentic Learning Portfolios
• Empowering Students to Assess and Learn Themselves

I would like to find and use more YouTube and iTunes resources for sharing knowledge with students.  I find there doesn't always seem to be enough time in the day to dedicate to finding ALL the relevant information to each of my classes--why is this? Am I simply disorganized? Is it my three very different classes to prep for?  Do I not carry enough over from year to year to be able to use more of the same resources with similar lessons?  Somehow I need to get better at this. I think one contributing factor might be that in the Visual Arts we are not working with a text book; instead we are working on a constantly changing landscape of planning that is dictated by what we believe students should learn and where the interests of the students rest.

I already have students create Learning Portfolios, and want to see more examples, as well as have students look at what other students are sharing in visual art portfolios, hopefully moving towards mutual commenting on each others' work.

The thought of students assessing themselves is something I work at and try to help them do by providing rubrics. Ideally they will look at them at the start of a project/lesson, aim to do their best at all criteria, and self-assess at the end.  I'd like to learn about other ways to do this.

21st Century Skills Map: The Arts

21st Century Skills Map: The Arts

I like this:
"The examples in this Skills Map illustrate how the arts promote work habits
that cultivate curiosity, imagination, creativity, and evaluation skills. Students who possess these skills are better able to tolerate ambiguity, explore new realms of possibility, express their own thoughts and feelings and understand the perspectives of others. Furthermore, these examples suggest ways that study of the arts can help produce globally aware, collaborative, and responsible citizens."

This document, the 21st Century Skills Map for the arts, gives examples of ways in which students can gain skills specifically from methods used in the visual and performing arts, such as:
EXAMPLE: Students view and critique multiple 
works of art, created by themselves and their 
peers, which deal with a specified artistic 
problem. Students use mutually agreed upon 
criteria (elements and principles of art and design, 
subject matter, technique, style, etc.) to describe, 
analyze, interpret, and make informed judgments 
about the art works. using electronic journals, 
students reflect on the points in their critical 
thinking that led to their solution to the problem. 
Students then compare and contrast how the 
other students addressed the same problem, and 
use their electronic journals to form a foundation 
for their participation in a group discussion 
convened through the use of a class blog or wiki.
(taken directly from the document.)

Interesting break down of Information, Media, & Technology Literacy into:
1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
2. Communication
3. Collaboration
4. Creativity
5. Innovation
6. Information Literacy
7. Media Literacy
8. Information, Communication, & Technology Literacy
9. Flexibility and Adaptability
10. Initiative and Self-Direction
11. Social and Cross-cultural Skills
12. Productivity and Accountability
13. Leadership and Responsibility
14. Interdisciplinary Themes

Reading this type of document is always a good reminder of focus points for lessons with students. While many of these points/standards/examples are covered to some extent in my curriculum, not all are consciously covered in every class, as I don't write my curriculum around these.  I think it good to find some sort of check list that I agree with (and this all sounds good) and work to see what I do now in comparison to gaps.  I could then look at those gaps and plan accordingly for the next semester or year.

TED Talk: Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty

"We find beauty in something done well."

Denis Dutton illustrates what he thinks is the history of beauty, going as far back as the hand ax used 100,000 years ago by the first humans.  What was previously thought of as hand axes has been found is such high numbers in Europe and Asia, and in such excellent, unused condition for its delicate blade, that it is thought to have been created as evidence of skill, as something to be admired and sought after as a skill to be had by men, so that women would be attracted to them, much as the pea hen is attracted to the plumage of the peacock.

I can't think of specifically how I would use this in my classroom, outside of mentioning it should the discussion of beauty come up.  Interesting to think of an object such as a hand ax being something that was used to attract women.

TED Talk: Ursus Wehrli: Tidying up art

This is a pretty funny TED Talk.  I had never heard of Wehrli, but I think students would be amused, especially as there are works that he has "tidied" that I use with students in the classroom.

Given that I put a lot of emphasis on students considering composition and the principles of design, I would need to be sure they knew that this concept is rather tongue in cheek and an innovative way of thinking about artworks, but not always mindful of their compositional elements in the outcome.

TED Talk: Paola Antonelli: Treat design as art

Intrigued by the title, as I begin each Art Fundamentals class talking about how the littlest things that we use are designed with both their use and the user in mind.

I love Antonelli's definition of designers as "mavericks;"  I think students would really love that.

This TED Talk seemed to be Antonelli's review and explanation of were Design ideas were at in 2007, when the talk was given.  Despite the TT being six+ years old, I suspect there are overlaps with where innovative design is at today.  There is a growing emphasis on the environmental impact of design and of the objects we use in our everyday lives.  There is also a focus on creating products that will make the things that we need to function be clever and efficient.