Sunday, September 8, 2013

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.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Holly,

    I too would like to use more iTunes and YouTube resources in my classes. There are so many amazing podcasts and videos that I think students would find very beneficial. For me it is a matter of trying to find the time to search for the videos/podcasts and come up with ways to integrate them into the classroom. I think I might set a goal for myself to find one podcast/video per unit to use in some capacity in the classroom - it could be a homework assignment or something we try using in class. I just need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed by the amount of information out there!

    -Jackie

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  2. Good stuff!

    One thing you could think about is embedding You Tube videos right on to your site so that students can watch them as homework and then come in prepared for class.

    As for organizing resources, this is a definite battle! There is so much stuff out there. However as you come across things, bookmarking them in Diigo will help you keep track over time. When you are ready to introduce a new topic, you can just look through your tags.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good stuff!

    One thing you could think about is embedding You Tube videos right on to your site so that students can watch them as homework and then come in prepared for class.

    As for organizing resources, this is a definite battle! There is so much stuff out there. However as you come across things, bookmarking them in Diigo will help you keep track over time. When you are ready to introduce a new topic, you can just look through your tags.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm right there with you Holly! It can't be that we are just disorganized. I like Alice's idea of embedding videos on our sites, but it is finding the time to find all the great resources that is causing my biggest struggle right now. I'll share if I find any great answers to the dilemma...going to work on that a bit at tomorrow's class.

    ReplyDelete