January 29 2007
Thinking about ICT
New year reflections and all that - I think it's time to outline where I am with learning, thinking and ICT. So.... I am committed to exploring ways of making learning more relevant, meaningful and powerful. I think our path to inquiry learning is the way to go when it allows for student empowerment, personalised learning paths and open ended investigations. This has to be the best way of occupying the 1200 or so hours each student will spend with us this year.
Supporting this we need to provide a responsive support structure - scaffolding which provides signposts, checkpoints and support throughout the process. Obviously I have a particular interest in the way ICT can fulfil this role. I've used learning modules for years - this is a really simple way of providing direction and support for enquiry based learning. We have applications such as Inspiration which help with planning and thinking as well as the Wellesley Toolbox which contains thinking and planning tools.
The Wellesley search page has advice on choosing keywords plus links to various topical information searches. It is worth being aware of what is here. I don't think it's a good process to blindly rush to Google, yet that is what students often default to. We need to work on the thinking they do before they start looking for information as well as when they find it.....
We now have a very healthy ratio of computers to children across the school. Close to 1 computer for 2 children - Enough for our students to feel that when they need to use a computer, there will be one there. But also enough for us to be able to plan learning explorations which fully use the digital world on tap. There is a growing array of tools and resources out there on the web just waiting for motivated teachers. Have a look at the links below and, via this Blog, I will continue to highlight these during the year.
Powerful learning occurs when the learner is curious and motivated and ICT is a powerful enabler. Watch the video at the end of this section. I used this with my maths class last year - interesting big numbers - but obviously there's a lot more in it!
- Where we are with ICT 2007
- PC School Web Spider
- Class web
- Professional Development
- Digital demons
- Intranet
- What's happening out there?
- Time magazine
- The World is Flat
- Blogs, podcasts and wikis
- Social Bookmarking
- How does this affect learning?
Whats happening to newspapers....
Seven reasons for texting your teen/s
Have a library of books? Share it with a worldwide book group here. Interesting concept really.
Could this be the final chapter in the life of the book?? Interesting Times article featuring Google's Book search.
And an interesting viewpoint from an Independent School librarian.
Another article on the use of video games as a learning tool.
Online archive of millions of original articles, photos, maps etc. American at this stage but what about NZ archives
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