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bookmark_borderUsing Social Networking to Build 21st Century Skills – Finding Common Ground – Education Week

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Using Social Networking to Build 21st Century Skills – Finding Common Ground – Education Week

By Peter  DeWitt on November 17, 2011

  • 21st century skills are critical thinking, communication, collaboration and  creativity
  • For those of us who have been educators for a long time we have always taught  our students how to think critically, communicate with others, collaborate on  projects and be creative.
  • Today’s students are surrounded by many more distractions than we ever thought  were imaginable. Those new tools that educators often see as distractions need  to be used to positively engage the social network generation.
  • With an increase in handheld devices, does the social network generation have  the same communications skills that we do? Or do they just communicate  differently?
  • Whether we like it or not that is how students communicate with each other  these days. They actually thrive on connecting with their peers in numerous  ways.
  • The truth is, I have become a huge fan of Twitter and I’m inspired by some of  the tools that my students have in our schools.
  • We built an instant community of learners and ended up creating our very own  professional development session that lasted about an hour.
  • I had the opportunity to follow up with some educators in one-to-one  conversations. They sent me blogs that I never would have found on my own. If  you’re an educator who loves education and connecting with other educators, you  should seriously consider joining Twitter.
  • Using these amazing resources allows us to really teach students to think  critically, communicate with others, collaborate on projects and be creative. In  addition, students will see that we are not behind the times because we are  suing tools that we know students enjoy and use every day.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

bookmark_borderResearch: Twitter in Education; another case for the PLN

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Below are my highlights from a research paper about Twitter in educational use. The full report can be found here: JOLT – Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

This research again makes a case for the professional benefits that teachers obtain from a PLN (Personal Learning Network).

I have compiled this post using the Diigo highlighting tool in the Diigo Toolbar. It’s a fantastic tool.

Abstract of the research:

This research study provides new insight into how teachers use social networking sites, such as Twitter, as professional learning networks. The researchers surveyed and analyzed the public Twitter feeds of classroom teachers to determine the specific purposes for which teachers use Twitter. The K-12 educators in this study engaged in true dialogue, where evidence of actual conversation occurred in Twitter over 61% of the time. Continue reading “Research: Twitter in Education; another case for the PLN”

bookmark_borderReport Findings: Fostering “Innovative Teaching and Learning”

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This report by “Innovative Teaching and Learning” was sponsored by Microsoft Partners in Learning. It contains very interesting and pertinent points about creating a culture of innovative teaching in schools.

2011 ITL Research Findings and Implications

Full report here

This report provides the findings from the 2011 analysis across 7 participating  countries.  

Key Findings from ITL Research in 2011 

  • Innovative teaching supports students’ development of the skills that will  help them thrive in future life and work.  
  • However, students’ opportunities to develop these skills are typically  scarce and uneven, both within and across the sample of schools in the study.  
  • While ICT use in teaching is becoming more common, ICT use by students in  their learning is still an exception.  
  • Innovative teaching practices are more likely to flourish when particular  supportive conditions are in place: 
    • Teacher collaboration that focuses on peer support and the sharing of  pedagogical approaches  
    • Professional development that involves the active engagement of teachers,  particularly in practicing and researching new teaching methods  
    • A school culture that offers a common vision of innovation and consistently  encourages new types of teaching
    • Researchers observed examples of innovative teaching at the classroom level.  However, coherent and integrated support for the adoption of innovative teaching  was lacking in most of the schools and all of the systems in this study.  
    • Students: efforts to provide ubiquitous ICT access to students must continue  to ensure that all students have equal opportunities inside and outside school  to develop the skills they will need for life and work.  
    • Teachers: they need professional development opportunities that leverage the  most innovative teachers in each school to drive peer collaboration focused on  teachers themselves designing, practicing and researching the innovative  teaching approaches that develop students’ future skills.   
    • Schools: critically, school leaders need to cultivate holistic and shared  visions of innovation that integrate advanced pedagogies with technology.  
    • Systems: innovative teachers and schools need the kinds of assessment and  performance accountability measures that help more innovative teaching and  learning to flourish.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

bookmark_borderTeenage Brains – Interesting reading

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Below are my highlighted sections from a National Geographic article about the teenage brain and how it has evolved to crave the company of peers and take risks. 

So much more out there. Here’s a link to more: http://goo.gl/u4ItD.

Also read: http://diigo.com/0ksxe, which is my annotated link from this article: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/structural-changes-in-teenage-brains-causes-dramatic-shifts-in-intelligence/story-e6frg6so-1226171382504.

Both links courtesy of our Head of PD!

Teenage Brains – Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

    • To see past the distracting, dopey teenager and glimpse the adaptive  adolescent within, we should look not at specific, sometimes startling,  behaviors, such as skateboarding down stairways or dating fast company, but at  the broader traits that underlie those acts. Continue reading “Teenage Brains – Interesting reading”

bookmark_borderImpact of Excessive Computer Game and Television Exposure on Sleep Patterns and Memory Performance of School-aged Children

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Wow, that is quite confronting:

  • RESULTS. Only computer game playing resulted in significant reduced amounts of slow-wave sleep as well as significant declines  in verbal memory performance. Prolonged sleep-onset latency and more stage 2 sleep were also detected after previous computer  game consumption. No effects on rapid eye movement sleep were observed. Television viewing reduced sleep efficiency significantly  but did not affect sleep patterns. 

    CONCLUSIONS. The results suggest that television and computer game exposure affect children’s sleep and deteriorate verbal  cognitive performance, which supports the hypothesis of the negative influence of media consumption on children’s sleep, learning,  and memory.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

bookmark_borderHaha: research shows that without a midday rest, we are not able to perform at optimal levels

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"My research in the science of napping shows that without a midday rest, we are  not able to perform at optimal levels throughout the day. In fact, our  performance falls apart. Napping maintains and even boosts our skills."
 
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

bookmark_borderArticle about using meditation in schools; hopping off the crazy train of thought

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  • How to pay no mind to the rantings and ravings of the mind (The Age, Sunday 18th of Sept)

    • VIRTUALLY overnight, mindfulness has hit the mainstream. Once a niche  therapeutic tool, it is now taught to athletes, primary school students, cancer  patients, the anorexic, the obese, corporate lawyers, prisoners, bankers and  medical undergraduates. In short: anyone and everyone.

    ”Let’s take a year 12 student who has had an argument with her friend and  she’s going over it and over it in her mind and getting more angry and resentful  and hurt. The mind is like a train of thought [that] pulls up and the person  unconsciously gets on and goes to the end of the line and all you find at the  end of the line is anger and hostility, self-doubt, self-criticism, fear,  depression … ” Dr Hassed says. ”What we say is: ‘We can’t stop the train of thought from coming but what we  can do is determine whether or not we are going to get on the train.’ ” Continue reading “Article about using meditation in schools; hopping off the crazy train of thought”

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