Technology & Learning - March 2009 - (Page 50) THEY SAID IT DISCUSSION GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION BY DR. ROSANNE WILLIAMSON Listening to End Learners by Ryan Bretag I’m always excited when I have the opportunity to sit down and just listen to students discuss education. It is clear that they simply “get it” and should be a critical resource in the improvement of the educational environment. Recently, I had one of those great opportunities to facilitate a discussion with a cross-section of our student body that focused on two questions: 1) What does it mean to be welleducated in the 21st Century and therefore, 2) What should teaching and learning look like in the 21st Century to help develop said person? Each discussion point started and ended with the focus on learning. For example, the students talked about creating a learning environment that was about learning not just memorization. To do this, they wanted to seek out partnerships both locally and globally in order to build connections that would foster a “learning to learn” movement. Central to this discussion was the curriculum. For students, there was a strong desire to get and remain current with curriculum materials while also making sure it comes from diverse perspectives. Clearly, textbooks were neither fast enough nor diverse enough in their eyes. They longed for ways to interact with materials that were updated frequently and offered a wealth of perspectives. Students also insisted that information and resources need to come in a variety of formats if the curriculum was going to remain progressive and current: narrative, fiction, digital, multimedia, and non-fiction. It was also important to have a diverse curriculum that crossed content boundaries. This led to many kids speaking about the value of making global connections, interacting with professionals. It was clear that the concept of teaching and learning in the 21st Century should focus on working with students as preprofessionals. To do this, the classroom needs to focus on inquiry- and problem-based learning, real world experiences, research opportunities, and fieldwork. Another interesting note: The concept of technology was really an after thought, it seemed, for many students. This wasn’t because it lacked importance but a belief, when asked, that technology was basically a given. In other words, technology was something they wanted to be transparent within the classroom, a multi-dimensional learning space they wanted to be 24/7/7. Days like this remind me of just how fortunate we are to be educators. Days like this remind me that to continue creating the types of learners that will be successful, we must think past yesterday and beyond today by leveraging the voices of students. When the last time you engaged your students in these conversations? What are they saying? Is it similar? Different? What do we do with their voices, their ideas? Visit www.techlearning.com/forum.aspx to share your opinion. 50 | TECH & LEARNING http://www.techlearning.com/forum.aspx
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