למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

The problem with defining what 21st-century education will look like is that anyone who says they don’t know can easily be perceived a complacent relic with no vision for change, while anyone who professes to have the answer is seen as a pompous and shortsighted fool. I will take the middle ground: While I can’t say with certainty what the next 87-plus years will look like, I feel confident that certain important shifts have begun and will continue so that learners of today are making the most of their educational experiences and the society in which they live.

We as educators need to be open to learning. Being a “lifelong learner” means admitting that you don’t have all of the answers.

Yes, technology has changed, and yes, we are no longer concerned with our students finding information, but rather what to do with it all, but does teaching itself really need to change in drastic ways?

... is a knee-jerk reaction to a decade of teach-to-the-test, drill-and-kill practices that have stripped the student out of the equation.

He will graduate from high school in 2025, assuming we still have high schools. With all the changes occurring in technology, funding, and public education policy, who dares to predict what this five year old will see during his K-12 years.

2012 - all interfaces are touchable or talkable : 2025 - I just think it and it happens or explains why it cannot happen.

2012 - I swipe away what I don't like : 2025 - I see, hear, or experience only what I DO like.

2012 - Maps talk : 2018 - There is no such thing as "map skills." Direction and location are experienced, never represented in 2D.

2012 - Words talk when I touch them: 2025 - Text constantly changes/evolves as I "read" and adapts to my thoughts about what it says

2012 - My fingers change how things look : 2025 - My eyes and mind change how things look.

Students have always opted out of our lessons if we didn't plan the activities to keep them essentially engaged. BYOD doesn't alter that element of our job. Instead of writing notes to their boyfriend or reading anything other than assigned text they are now playing games, engaged in social networks or watching video. Our task remains - engage students in authentic and essential ways.

I do think we need to more honestly acknowledge that the challenges are greater than they were in the analog world. To deny this I think fails to honor the challenges that teachers (and all of us) face in this regard.

Yes, it will happen – but doesn’t it happen in the real world? Aren’t we all pulling out our phones and iPads during meetings, and mastering our multitasking abilities? Distraction is a part of our lives, and I propose it can be a part of the learning process.

In the real world, when we have a problem to solve (i.e. where is the nearest pizza joint that's open at 11PM and has gluten free options?) we each whip out our own devices and go through a series of events to get from problem to solution. Each person is going to have their own unique set of steps to solve the problem - and that's ok. We need to get better about allowing this natural flow to happen in the classroom, and highlight the steps as that's where the authentic learning takes place.

At first blush, they are words that seem to promote a vision of better learning for kids. But as is so often the case in education, I’m not sure we as a community are spending enough time digging to parse what those words really mean, especially in the context of what deep learning now requires in a connected world.

We don’t need personalization as much as we need to promote and give opportunities for our kids to do personal learning. And while they come from the same root, those two words are vastly different. “Personalized” learning is something that we do to kids; “personal” learning is something they do for themselves.

It’s as if engaging them in learning without technology has become this impossible task.

In a word, that’s bunk. If we can’t engage our kids in ideas and explorations that require no technology, then we have surely lost our way. Big questions, passion, personal interest are what should drive our use of technology, not the other way around.

By assigning the lecture at home, we’re still in charge of delivering the curriculum, just at a different time. From what I’ve seen, flipping doesn’t do much for helping kids become better learners in the sense of being able to drive their own education.