Before: There was a built in validity (not necessarily accuracy) in opening up and reading the information in an encyclopedia.

And now: Can the same be said of a web search? Whose job is it to check validity and accuracy now?

"Scene from Johnny Dangerously"
(Forgive my sense of humour with this link:-)

Before: We watched along as our teachers played dry, (usually humourless) documentaries as we filled in the blanks on our worksheets.

And now: Students find, and create, their own videos.

Before: We tried to plot abstract data on graphs.

And now:  We explore them, and dive into them.

Before: We read about people in other parts of the world.

And now: We work with them. And change their lives while we learn.

 

This isn’t a competition because the old way cannot compete. In my classroom I worked on differentiated instruction as best as I could, and then I tried blogging & wiki’s and my students and I realized a big shift had occured.

Before:

In non-digital/non-tech-using classes,

‘the teacher’ tended to differentiate the learning ‘for students’.

And now:

With digital, social and collaborative tools,

‘the students’ tend to differentiate the learning ‘for themselves’.

This empowering nature is embedded in the intelligent, transformative, use of technology… more so than without tech use… and only if the teacher empowers the student with the opportunity.

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Think about the fundamental changes.

How many of you clicked on at least one hyperlink on this page?

Have some fun, and create your own “Before:… And now:…” examples.

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*UPDATE – See how I used this post, comments below, and Twitter comments in my K12Online Conference Presentation

Transforming Education

9 comments on “a meaningful shift

  1. BEFORE: students wrote for their teachers
    NOW: students can write for the world

    BEFORE: teachers knew everything their students needed to know
    NOW: teachers know very little relative to what is knowable

    BEFORE: collaborative learning involved a few students within 4 walls to generate a few good ideas
    NOW: collaboration can involve the connecting of 1000’s of brains and the mixing of millions of ideas

    BEFORE: presenting to 25 people was, well, presenting to 25 people
    NOW: this can mushroom to 500,000 or 1,000,000 on the Internet

  2. Before: Teachers would listen quietly to the presentation, take notes, then go back to school and figure out how to make it work.

    And now: Teachers interact in Google Docs during the presentation and co-construct an implementation plan that they can take back to school with them.

  3. Before the principal was the building manager and was promoted because of their expertise in management; Now the principal is the Lead Learner and is expected to be highly involved in the learning agenda! New skills are required to be the principal of today’s schools!

  4. Before… retirement meant the end of meaningful work and in many cases a mid-life or perhaps beyond mid-life crisis. Actuarial stats suggested only a decade or so to put your feet up.

    Now… retirement means increased autonomy, and increased opportunity, to learn, to teach, to travel, to not only create a bucket list but to actually empty and refill the bucket pretty much continuously. Life long learning = long life learning. Life expectancy is substantially self-determined.

  5. Before we looked at outdated and misproportioned maps that roll down in front of a black board. Now we can explore the world through Google Earth and watch the world as it is moving and changing.

  6. Before: desks, copybooks, papers, pencils, chalkdust.
    Now: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, iPad, iPhone, share, like, tweet, digg. And so forth…

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