Quote: “In a sense, Doug had indeed taught the students nothing. They, however, had taught him a great deal about what the new culture of learning might look like and how powerful it can be when students see each other as resources and figure out how to learn from one another.” page 25. I chose this quote because the reference to learning video games really struck a chord with me. I grew up playing video games, and one of the things most serious gamers do is research online. In the class they were researching theory, but most gamers at the very least research tips and tricks, builds, walk-throughs, character development, etc. This to me was the perfect example of self-directed learning within a framework that designed goals for the learning that was happening. I also chose it because in the example, students were given a goal and then went far beyond it by engaging with each other because they got excited about the curriculum. The class evolved and took on a new depth that the teacher never could have dreamed of or created on his own.
Question: In all of the examples in the chapter, the learning is self-directed, but it is also all based on topics that the learners are interested in. My question is, does this format work for topics that students have no interest in?
Connection: This first chapter really tied together what we’ve been doing with our Personal Learning Networks in our Education 530 class. Our professors, Jeff and Leigh, gave us goals and a starting place but then asked us to use each other to create our textbook for the class. The intent was to have us use our class mates as resources and take the class beyond what they could possibly create for us by creating something bigger together.
Epiphany: Math class is boring. Which isn’t really an epiphany, but the epiphany is about the “why” behind it. Math class, more than any other grade school subject, is done in a format where there is zero self-expression allowed. We expect students to follow rules and formats, but allow them no freedom to discover within those or find new ways of doing things. Typically (not in my class) when a student does discover a new way of doing something, the teacher’s response is along the lines of “that’s nice, but we’re doing it this way right now,” which stomps out any creativity, critical thinking, or curiosity that might happen in the class.
Chapter 2
Quote: “In the new culture of learning, the classroom as a model is replaced by learning environments in which digital media provide access to a rich source of information and play, and the processes that occur within those environments are integral to the results.” pages 37-38. I chose this quote because it talks about how the culture of learning is changing and juxtaposes the old model and the new model. In the new model, knowledge is a goal but it is much less important than the learning that leads up to it. How we get to the end goal becomes the goal itself, and the end results are important only as part of the process.
Question: How on earth do we accomplish this in schools when we have a standards based system?
Connection: Part of this chapter is about engaging with the environment and the world to create a new culture. I think this is only possible to do if you can engage with the environment in meaningful and authentic ways. One of the things we were asked to do in class was engage with other educators, engage with Twitter, engage with Instagram, engage with educational networks, engage with blogging, engage with various social media tools. This created a struggle within the class because many of the students felt that we did not have time to engage meaningfully in all of these areas. While there was a lot of negativity in the class, it was all directed towards “work load” and I don’t believe the frustration was conveyed accurately. From what I felt and what I gathered from my classmates, the problem wasn’t too many assignments, it was that we didn’t have the time to engage meaningfully and authentically with so many different areas amidst the other obligations of coursework and student teaching. The assignments were doable, but in splitting our focus in so many different directions it became difficult to engage authentically. The resistance seemed to be about having to give partially authentic engagement on many fronts instead of being able to engage fully and authentically on a few. Like the college course on video games in the first chapter, it seemed like our professors expected us to commit a certain amount of time to each assignment, but when we tried to engage fully with the coursework we ended up spending much more time researching, contemplating, drafting, editing, collaborating than the professors had planned. Our professors handled our struggle beautifully, but I don’t think any of us were really able to convey what the heart of our struggle in the course was.
Epiphany: When you engage in the new culture of learning, the art of teaching becomes taking in feedback from students and knowing when to push them further or allow them into their process.
Chapter 3
Quote: “…it requires a new kind of reading practice, an ability to evaluate a contested piece of knowledge and decide for yourself how you want to interpret it.” page 47. I chose this quote because while the entire chapter was about change, this struck me as the most important aspect of the way information is changing as it relates to education. One thing we are seriously lacking in schools is education about how to interpret various information, sort through it, and integrate it together.
Question: Would having a core class (like math or English that is a required part of formal education every year) dedicated to interpreting information be useful, feasible, and sufficient?
Connection: Through engaging with the educational community on Twitter, I’ve found that embracing change and sorting through information to interpret it and give it weight according to my belief system is incredibly important. Twitter chats happen weekly in the education world, because information, tools, and school belief systems are changing so rapidly they warrant constant discussion. Things more so quickly on Twitter that in order to effectively garner information, you need to throw yourself into the ebb and flow of a discussion or a hashtag and move with it while you search. Additionally, while most educators on Twitter tend to be open minded and willing to change, I find myself needed to sort through statements, questions, and comments quickly and determine their worth, if I want to go back to them later, and whether or not I agree.
Epiphany: We are doing students a disservice by not facilitating their discovery of how to learn in an every changing technological world.
Chapter 1