In the year 2020

What will we see in education?  Will our methods change?  Are we ready to move from the teacher providing the information to the facilitator who guides students to create their own learning?

That is only eight years from now.  Eight years ago I got married.  In the pictures from my wedding I see signs of "looking dated" with respect to the clothing people were wearing.  If fashion changes are noticeable with subtle changes happening each season; can you imagine what technology will look like?

Image retrieved from google images.  December 2, 2011.

Smart phones are really mini, handheld, computers.  We can access anything anywhere.  Public wifi is popping up all over.  It is the norm now.  We rented a house at the beach this past summer and of course there was wireless.  The TV was from 1980, but that didn't matter because I could stream netflix right to my laptop with a decent size screen.  (Although it is curious that the smaller the phones and computers get the larger the TV screen my husband needs.)

So we know technology is changing a mile a minute but I'm not sure education is able to keep up with the pace.  The Web 2.0 tools that are out there are still relatively undiscovered by the vast majority of teachers in our schools today.  I'm not afraid of technology and consider myself a fairly quick learner.  However, the things that I learned in this course have opened my eyes to the immense changes I need to make to better reach my students.  I think this because I had the opportunity to explore and learn about them.  What about the teachers that haven't had that opportunity?  What about the teachers teaching in schools where many children go home to a house without Internet or a computer?  That may be a foreign concept for most of you but not that uncommon in some school districts.

I am fortunate to work in a place where the administrators envision our students learning and connecting after the last bell rings and the students are dismissed.  The technology coordinators at my school are amazing.  They want to help us integrate the latest and best tools.  They are constantly sharing so many cool resources with the faculty.  The problem is finding the time to learn and implement these things.  How often do you get an email with a new idea and it gets filed for later?  The bell rings, the students have questions, the parents are emailing, the office needs you, the faculty meeting is about to start and you have to pick up the kids from daycare.  So realistically you integrate one or two new things into your classes per year.  At this rate, eight years just aren't enough to change education as we know it now.  I do believe we will see a shift but not an overall drastic one by 2020.  I think it will take longer for some teachers to make these changes.

As teachers begin to retire, the newbies will bring with them a completely different view.  The way they learned will not resemble the way we learned.  That's when and how I see a greater shift coming from the teacher.  However, the best chance we have for change will actually come from our students.  They are the ones who are growing up in a world where computers are always in their lives.  Last week my 6 year old was explaining to his grandmother how to turn the video on on her new iPad while they were Skyping.

I can only control what I do and hope that I can lead by example and share what I have learned through my own on-line learning.  When I go back to the classroom next year, I hope that my students will be blogging their journal entries, collaborating on our class wiki, listening to podcasts on their iPhones, texting their examples of a particular verb tense to a wifitti screen, interacting with native speakers around the globe, adding to our class Diigo page and creating their own learning in exciting new ways that they have not done in the past all while saving trees.  Instead of handing in a DVD of their video projects we'll be able to view it on YouTube, taking our classroom to the real world.

My hope is that our schools will change to help prepare our students for a world where collaboration is a must.  The 21st century learner is different so the 21st century teachers need to adapt too. If you did not get the chance to watch the video Changing Education Paradigms that I included on a previous post, I highly recommend you see it now.

For those people still reluctant to change I leave you with a quote from The Tech Bend Blog by Kundan Bhaduri where he writes, "technology is a weapon of mass construction".

Google does it

for me.  When searching for things we "google" it.  When setting up a new email, many choose a gmail account.  So when it comes time to collaborate Google Docs seems like a perfect choice.  For my students to collaborate on a project they sometimes have difficulty merging too many different applications.  Some students use Microsoft Office at home but may have an older version that has trouble opening or working with newer versions.  Then we have Mac users and also others that don't have any software for word processing installed.  Open Office appeals to those who didn't want to purchase a costly product but that doesn't provide the collaboration that Google Docs has to offer.

Not only can the students use Google Docs for word processing, they can use it to plan a party, I mean learning experience. You can create a sign up sheet to get people to bring things for the event.   The students can access the spread sheet from home instead of passing around a paper, signing up for something and forgetting what they said they would bring.

Next year I will use this tool to prepare for our New Year's celebrations.

Image Citation: Fireworks of Saint Ramon II (Spain) by cerovaci. Retrieved 29 November 2011.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerovacio/4970107281/

Mastery is the product

The idea that what we produce demonstrates mastery rather than how we perform on a test is exactly what a language teacher wants to "hear".  I want my students to be able to survive in real life situations.  They need to be able to communicate; get the point across successfully.  That means they can order food, get directions, make a reservation, catch a plane, train or rent an automobile.  It doesn't mean the grammar is perfect or the syntax is impeccable.  Of course we want our students to speak well but little mistakes that don't interfere with the meaning aren't that end of the world.

The ability to connect with native speakers all over the world is an amazing tools for students studying another language. It gives them the opportunity to perform through written and spoken words and make a meaningful connection.  It brings the language to life, which is the whole point and purpose for learning to speak another language.  My hope is that this shift in learning will give people a chance to continue using what they learned in school in the real world and that I will stop hearing, "I took __ (insert language) for 5 years and don't remember anything."

Could I go Paperless?

I'm not sure. I like the idea of reducing the amount of paper we use, making connections with others and tapping into the resources available to create a richer product.  I'm intrigued by the ideas presented in the article by Beshkin about a course offered without using paper.  I do see some pitfalls to relying entirely on books online.  For example, a few weeks ago many people in Pennsylvania spent almost a week without power due to a storm.  Although this was an unusual circumstance it does occasionally happen.  Here is a funny YouTube video (in Spanish) about the advantages of a good old paper book.

A paperless class would require different kinds of activities.  Integrating 21st century skills and utilizing Web 2.0 tools would create an environment where students play a more active role in their learning.  The teacher becomes a facilitator, guiding the students in their learning.  Learning can be measured in a variety of ways through projects, discussions, observations and still include tradition methods such as research papers that are submitted electronically.

This type of course lends itself well to building a network of online resources and connections.  I think the students today would embrace a paperless class because most things they do do not require paper.

Beshkin, A. (2000, November 20). General studies offers a paperless undergraduate class. Retrieved July 24, 2007, from Columbia University, Columbia University Record Web site:http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol26/vol26_iss10/
2610_Paperless_Course.html

Connect-Connecting-Connectivism

Last November I attended a conference about how we can better reach our students  by giving them access to learning 24/7.  We saw this video by Sir Ken Robinson that really stuck with me and impressed upon me the NEED to exchange our antiquated techniques for 21st century learning.

So we now know that we can obtain information at the click of a mouse through websites created by all walks of life- well at least the human ones:).  We are learning from each other.  The wiki created by group D supports using the term "Learning Theory".  The debate is about semantics; whether or not to use the word "theory".   Is that really what is important?  Isn't the idea that sharing, collaborating and the connections we make are a better way to learn?  Embrace the new and don't get bogged down with the terminology!

Wanna Skype?

This is the question I posed to my new friend Deborah.  Deborah and I met through the previously pls class I took.  We "teamed" up so to speak as we both posted our assignments early in the week and were able to comment, collaborate and complete our work before the weekend began.  It worked well with our busy schedules.  Since the class ended, we have continued to keep in touch via email.

So, a few weeks ago, during Module 3, she kindly offered to help me with my frustrating Pageflake fiasco.  I said, "YES PLEASE" and, "Do you wanna Skype?"  She said sure -(brave soul)- she's new to Skype. I set up one laptop with Skype and my other laptop to work on Pageflakes.  It took a few minutes for her to figure out that my settings were off and my page was finally ready to share.  I spent HOURS on this project by myself.  Two heads are much better than one. THANK YOU, Deborah!!

As an experienced "Skyper" I can say I'm a HUGE fan.  I Skype daily with my family from Europe to Tennessee.  Every Sunday morning my cousin sets up the laptop in Spain and we are able to talk face-to-face with my 91 year young grandmother and the rest of the familia.

On a professional level, I tried to use Skype to connect with a teacher in a neighboring district but my school blocks the site.  However, we did video conference using Elluminate and our students were able to talk to each other.  I hope to use it again so my students can speak to a native speaker via video conference.  It really makes them realize how cool it is to speak another language.

I think what I love most about video conferencing is that I enjoying talking to people.  I much prefer this to writing.  It may be due to my less than stellar typing skills but for me Skyping is the next best thing to hanging out with friends and family.

Facebook Podcast en Español

As I was exploring the podcasts in iTunes I found TONS of really cool files that would be great to use in the classroom.  I came across a series that is a conversation between 2 people made for students studying Spanish.   I chose a podcast about Facebook to use in class because I felt it would be interesting for teenagers due to the topic and the pace is perfect for my Spanish IV students.

I will have my students listen to the podcast by providing a link to it via this blog and also through my Fusion page.  The fusion page is what we use at school to communicate with parents and students.  There are worksheets that people can purchase as well as the transcripts of the dialogues.  I would need to preview some samples before deciding if it would be worthwhile to purchase.

After the students listen to the dialogue they will need to post a reaction on our class Edmodo page.  They will write what they liked best about it and what they did not enjoy.