Empower Student to Be Lifelong Learners NOT Dependent Learners
by Langwitches ~ March 12th, 2010. Filed under: 21st Century Learning, Education, Learning.
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Through a Tweet from @HeidiHayesJacob, I found the Ning of the Curriculum 21 book, I recently recommended.
One video uploaded by Heidi of Alan November, a contributor to the book, immediately caught my eye.
He says:
We have to stop spoon feeding kids curriculum tests and homework. They need to be self directed. They need to be life long learners., which means they need to be empowered to manage more and more and more of their own learning. [...]
It is not about adding technology… because we add a lot of technology that improves teaching, but it does not improve learning.[...]
The biggest barrier is not technology, the tools or money. The biggest barrier is a culture of the shift of control from the teacher managing learning (creating dependent learners by the way) to a culture of students being inter-dependent while they are globally connected and contributing content, tutorials, to the whole classroom.
From reading the Curriculum21 book , listening in on streamed conference presentations to video clips like the one from Alan November below, I am witnessing the shift towards globally connected students at my school right in front of my eyes. IT IS a shift of culture. IT IS a shift of what a “classroom” means. IT IS about empowering students AND teachers by exposing them to all the possibilities that are within reach through available tools.
I especially am in agreement with Alan about the role tutorials can play. Our Middle School students are continuing to work on on their Math Wiki, which is filled with tutorials, 5th graders are about to create SmartBoard Notebook files for first graders with tutorials and practice lessons about contractions (I + am= I’m/ will +not= won’t, etc). I can’t wait to continue observing the shift taking place in our school as a result of it.
Find more videos like this on Curriculum21
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March 14th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Wow silvia, love this post, the video and your math wiki. I am going to share it with our teachers.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
[...] had the pleasure of hearing Alan November speak at an FETC conference several years ago. Empowering Students to be Life Long Learners NOT Dependent Learners is what education in the 21century is all about. This concept however, is something that is not [...]
April 12th, 2010 at 6:00 am
[...] Blog on technology being about student learning, empowering students to be lifelong learners and ‘It Isn’t the Answer Anymore, It is the [...]