Curriculum21 Podcast Episode with Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay

I had the opportunity to speak to Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. Two educators who are making a difference in their students’ lives as well as thousands of other students and teachers from around the world.
Vicki is a teacher from Camila Georgia. She blogs on the Coolcatteacher blog and tweets under @coolcatteacher. Julie is the E-Learning Coordinator at Beijing International School. She blogs at E-Learning Journey and tweets under @julielindsay.

These two amazing women are the co-founders of the Flat Classroom Project  and have co-authored the book “Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time“, due to be released in February 2012.

Don’t miss out listening to these dynamic and passionate teachers with concrete advice for any teacher embarking on global education and flattening of their classroom.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Flat Classroom Project
• Flat Classrooms (A community for educators)
• Flat Classroom Book
• Flat Classroom Book Club

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For other Curriculum21 Podcast Episodes subscribe to their podcast channel on iTunes.

Learning…Young Chinese Perspective

Mike Fisher and I had the pleasure to sit down with Stephen Wilmarth and five of his Chinese High School students in the International Experimental Class at the Number 1 Middle School attached to the Central China Normal University in Wuhan. Steve is piloting the first 1:1 iPad program in all of China.

In the audio podcast, Steve refers to the following movie he had shown to his students. He asks them to look for evidence of learning. These students come from nine previous years sitting in rows facing the front of the class and their teachers. They work individually on their multiple choice test booklets or work page by page  through SAT/AP prep books or listen to their teacher lecture.

Steve has to teach his students step by step what (new form of ) learning looks like. Evidence of learning, Steve reminds his students, is not reflected in high test scores for him, but by showing:

• Participation in their own learning: go beyond rote memorization and regurgitating and reciting
• Presentation: be able to communicate ideas in a variety of forms and media
• Research: looking for a variety of information that connects a myriad of subject areas- Breadth of knowledge
• Design: goes beyond basic problem solving to include imagination and creativity
• Development: deals with the concept of the skill to be able to test and strengthen their ideas by digging deeper into them- Depth of knowledge

Steve Wilmarth with five of his students.

We asked students, Mickeylla, Klaus, Kathy, Clair and Mike, the following questions in the podcast:

• How do you like learning by collaborating and discussions rather than just listening?
• What did you think about the movie (see above) you saw?
• Do you think you saw hard work? Did the movie capture just fun or learning?
• Why does learning look messy?
• How do you imagine university life in the USA will be like? How will it be the same? How will it be different?
• What will you do with all your (free) time (after used to sitting in class for 14+ hours during High School)?

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It’s Elementary- School Web Design- Podcast

Yesterday, I had a very interesting talk about school web design  with the team of It’s Elementary on EdTechTalk. Thank you Alice, Jose, Maria and Lisa for having me!

You can listen in to the recorded show on EdTechTalk or download the MP3 file to your iPod for on the go listening.