Teaching In the Digital Age
Image Source: GVU Center at Georgia Tech
The Digital
Age generates significantly more information through computers, mobile devices,
etc. This information also originates from less regulated sources such as
social media. Therefore,
there is greater importance for students to learn how to analyze and interpret
digital data.
(Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009). Traditional teaching focused
on repetition and written
text, but there is diversity in how teachers strive to incorporate digital
literacy. As Daley
indicated, some of those visual cues seen in film act as adverbs, adjectives
and metaphors in classical
text formats (Daley, 2003). I really liked this description because it
reaffirms that what we do
for fun with social media tools has potential for deeper educational value if presented in
the right context. For example, some friends and I created a photobook
for someone
using his Facebook pictures (see page excerpts below). Some of his
observations and themes have
potential for some type of civics or art project if framed correctly academic
merit from the
context of urban development, community building or art. High school students would welcome the creative flexibility.
Source:
www.shutterfly.com/home/myshutterflysfly
I am not a traditional teacher
but I in my professional career as an auditor, consultant, mentor, career coach
and youth development volunteer I had a responsibility to ensure that individuals
and groups I worked with or mentored learned new concepts efficiently. Therefore,
developing a system to identify learning needs was important. The “teacher as designer” concept resonates
with me. The structure requires that one thinks about using the right people
and tools to meet the learning objectives (Hodell, 2011). But I could have
benefited from leveraging interactive techniques.
For example, I designed
several courses for accounting and financial management professionals not familiar
with government processes of a major city. To make the information more
digestible in a one hour lecture-based course, I used a variety of Visio flow
charts and organization charts. Even though these courses were positively highly
favorable in formal evaluations, and the training minimized text, my informal scan
of the room was that folks occasionally looked like this:
Image
Source: giphy.com
Most instructors hope that their audience look like this:
Image
Source: giphy.com
I contrast this
experience with a mentoring opportunity where I taught teenagers about public
speaking. I designed the session completely differently because I felt the best
way to learn public speaking was through practice and constructive criticism. We
essentially role-played, and I adjusted the depth of my feedback based on the
student’s strengths and weaknesses. As the teens became more comfortable with
the critiquing aspect, they started giving each other constructive criticism before
the adults. I think this is another important aspect of 21st
curricula. The social, collaborative
learning mentioned by Knobel and Lankshear can embolden students and give them
confidence (Knobel and Lankshear 2010).
I’m pleased that my training experiences involved defining the learning
objectives. I also co-develop courses with other Subject Matter Experts (SMEs),
and we collected evaluations. These steps are included in the Analyze and Design
elements of the A.D.D.I.E Model (Hodell, 2011, pg. 25-26). My training experiences could have benefited
from a greater awareness of some of the additional steps noted in the Implementation
element such as evaluating changes in Behavior.
Since I am not a
teacher, but I want to work as a program coordinator or project manager with
nonprofits in the education sector, I already follow a number of Twitter
accounts that focus on education policy, teaching methods, nonprofits that
promote digital literacy. They include:
- Edutopia
- ISTE (International Society of Technology Education)
- Shelly Sanchez
- TechGirlz
- Vicki Davis
- US Dept of Ed – Office of Ed Tech
I am designing a unit where students will use qualitative and
quantitative research methods and digital tools to explore a civic, environmental
or historical issue impacting their community. They can work in groups and they
will be assigned peer review teams that give them feedback throughout the
course. My community search was a little frustrating at times, and I welcome
feedback. The community that I initially joined the Google Expeditions, but I
thought leveraging and sharing the curricula would be dependent on purchasing
the Expeditions kit.
I decided to review communities that would include SMEs
with experience in community education, historical tours, association of
children’s museums, urban history, student-directed learning, etc. I did find some communities, but in a lot of
cases the most recent post was 2+ years ago.
Frankly some of the other communities like social studies lesson plans
or history lesson plans intimidated me because they were sharing actual lesson
plans and inquiring about lessons learned.
My strength is in collaborating on designing courses based on the SME’s
needs. I eventually settled on a community called Digital Leadership because I
can use more help in identifying and using multimedia. However, I am wondering
if I should join ISTE EdTech Coaches PLN.
Daley, E. (2003). Expanding the concept of literacy . EDUCAUSE
(March/April), 33-40.
Hodell, Chuck. (2011). Chapter 3: Instructional systems development
and the
ADDIE model. In ISD
From the Ground Up: A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional
Design (3 rd ed.). American Society for Training
and Development: Alexandria, VA.
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2010). DIY
Media: Creating, Sharing and Learning with
New Technologies . Peter Lang: New York, NY.
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). Curriculum and
Instruction: A 21st Century Skills
Implementation
Guide.
