Are we Disrupting Class?

Disrupting class

With one ed tech conference and one book club discussion on Disrupting Class I am starting to put the pieces of a techie puzzle in place!  A few months ago I started blogging from a very humble place, and felt like the world was a large and scary place out there, and my little "fishie" contributions were not too deep in the water.   It is with God's inspiration for sharing on my Facebook Christian Teacher's page, Twitter and blogging, that  I am starting to feel like I am part of a larger personal learning network.  Combine that with an amazing ed tech conference this week at LearnNowBC, and I feel ready to take on the world.  Well not really:)

Here are some of the thoughts we came away with from our great book club discussion, and ed tech ranting!

1. We are BREAKING OUT OF THE BOX , as Christensen and other B.C. ed tech leaders inspire us to move on from learning outcomes, textbooks, and rigid teaching and thinking skills.  Of course the BC Ministry needs to redefine some of the learning outcomes and assessment based models, so that we can feel free to move into new pastures.  Time will tell....


2.   How do we get students to move from extrinsic to intrinsic motivators?  Homeschoolers have the freedom to find resources that intrinsically meet their needs and more... But are we as teachers really encouraging them to find those unique resources, and projects, that will help them use all of their God given potential?  Are we helping them learn how to become digital citizens?  Or are we encouraging them to stay focused on monolithic type learning?

Some practical suggestions that came to the foray included;

• Running digital learning camps for all parents and students all over the province.
• Webinars.
• Teachers creating blogs for every student, in a fenced environment (if neccessary for younger students).
• Assigning a tech ed mandatory course in grade 8 with 2 credits for completion.
• Creating multi-layered techie online courses, which will attract students to own the course as they accomplish different levels of technical achievement.
• Augmented reality courses, where students create an avatar and move through a series of games, and levels to explore academic learning in different subjects.
• Creating modules in online courses so that students can partake in one unit of an online course eg, completing just the poetry section in a language arts course.  These would be like applications on an IPhone. 

3.  Assessment based learning and how do we move away from the dreaded word?  Should we be teaching to the exam in high school, or preparing students with critical thinking and real life skills?  The B.C. Ministry has yet to completely move away from this, but we heard rumblings from the Education minister, George Abbott that he would like to see some imminent changes.  In the meantime let us move forward with confidence in helping our students prepare for their futures, by accommodating all learning styles in a multi-sensory mode, and allow for peer reviewing each others' assessment like our Humanities team does so well. Let us look for other means for finding assessment like blogging skills, Skype,   videos, Wordles, Prezi's, Wikis, and comics. Check out this Prezi on relevant assessment.


4.  How do we encourage teachers/parents/students to become "disruptive heavyweights", in their own backyard?  Here are some of our thoughts:

• Encourage parents and students to lead a workshop, teach a skill, make a video, share a bible study etc.
• Encourage disruptive innovations in areas that are non consumption based, ie look for a niche in the market.
• Have regular professional days with tech ed as the main component. Do this for parents and students.  For example host an adult book club and read something new and educational.
  
• Encourage teachers to share their gifts and skills throughout the year, and to take risks.
• Encourage students to find numerous ways to share their work so they become leaders in their field of interest.
  

5.  Support our charismatic and visionary leaders?  Absolutely!!  We need to rise to the challenge that our principal Janet Rainbow  and superintendent Greg Bitgood suggests we do, to make our students great Christian leaders in the 21st century world.  We need to offer our suggestions with communication for a better vision throughout the year.

6.  Impact for personal reflections.  After reading this very scientific and comprehensive book we were challenged to reflect on our teaching skills, our personal networks, and our attitude towards becoming a Godly, disruptive learner and teacher.  Thanks to Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn along with  a wonderful chat with our adult book club, I can say that I have a clearer picture where I see God, our school and students leading.

Blessings to you, as you share your version of what 21 century learning looks like with your students. I would love to hear how you think we can make a difference?

Pippa