Preparing Students to Learn Without Us

schools see the eruption of technologies and environments that allow for personalized learning as a "disruptive innovation," according to Scott McLeod, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Kentucky (Richardson, 2009). The ability to learn what we want, when we want, with whomever we want as long as we have access creates a huge push against a system of education steeped in time-and-place learning. Notes McLeod,

Between adaptive software that can present and assess mastery of content, video games and simulations that can engage kids on a different level, and mobile technologies and online environments that allow learning to happen on demand, we need to fundamentally rethink what we do in the classroom with kids. (personal communication, October 1, 2011)

That rethinking revolves around a fundamental question: When we have an easy connection to the people and resources we need to learn whatever and whenever we want, what fundamental changes need to happen in schools to provide students with the skills and experiences they need to do this type of learning well? Or, to put it more succinctly, are we preparing students to learn without us? How can we shift curriculum and pedagogy to more effectively help students form and answer their own questions, develop patience with uncertainty and ambiguity, appreciate and learn from failure, and develop the ability to go deeply into the subjects about which they have a passion to learn?

The Committed Sardine

How Bill Gates' Favorite Teacher Wants to Disrupt Education

In 2008, Sal Khan had a bright future making millions as a hedge fund manager. He gave it up to produce low-budget math films on YouTube for free. Fortunately, hidden among his millions of loyal students, were the wealthiest of educational philanthropists, Bill Gates and the Google Foundation. Now, with a whole lot of cash and even more street cred, Khan aims to demote the institution of "school" to just one of many educational options.

Khan Academy, the YouTube open-course series, began as verbal contract with a 7th-grade girl. His younger cousin, Nadia, was struggling in math class and had agreed to sit in on remote tutoring sessions. After she skyrocketed a few grade levels in ability, more family and friends wanted in on the action, eventually forcing Khan to record the lectures online.

Since YouTube encouraged universal access, Khan thought “Why not?,” and made the lectures public, on the off chance someone beyond his immediate friends and family would ever take an interest in his mathematics lectures. The result was shocking, and the audience exploded.

Fast Company

What You (Really) Need to Know

Most companies look nothing like they did 50 years ago. Think General Motors, AT&T or Goldman Sachs.

Yet undergraduate education changes remarkably little over time. My predecessor as Harvard president, Derek Bok, famously compared the difficulty of reforming a curriculum with the difficulty of moving a cemetery. With few exceptions, just as in the middle of the 20th century, students take four courses a term, each meeting for about three hours a week, usually with a teacher standing in front of the room. Students are evaluated on the basis of examination essays handwritten in blue books and relatively short research papers. Instructors are organized into departments, most of which bear the same names they did when the grandparents of today’s students were undergraduates. A vast majority of students still major in one or two disciplines centered on a particular department.

NYTimes.com

Kindle Direct Publishing

Kindle Publishing Guidelines (PDF). This detailed document provides all the information and specifications you need to create fixed layout books and take advantage of some of Kindle Format 8's more advanced formatting features.

Eliteuniversiteter satser på nettstudier

Sist ut er Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) som skal tilby interaktiv eliteutdanning til massene, skriver Inside Higher Education. Gjennom plattformen MITx skal hvem som helst få muligheten til å jobbe med MITs kursmateriell og oppnå diplom på gjennomført arbeid. Vitnemålet vil riktignok ikke utstedes av MIT, men av MITx.

MIT tar sikte på at flere tusen skal kunne bruke nettstudiene til å ta selv laboratoriefag og gjennomføre avansert oppgaveløsning, forteller direktør for MITs laboratorium for IT- og kunstig intelligens Anant Agarwal. Utfordringen ligger blant annet i hvordan oppgaver skal rettes og karaktersettes dersom omfanget øker betraktelig. Agarwal forteller Innside Higher Education at de har utviklet nye måter å fordele innsendte oppgaver mellom vitenskapelig ansatte, og nye måter å gjennomføre laboratoriefag gjennom simulatorer.

Kilde: forskerforum.no

The Digital Classroom

Via: Accredited Online Universities Guide

Kilde: Online Universities

Rammeverk for grunnleggende ferdigheter

Utdanningsdirektoratet har utviklet et rammeverk for de fem grunnleggende ferdighetene digitale ferdigheter, muntlige ferdigheter, å kunne lese, å kunne regne og å kunne skrive. Rammeverket er til bruk for læreplangrupper oppnevnt av Utdanningsdirektoratet.

Rammeverket for grunnleggende ferdigheter er et grunnlagsdokument som definerer de fem grunnleggende ferdighetene, skisserer deres funksjon og beskriver progresjonen av hver av dem på fem nivåer.

Rammeverket er utformet på et overordnet nivå, og det skal brukes som verktøy og referanse for å utvikle og revidere læreplaner for fag i Læreplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet og bidra til å synliggjøre de grunnleggende ferdighetene ut fra fagenes egenart og formål.

Udir.no

Hvor digital er høyere utdanning?

Bruk av digitale verktøy og medier i høyere utdanning får stadig økt oppmerksomhet. Studenter tar til orde for økt bruk av PC på eksamen. Mange studenter ønsker seg opptak og podcasting av forelesninger og undervisningsmetoder som tar i bruk ny teknologi.

Fremdeles er det slik at studenter ved mange universitet og høgskoler skriver sine eksamensbesvarelser med kulepenn og møter en utdanning som bare delvis utnytter muligheter ny teknologi gir. For studenter er bruk av digitale verktøy i undervisningen i noen tilfeller synonymt med en underviser som bruker verdifull forelesningstid på å få prosjektøren på og PowerPoint-plansjene fram.
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Bruk av digitale verktøy og medier kan bidra til bedre undervisning og læring ved at studenter får nye måter å arbeide med fagstoff på og får lettere tilgang til informasjon og faglitteratur. Det kan også bidra til økt studentaktivitet og nye samarbeids- og læringsformer. Ny teknologi kan videre fungere som katalysator for pedagogisk og didaktisk utvikling.

Forskerforum.no

Flipped classrooms give every student a chance to succeed

Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs

How the Digital Age Will Improve and Revolutionize Education

Starting this spring, MIT will start to offer free online courses to anyone, anywhere in the world with a program dubbed MITx. Although MIT has offered many of its lectures and notes online since 2001, MITx will allow students to interact with other students online and have access to online labs and self-assessment tools. And if students can prove that they know and understand the material, for a small fee, you can receive a credential from MITx.

Western Governors University, a non-profit accredited online university, offers BA’s in business, health science, IT, and teaching for about $6,000 a year. Although completely online, WGU has tough and high standards, and the average student earns a degree in less than three months.

Khan Academy is a completely free, online forum offering hundreds of thousands of lectures, lessons, and courses in virtually every subject imaginable.
Policymic.com