 Chapter 4:
Quote: "In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interests and opportunity. In this environment, the participants all stand on equal ground- no one is assigned to the traditional role of teacher or student." Question: I like the idea of learning from the collective, however, what if the collective goes into a false direction? Using the fish example, how will people feed themselves if nobody in the collective can figure out how to fish? Shouldn't there be an expert figure, even within a collective? Connection: The idea of learning from the collective is what we are doing a lot in our class. Yes, we have expert professors, however we seem to have taken a hold of our own learning. A great example of this is our initiative to do a sdedleadtech practice twitter chat so we could learn from each other. Epiphany: I have made it no big secret that I am a nerd. I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and I am THAT GUY discussed in chapter three of our book who knows Harry Potter in and out. When discussing the collective I thought of the Borg from Star Trek the Next Generation. They have one collective mind and make decsions by the whole and for the whole. This led me to think of the Communist Manefesto, by Karl Marx. He discusses taking educational power from the ruling elites and giving it to the collective people. Let me please be plain, I am not saying that this book is an advocation of Communism, but it did make me think of Marx. Chapter 5: Quote: "Is public versus private really the best way to frame this distinction anymore? Perhaps the fact that the boundary between the two is becoming so permeable indicates a need for a new way to think about the differences between them. We suggest a framework that has elements of both but involves interwining and remixing-rather than opposing-domains: the personal combiined with the collective. Question: When we use the collective to prove an individual accomplishment, such as verifying a Super-Nova, is it an individual event, or does the event become shared as an achievment of the collective? Connection: This is like the dreded curse of the "group work." I can't tell you how many times I've been told by more experienced teachers that group work is useless because one or two students will "do" the work, while the others in the group "do nothing." Philisophical discussion of how a human can "do nothing" (won't we always be at the very minumum breathing?) aside, I've always wanted to ask, don't those who "do nothing" learn by being a member of the group? However, I never wanted to start that argument (discussion). Epiphany: It was fascinating to learn that Ryerson University made a distinction between a virtual study group and one that occurs in person. This was in 2008, I wonder how many schools and teachers now (only 7 years later) still think along these lines? Chapter 6: Quote: "Different people, when presented with exactly the same information in exactly the same way, will learn different things." Question: In our data driven educational realm, is it possible to truly quantify a student's tacit understanding of te course materials? Can we ever move away from the multiple guess bubble exams? Connection: I am going to cheat and use a second quote for my connection to this chapter. "Students learn best when they are able to follow their passion and operate within the contraints of a bounded environment." This is our 20% project through and through. This is why it is important to bring the 20Time concept to our students. They need to learn what they are passionate about, within the constraints of our individual content and classroom auspices. Epiphany/Aha: The distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge was interesting. I liked how the example of Harry Potter was revisited to give me a connection to the concept. Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.
5 Comments
Candace
8/2/2015 02:10:54 am
Michael I agree with you that there are many different concerns that go into doing group work in the classroom, how do you make sure that everyone is participating, and learning from each other? While we understand that students learn from each other, they do not always see it that way, especially when they are younger, they don't always want to take the time to learn from someone who is not one of their friends so they don't work with them. So it brings up the question of how can we help our students learn from each other in groups? Thanks for sharing. I think everyone has their own way and opinion on group projects, but I think we need to focus on the bigger picture of what it's meant for rather than the content they are suppose to be learning. These are skills we are trying to teach students, so instead of discussing and debating whether or not they "work" we should simply share what does works. I know that each time I give out group projects, I continue to tweak instructions and expectations to ensure better group dynamics and work ethics. I know for older students, that group work should have continual check-ins and guidance to ensure members are supporting each other. This way, leaders can use their skills and talents and the others can recognize what they can contribute with their own. Thus, projects need to be quite open to adopt, as you've mentioned, their passion. Students will definitely do nothing, possibly "not even breathe" because they don't even show up, but if it is inclusive to their passion then we could notice more productivity. We need to really communicate with our students to let them know we care and that we are putting their educations first, that's one of the hardest things to express to students when we "make them" work in groups.
Michael,
Lexie
8/5/2015 04:51:49 am
Michael,
David Ruiz
8/6/2015 04:54:28 am
Michael, Leave a Reply. |
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