21st Century Learning and Teaching

Marc Tucker is president of the National Center on Education and the Economy. For two decades, his research has focused on the policies and practices of the countries with the best education systems.

Interesting read...:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/top_performers/2012/11/teacher_quality_whos_on_which_side_and_why.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW

It's Connected Educator month here in the United States, which has me thinking about how we get more educators connected to one another. There are a number of sources of inspiration for Connected Educator month, but one important one is the National Education Technology Plan. The National Ed Tech Plan was written by an outstanding team of researchers including Chris Dede, Barry Fishman, David Rose and about a dozen others. The plan has a specific section on helping educators in "Connecting to Content, Expertise, and Activities Through Online Communities," with the this recommendation:

3.2 Leverage social networking technologies and platforms to create communities of practice that provide career-long personal learning opportunities for educators within and across schools, preservice preparation and in-service educational institutions, and professional organizations.

And sure enough, the U.S. Department of Ed is a co-sponsor of Connected Educator month. It's actually really great to see the DOE taking the ideas from the National Ed Tech Plan and bringing them to life.

Read more:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/08/teaching_teachers_to_tweet.html

In order to be a successful teacher using technology for your 21st century learning encounters, you need to be able to model 21st century learning and innovation skills in your encounters with technology.

===> These skills are also known as the 4 C’s: <===

- Critical thinking and problem solving

- Communication

- Collaboration

- Creativity and innovation

Key basic functions to know: creation capabilities (document, spreadsheet, presentation, WYSIWYG website), collaborative capabilities (document sharing, interactive form building, wiki—collaborative website building). One free (so far) suite to explore for these functions, all under one banner, is GOOGLE. Not just the mainstream search engine, but Google Scholar, Google Alerts, and the entire suite of Google products helps you become more effective and efficient in your search missions, and more. They are constantly adding functions to their suite of tools, so keep up to date by exploring the “More Google Products” page on their site: www.google.com/intl/en/options/. They organize their expanded tool set under the following categories:

- Search
- Explore and Innovate
- Communicate, Show and Share
- Go Mobile

Make your computer work better (beta versions of pack software to enhance performance)

Web 2.0 tools have something for everyone and are constantly changing. If you can imagine it, it is most likely out there in one form or another. The trick with web 2.0 tools is, though, that they rarely do everything you are looking for, so sometimes DIY mash-ups are necessary. Understanding the functionality of what you’re looking for helps you to choose the right tools to help you attain it, rather than relying too heavily on a specific set of tools. Focus instead on a class of tools based on functionality.

Read more, very interesting...:

http://teachteachtech.coe.uga.edu/index.php/2011/05/02/5-things-every-teacher-should-know/

For the past several weeks, I have been preparing a series of workshops for school and community leaders who are ready to embrace social media and explore the powerful ways new social technologies and platforms can be used in classrooms and schools.

A MUST read:

http://blog.teachercast.net/an-open-letter-to-school-leaders-by-angelamaiers/