Post on 12-May-2015
Crea%ng awesome learning environments
Lyn Ross
The 90s
Then and now
The 90s Now
The 90s Now
The Internet
• Mobile devices
• Apps for everything
We have to make sure that school is not an alterna%ve reality for our students
What skills and knowledge do you want your students to have when they leave your class at the end of this
year?
Learning and Teaching
18th 19th 20th Centuries
Focus: Teacher led
Approach: Content driven
Emphasis: Knowing that…
Teacher Role:
Expert and boss (the sage)
21st Century
Student centred
Process driven Knowing how…
Fellow learner and facilitator
(the guide)
Are you the sage on the stage or the guide on the side?
To share some ideas for crea%ng awesome learning environments
What research tells us about learning
• Learning is much more than acquiring new knowledge and concepts. It involves thinking, but learners need knowledge and experiences to think with.
• Learners need to be ac6vely engaged in ways that allow them to process, interpret, and adapt an experience.
• Learners have to want to learn. They have to see a purpose to learning and how it will allow them to contribute to something beyond themselves.
• Learners have to feel in charge of their own learning and to get a sense of flow and progress, with the right amount of challenge and feedback along the way.
• Learners need to develop in-‐depth knowledge in some areas to help them keep learning.
• Learners need to be encouraged to search not for the right answer (focusing on surface features) but for the right approach to solving a problem (deep structures).
• Learning involves interac6on trying out and tes%ng ideas with others.
• Learning usually needs structure For example, adults play an important role in young children’s development by structuring their experiences and direc%ng their aNen%on to certain aspects of those experiences.
• Learning needs to take place in a wide variety of se=ngs so that learners can transfer their learning and use it in new contexts.
• Intelligence is not fixed but is expandable through learning experiences. Expanding people’s intellectual capacity – and ability to keep learning – should be the key func6on of a future-‐oriented educa6on system.
What can be used to engage learners?
Learners have to want to learn
People some%mes link twenty-‐first century learning with developments in informa%on and communica%on technology (ICT).
However, learning in the 21 C involves more than digital technology. ICT has the poten%al to transform how we learn and how we teach, but it can also be used to support outmoded teaching and learning approaches.
Themes for 21 Century Learning • Personalisa%on • Rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles • Knowledge (not a ‘thing’, but something that does stuff)
• New views of equity, diversity and inclusivity • A culture of con%nuous learning for teachers and educa%onal leaders
• New kinds of partnerships and rela%onships
Suppor6ng future-‐oriented learning and teaching – a New Zealand perspec6ve ~ Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert
Personalisa%on
Providing more choices and pathways for learners.
Building the system around the learner • Knowing who your learners are • Knowing what and to whom they are connected • Provide flexibly to meet learners’ needs
What sort of learning environments are needed?
G 4 Eastern HuN School
Rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles
• Twenty-‐first century learners need to be ac%ve par%cipants in their own learning.
• Inquiry Learning
Online environments
Social networking
Online tools (web 2.0)
Google Docs
Having an collabora%ve online space is the difference between living in the 1990s and 2013
Teachers who know how to use technology effec%vely to help their students connect and collaborate together online will replace those who do not. Sheryl Nussbaum-‐Beach
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