Teaching and learning in the 21st Century has evolved to include technological tools that facilitate collaboration in an online environment. Some of these tools provide authentic scenarios in which students can communicate with their peers and instructors. Siemens (2007) and Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford (2006), posit that distance online learning can result in high levels of engagement when we reconsider the role of educators and the tools implemented with ‘millennial’ learners. Through use of tools that are already part of 21st Century students’ repertoire the strategies educators employ must include those which they are familiar with such as those mentioned in the graphic.
The overabundance of data available online presents the challenge of using the appropriate tools to sift through information in an effort to make a connection which results in new knowledge. The educational process can only be enhanced through the use of technological tools that have value in bringing students closer to experts in the field, current research, and significant learning experiences.
References:
Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies For Enhancing Student Interactivity In An Online Environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193.
Siemens, G. (2007). “George Siemens - Curatorial teaching.” Retrieved on January 12, 2008 from http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/10-minute-lecture-george-siemens-curatorial-teaching/
5 comments:
Hi Rose
This is Koh. I'm not in your group but I like to look around. I love your graphic organizer! It's very clean and clear and truly shows a lot of thought. I also agree with your statement of the challenge with the overabundance in technology (that is my theme song). So here's my only question, can you add to your graphic how or where the student falls on this graphic organizer? I have my thought as I would represent that but I always love to see how others "see" or organize things in their minds.
Koh
I would certainly add students right in the center of my model. These tools would be relevant to many learning styles and teaching techniques and both researchers emphasize a focus on content delivery in meaningful ways that place the learner as a focus of the strategy. The sage has fallen off the stage and new instructional methods have seen their way to the dais. Technology can facilitate a new and deeper form a knowledge building. Where would you place learners?
Rose,
Very nice article. It is clear, concise, and informative. Your call for educators to use the tools already in our students' repertoire is critical to the success of our efforts. I can also identify with the "overabundance" of data which often clouds the learning process.
Your diagram is a fresh look at the relationships between strategies, tools, and metaphors. Even though it would make the design rather complicated, I wonder how the metaphors relate to the strategies? Are there direct lines that can be drawn between the left and right columns without passing through the middle?
Nicely done!
If my web were 3D it would be easier to see the connections between the strategies, tools, and metaphors. It is evident that these are all interrelated and an occasion where technology is used to support learning may mean that an instructor has stepped aside to encourage its’ use. Each of the metaphors for educators remind me of finer representations of learning in which the student is an artist making meaning and translating their knowledge through the use of technological tools. Isn’t that an appealing image? Thanks.
A very appealing image!
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