2.3 Authentic Learning
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences.
Artifact:
Reflection:
The Engaged Learning Project, completed in our first semester of school, proved to be a very exciting project for the kids in my class. Students were invited, once again, to participate in a research-based, problem-solving disease outbreak simulation in which they worked together, in conjunction with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to formulate a plan of attack and a solution to the simulation. Students incorporated interdisciplinary research along with technology to understand how a disease outbreak occurs, how the outbreak is managed, and how it can eventually be contained. While in the throes of research, students collaborated with other online student communities as well as an online mentor to assist in guiding the research and to provide an authentic audience with whom the students could work.
I have learned that it is very difficult to ensure that learning is authentic without involving outside sources in what we undertake in our classroom. Part of what makes an activity in class authentic is to create real audiences that matter, and to use digital tools and resources to enhance the learning all the more. This project did just that! By having an audience with the CDC and by collaborating with real students on-line, my students were able to take their work seriously, because it meant something to them.
As with many of the units I create, a great deal of “behind the scenes” work has to take place before a lesson can even be rolled out to the students. This takes a great deal of time. By embedding more technology into the project, I created a monster with time management. I didn’t take into account the “up front” work that has to go into setting up 21st Century technology like ePals, telementoring, blackboard, Inspiration software, voicethread, Prezis, and on-line journaling and webpage design. I think in the future, I would limit the number of technology components students utilize, and focus on quality of work versus quantity of bells and whistles.
The work that went into planning this activity impacts our school improvement goals by seeking to excite students about their learning. As they gain interest in their content areas and spend more time in the content, they are much more likely to excel in that content. This grows student achievement which in turn impacts the school as a whole and the teaching staff within the school. When I can plan lessons that excite students, it makes me very happy indeed!
I have learned that it is very difficult to ensure that learning is authentic without involving outside sources in what we undertake in our classroom. Part of what makes an activity in class authentic is to create real audiences that matter, and to use digital tools and resources to enhance the learning all the more. This project did just that! By having an audience with the CDC and by collaborating with real students on-line, my students were able to take their work seriously, because it meant something to them.
As with many of the units I create, a great deal of “behind the scenes” work has to take place before a lesson can even be rolled out to the students. This takes a great deal of time. By embedding more technology into the project, I created a monster with time management. I didn’t take into account the “up front” work that has to go into setting up 21st Century technology like ePals, telementoring, blackboard, Inspiration software, voicethread, Prezis, and on-line journaling and webpage design. I think in the future, I would limit the number of technology components students utilize, and focus on quality of work versus quantity of bells and whistles.
The work that went into planning this activity impacts our school improvement goals by seeking to excite students about their learning. As they gain interest in their content areas and spend more time in the content, they are much more likely to excel in that content. This grows student achievement which in turn impacts the school as a whole and the teaching staff within the school. When I can plan lessons that excite students, it makes me very happy indeed!