Who Owns the Learning?
Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 3:25PM Dr. Alan November
North Texas Educational Leadership Conference
UNT Gateway Center - November 16, 2011
Notes taken by Mike Marlett
Alan November was one of the initial five Christa McAuliffe Educators. He runs November Learning educational consulting and an annual summer conference, Building Learning Communities.
November was educated at Marblehead High School, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard University, and the University of Edinburgh.
Who Owns the Learning? Students must own it. Content is everywhere - the really good content comes from classmates. Schools should empower kids to not just consume content knowledge but produce it. A study by Harvard University on Harvard University found that its professors were not the reason for its production of great graduates, but the collaborative atmosphere that was nurtured there allowed students to learn from each other at a very high degree. Teachers should spend most of their time helping students apply the content knowledge to well prepared questions.
Student Example from Texas:
Highland Park High School student Blake Copeland - wrote an iOS App just because one of his teachers mentioned that it could be done - http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com
Web Content Knowledge Examples:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/
http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
Question:
Who is working harder in the classroom? Teacher or Student? Does our current use of technology in the classroom still trap our teachers into owning the learning?
Teachers should give interesting questions to students. Kids are hungry for the chance to use technology tools to research and answer real world questions.
See: Classroom "Flip" - http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/
Thoughts about Sweetwater ISD:
What does this mean for Sweetwater students? Mr. November talked in great detail about the flipped classroom and how it can be implemented quickly by schools. He believed it can possibly be the single most effective change to improve schools. We could implement such a change.
Support for the flipped classroom would be required. We would need at least one computer lab open extended hours and weekends for students who need access to tools for creating and discovering as well as to learn content. The PC lab as we now know it would not be sufficient. Video and photo editing tools as well as the devices necessary to capture those digital artifacts would be needed. We would also need a robust system for the students to use for sharing of ideas and content. Free tools exist but would require a change in policy.
Teachers would need to really study the CScope lessons and change their teaching structure so that "homework" would be completed at school while sufficient teaching content would be available at home. The good thing about content at home is that the struggling student could re-watch or re-listen to the material over and over as well as talk to other students if not understanding. Another good point is that the students would never go home and do their homework practice wrong - then have to re-learn how to do it.
Some school districts in attendence open their computer labs to both parents and students. Families are encouraged to work together.