Comments on: Giving Students’ learning Choices Through Technology

By: hgtuttle

hgtuttle — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:40:18 +0000

Carl,
I’ve been in too many classrooms where the teacher determines everything that is done in the classroom. Students never get to think for themselves. As I get ready for next semester, I am carefully looking how I can change the dynamics of the classroom so that the students have more choices in how they learn the material and what they do with it. In fact, I’m working on a think-aloud to model on how to write a contrast paper that I hope to finish and put up on YouTube. Students can access that and rewatch it as much as they need to to understand the concept. I could even have a handout to help guide them through it. I’m try to break down their learning into pieces that they can access digitally.
Harry

By: nicheguru

nicheguru — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:33:59 +0000

Excellent. Empowering students must be any educator’s dream but sadly educators and technology do not go hand in hand. What we need is the concept of customized learning, then perhaps we will truly realize the potential of inner self.

By: Carl Anderson

Carl Anderson — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:37:47 +0000

Sounds like a blend of alternative ed and online school. Harry, you ask some wonderful questions on your blog and I am often compelled to participate in the conversations you start. I wish more would jump in and continue these discussions. This particular issue is one that I have struggled with. I totally agree that giving students choice is a good thing but lately I have been considering the possibility that these choices already exist for our students. In Minnesota our students have the option of going to traditional public school, alternative learning centers (if they fit the criteria of “at risk”), any number of charter schools with varying approaches to learning, full-time online schools, supplemental online schools, post secondary enrollment, or they can just take their GED and still go to college if they want. I think almost everyone recognizes that no one model of instruction fits all learners. Lately I have come to the thought that maybe there is still a need for some schools to do things the way they have been done and that that model still serves some of our kids. The question is, do we change the mainstream schools to fit a different learning model or do we let one or more of the alternative options grow to be competitive or equally prominent in our national education system?