21st Century Learning

The Next Lesson and The Third Teacher

The board that I work for has changed their IT department name to 21^st Century Learning and AICT. Their focus now is not only on the delivery of software but in understanding of 21^st Century teaching and learning.

The members are focusing on the principles of the NeXtLesson and the Third Teacher.

Teachers are presented with a guide to assist them on The Next Lesson which focuses in

• knowledge construction, 
• Collaboration, 
• Self-Regulation, 
• Real-World Problem Solving & Innovation, 
• Use of ICT for learning
• Skilled communication.  

This guide describes six rubrics that describe each of the above skill for students to develop.

This framework will help educators   “identify and understand the opportunities that learning activities give students “in order to build skills that will better prepare learners for their future in the 21^st Century.

The learning is done in partners.

Click on the image of the guide to read about how to implement 21st century learning in your classroom:

Partners in Learning Network will assist you to connect with other teachers and to a database of 21st Century activities. http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/LearningActivities









The third teacher is the environment the students are in, in order to collaborate, share, and work together. Changing how students learn.
From Capacity Building Series, it outlines what the Third Teacher is and the following video will demonstrate what it would look like:

I had the opportunity to attend a Symposium on 21st Century Learning last December and during my course in January to delve through what the NextLesson is and how to create one with the assistance of my instructor Mario.

Caine's Card Board Project

The 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning are: Creativity, Communication, Critical Thinking and Collaboration.  "Project Based Learning emphasizes creative thinking skills by allowing students to find that there are many ways to solve a problem."  One of my peers from night school introduced this phenomenal video which sparked a wave of cardboard creativity in kids around the world.  This video was also the start of a new foundation called, "Imagination Foundation" to foster creativity in more kids.



Thanks John.

Edcanvas

Earlier I posted a lesson using Edcanvas.  Edcanvas allows you to gather information and resources into one place to make lesson delivery easy.  I visited it again and I noticed that there is now improved options in the text editor.  They have also launched a new feature that allows you to add audio to your canvas. Teachers can also set up a class and  Edcanvas can tell you which students viewed your lesson and give you detailed reports about their participation.
View an Edcanvas lesson on an earlier post.....

 For Educators:  
In the Edcanvas Blog post, the Edcanvas team write the following:
Many teachers have asked us to add the ability to annotate their canvases with sound, and others have asked us to give their students the same ability. Now, you can add audio clips anywhere in your canvas! Use audio comments to

1.       Read out material to make it easier for auditory learners to understand concepts.

2.       Add another level of instruction on top of your canvas.

3.       Require students to voice their opinion or speak aloud translations instead of just writing it in a comment.

ePals Community.......PBL

Epals Global community is a site that offers projects for classroom collaboration.  You can safely connect with other classrooms, collaborate or start your own project based learning OR Teachers can search for classroom ready projects and activities. You can join for free. 
 www.epals.com

There are lesson plan/projects you can find in this community.

Project Noah....Connect with the Natural World through Investigation

I love it when I stumble upon sites like this!!!

Project Noah help students experience nature through which they solve real-world problems.  This site is for students to share their experiences with wildlife and they are given oppotunities to make a difference.  Students make observations and investigations on key concepts in the Life Sciences and share their work with the Project Noah community. 

Teachers can sign up and set up their classroom. Resources and teaching materials are available.  Great enquiry based curriculum and critical literacy.

There is an app available as well. 
http://www.projectnoah.org/education

SketchUp.........3D models

SketchUp for Education  http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/industries/education.html
Students from K-12 can create 3D images/models by using this online drawing tool. They have a free download version for educators and kids.
http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/download/gsu.html    (download)

For Educators:
Have students sketch a model. They are to teach other students how to create what they created;  they can create a movie describing step by step on how to make their image. This is a good idea to do collaboratively or as a project based learning assignment.

Project-based learning

A global program that provides interactive project-based learning to students and participants in several countries. A site for both Teacher and Students. Completed projects can be viewed by everyone in the world. Password protected and safe---AND Free. http://thinkquest.org/en/

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