Technology for an outdoor learning environment

I may not be a teaching practitioner at this time, however, I still consider myself an educator invested in high quality practices the provide students with innovative ways to explore the world they live in and expand their thinking.  

ADVANCEMENT FOR LEARNING

Technology in the classroom is a debated topic since while students are early adopters, often knowing how to connect, how to process and how to learn new technology skill rapidly, some educational providers struggle to know how to integrate advanced technologies into the learning at a level that is engaging and relevant to the level of proficiency that students already possess. But perhaps teachers do not have to have mastered technology to the same degree as their students.  It would be terrific if we could see this as a resource or tool problem to be solved together.  We can think in terms of the outcomes from learning that we desire students to master, and then involve them in finding the apps and tools to solve the problem.  Apple Education often showcase incredible and innovative uses of their devices for learning.  Yes, these videos are for promotional value for Apple, but it is so wonderful to see the vast way that technology can be used to make learning real world, and rigorous.  In this promotional video, you will see the way that students in Singapore are using an iPad to predict, measure and graph results: Apple Stories: Nanyung Girls' School, Singapore.

TECHNOLOGY USE OUTDOORS

In Isleboro, Maine, a school district has thought very hard about how to bring students out of the walled classroom to engage in the natural world, bringing the 21st century tools they enjoy using with them.  They say that the art of authentic technological integration is to get them doing,  Teachers bridge their teaching with technology so that students make their own connections.  We know enough about the brain to know that this is required to develop higher order thinking. Students collaborate to create a resource that becomes a document available to the community and the world.  Teachers say that students don't see the writing and drafting and re-writing as a chore when there is a purpose. Video: Using Technology to Connect Students and the Environment. 

This video was featured on the User Generated Education blog, which is a terrific resource for teachers to expand their awareness of the possibilities that technology can provide for their students.  It features top Apps used in the classroom, website links to other resources, and also some very practical theory to assist schools in developing a common language to support the growth of technology integration.

For example: the blog also presents the SAMR model, developed by Dr Ruben Puentendura:

Here is a chart that presents the model of technology integration developed by Dr Puentendura:

The IB Community Blog

Yes, I work at for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Americas office. But I applied to work with the IB because I believe in the philosophy of Education for a Better World.  Having taught in IB World Schools for a number of years and seen the way the programmes not only developed students capacity as critical and creative thinkers, but opened their minds to new perspectives while affirming them to dig deep into their own cultural heritages and be proud of who they are, and where they come from.

The IB Community Blog provides programme updates, research reports, philosophy and practice of student centred education as well as showcases the incredible work of students and teachers within a global context.  From the inside, IB staff contribute and also spend time sourcing the voices of the IB community, which has reached more than 6,000 programmes world wide, with 2,608 IB World Schools in the Americas, alone.  1.3 Million students access a globally directed education, across the world.

You may like to take a look at the way the new Career-related programme is contributing to future pathways, or read about how IB alumni believe their education helped them to become a life-long learner.  Reading this blog inspires me because it literally consists of student, parent, teacher, leader, curriculum designer, researcher, advocate and alumni contributions.  While I have a rich experience in the IB, this blog inspires me and helps me to develop a greater knowledge of programme impact, and new perspectives about international education.

Someone once said, we are not learning, we are not growing, if we aren't growing, we aren't living; and if we aren't living.... 

Let's not require kids to grow up too fast: Education for the future.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m asking because I think I’m still deciding, and I just celebrated my 37th birthday!  It’s taken me some time to undo the effect policy makers and an invisible world of adults had on my education.  While I was fortunate to have a somewhat broad exposure to studies in Math, Sciences (I was ok in Biology, but just made it through Chemistry), Literature (my favorite), Music (my passion), Film (my interest), History (didn’t care at the time), Visual Art (wanted desperately to be good), my foundational pre-university education still lacked a cohesive element that helped me to make meaning of all of this.  Let’s just say it was another decade before I felt like I had my existential moment.  After saying I’d never be a teacher, like my father, I became an educator and every year reflected on how I could be a better facilitator for the growth of each and every one of my students.  It’s not easy, but it is wonderful! My decision to leave the classroom (for now) is in the hope to do my part to ensure the educational experiences of students within my sphere of influence truly prepare them for the future, but even more than that, I hope that the education that we provide students today, is a platform for many generations to come.  Yes.  I’m suggesting that we look beyond the 21st century when we think about what education should be. 

It is within this context that I am excited to see the field of education redefining approaches to teaching and learning to be more student centered and better driven toward a real world application. But I also wonder why we feel we have to offer so many “signature” programmes for students to choose from and why they have to be so specialized that students are locking themselves into a specific skill set or field, too soon.  Shouldn’t learning experiences surprise us?  Shouldn’t they bring out qualities that we didn’t know existed?  Maybe an education is about exploring what we enjoy and learning how to make sense of what confuses us so that we can understanding who we are and what we can contribute to the community we serve. 

In this way 21st century learning should provide opportunities for students to explore the way the world works, nurture their natural curiosity (or reignite it), challenge them to think critically while actually enjoying what they are learning. Yet, I feel that we seem to keep pushing them to decide who they want to be, too soon.  When I reflect on the educational buffet we present to students to choose from, I wonder if we think that all knowledge and understanding exists in a vacuum; that adopting an exclusively STEM focus solves all of our 21st century future problems.  Will it? Do our career pathway programmes actually prepare students to learn on the job?  Do they understand how to further develop their skills? ... I’m just asking. [Symbol]  

We need to stop for a minute and think about what matters most. I think we all want to prepare young people to be successful in a rapidly changing world. Right? We must work together to be accountable to this goal, and not be like those invisible adults who define the future for school age students. In an effort to define education, we design the future of the world. It is really that important that we get it right.   As designer Bruce Mau says, “we live our lives inside ... a world that we create. If we don’t design that well, our life is bad” He uses automotive design as an example of an industry that has reconstructed the world in which we live.  He suggests that because of successful automotive design, we now have created bigger problems such as congestion, long commutes to work, pollution, etc.  There are many examples of the way innovation has created problems, and perhaps it is because of rapid success, progress and profit that we haven’t imagined how what we create will change the way we live.  We need engineers and designers to think about populations and systems and societies, within the context of history and relationships.   

When designing education for the future, I think we could pay more attention to wonderful capacity human beings have to think critically and creatively.  Let’s just think on that for a moment... What an incredible gift.  What if our educational programmes and systems focused more on activating this gift holistically, and less on the subject matter, or the stuff we think young people should know? What if students in K-12 education could be prepared to do anything, and also focus on what they enjoy?  If you can sing, sing it; if you can write, write it; if you can build, construct it; if you can invent, make something!  But don’t forget to explore the full potential of what the world has to offer.  I’m not advocating for a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ approach.  I’m just hoping that we can refocus education on what will make a better world. In my mind, it’s simple. We want and need lifelong learners.  We need to prepare for a future where there are more adults who are lifelong learners because they learned how to learn in school. They should also be open-minded enough to learn from those who do things differently.  This philosophy of education is one of partnership and collaboration.  It is about principles and practices, not standards that ultimately repackage content and the stuff.  We need to work together across all knowledge areas and disciplines, with employers and universities to offer students holistic and balanced opportunities to explore the world they find themselves in.  Perhaps then, we will develop the lifelong learners we need in our world.