Technology Summit Day 2 Part 2

Faith Lutheran Technology Summit Day 2

Coverit live Faith Lutheran Technology Summit

What skills do our students need?

What is the technology skill set that the graduate of a High School will need to complete their college work? To enter the work force? What tasks will be second nature for them that we are not thinking about today?

In order to compete in the 21st century global economy, students need to learn how to harness the power of technology to communicate in our increasingly flat world.

If students are to learn these skills, they may need to get very different kinds of assignments. Here's a traditional assignment: "Read the following descriptions of sites in Metropolis and, referring to the specifications, determine which site would be the best for a park." A corresponding assignment that would teach 21st-century skills might be this: "Using GPS equipment, work with students from two other schools in this city to determine the best site for a park, collaborate on a multimedia presentation, and arrange to make that presentation to the city council." In the latter assignment, students use various forms of technology (Internet, Email, GPS equipment, perhaps digital cameras, PowerPoint™), solve real-life problems, and work together to produce the desired result.

Note that the technology alone is insufficient. Good pedagogy is still good pedagogy, and that means engaging students, challenging them, encouraging them, and trusting them to do well. The trick—the goal—is incorporating technology into that pedagogy.

-The Journal/21st century Skills

Good pedagogy is still good pedagogy. This year at Educon 2.0 five guiding principals were outlined in a discussion about our schools.

1. Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2. Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
3. Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4. Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5. Learning can — and must — be networked

We also need to consider the three essential questions from Dan Pink's, A Whole New Mind:







As teachers we need to make sure that our lessons are surrounding these questions/statements. If our students are going to be competing in a global economy then we need to take a serious look at the essential learnings and pedagogy in our classrooms. In order for change to occur we need to continue to look at 21st Century literacy skills.

Biotechnology - Lego Rocking Platform

I am making my return to blogging. Next week in my AP Biology class I will be isolating green fluorescent protein from transformed bacteria. I need a rocking platform agitates a liquid bacterial culture. It is too late to order one like the one offered from Bio-Rad.



My only option was to build one myself. I went to our robotics lab and built a rocking platform out of Lego's. It fits perfectly into my incubator and was much more economical.

Below is a video of the Lego Rocking Platform in action.

Old Classroom/New Classroom

(Click video to advance slides, right click to rewind)

Thank you Will Richardson for this great view of education. As we get more into the digital age we need to start thinking about what types of activities we are doing in our classroom. We need to start thinking about in the age of access, "Why do I have my students memorize this?" We also need to start considering, "What engages students?" "What impact are my students having on the world?" Please start a discussion here as we attempt to answer these questions.

Use for twitter!!!

Today I invited my AP Biology colleagues from around the world to join me in the twitter community. I hope this can become a collaborative, productive community. We will now have the ability to ask for immediate help on labs, questions in class, etc. I think this could become very powerful for teachers teaching the class as well as students taking the class.

Jonathan Orr