Trilling and Fadel begin this chapter with a hint at what Michio Kaku (Physics of the Future) refers to as the time of abundance. The team’s three generation analogy alludes to the journey towards this abundance as each generation builds upon the last generation’s accomplishments to further progress the system in which they belong. One can take that generation a step further and mention that Lee’s young daughter is currently learning the programming skills necessary to utilize GPS systems and smart cars (for which prototypes already exist) to develop self driving systems which will eliminate accidents and lack of efficiency in daily driving. Many of Kaku’s ideas speak to this chapter and I shall apply this lens to my project throughout this paper. Speaking to this noted time of abundance, as we develop technologies that make the daily necessities of life easier to obtain, the ideas and thinking move into the realm of creation and solving more complicated problems which often result from the very fixes from the past. It becomes a requirement at this point to shift our thinking to the building of ideas upon that base level rather than relearning the base level alone.
Knowledge Work: (applied to energy project)
The start of our energy project next year lies in utilizing PBS Learning Media as an introduction to energy issues and technology. The class as a whole will view and discuss several energy-based videos and each group will have other videos assigned to their groups for viewing, analysis, and utilization within their projected model. This utilizes not only the ability to gather information from digital sources, but also incorporates the collaborative nature of group discussion and work on a shared topic or goal. When we say 21st century student, many of us automatically think about the technology aspect and not the human interaction it has enabled and that we must recreate in person as well. The school has offered our class a collaboration room where we will include space for groups to work as well as access internet-based learning spaces and Skype interviews with other students and professionals from their project area. Fadell mentions multinational corporations investing in development of teachers, and I wonder where they are as we hope to involve them in the class directly as well. For this project, we have set up a meeting with the engineering department at Conoco Philips (meeting happened today; look for entry on it soon) to create a relationship based on this energy project linking students to engineers and technicians around the world with expertise in energy production and consumption. We have also coordinated a meeting with a group of department leaders at Google via online meetings (also happened; update soon) to discuss the creation of digital workspaces custom built to the project’s needs including the groups themselves in the design process. We are working on meetings with other energy and engineering companies to broaden the scope and create possible collaboration situations for these student groups. Fadel and Trilling seem to support the idea of encouraging students not only to go through the motions of completing work, but also be involved in the planning and understanding of the infrastructure which supports learning in order to practice the innovation necessary to create those environments and settings in their own future endeavors.
Thinking Tools: (applied to energy project)
One argument I have entered into over the last six years of my teaching is the argument over the use of mobile devices in the classroom. I completely agree that the misuse of these devices wastes time and causes distraction within the class setting. Then the person making this point checks their facebook page on their desktop, laptop, or iphone. I find it ironic when this happens and when I point it out I am usually handed the age-old “I am an adult and a professional which earns me certain privileges” argument. I disagree and feel that instead of battling an addiction to mobile media which adults also succumb to (one study indicates my age group utilizes them for viewing far more often than the teens we teach), we should instead simply show the amazing capabilities these devices have and how we can harness them to produce and not just consume. With the addition of Google Glass over the next few years and the even more unobtrusive contact lens which Michio Kaku speaks of often, education and educators will be forced to not only rethink how we educate, but the very nature of assessment in general. Standardized, single-answer tests will no long suffice on the measurement of abilities as, with a mere blink of an eye, students will access unlimited information in the very pupil of their eye. We must instead change our focus to how to find information, judge its validity, and utilize it and other learned skills to solve complex problems with a variety of options for solving. The project hopes to mirror this concept as it asks students to collaborate, research, validate, propose solutions, test solutions, and present findings on a problem rather that simply reading a concept and answering questions based on whether or not the material was read. The research component will reside in books, magazines, websites, and interviews and meetings with field professionals via Skype, Google+ For Education, and Facetime. Students conducting this research and creating these learning environments helps them prepare for the innovation and adaptability the future job markets demand. On a side note, I love that the authors mention Moore’s law without mentioning the law itself. I do wonder why they don’t delve into this topic a bit as, just like students, the more teachers know about the concepts we are learning about, the better we can apply them to our own thinking.
Digital Lifestyles:
This piece of the chapter really highlights the idea that the answer to teaching this generation is not based on having the newest gear and the knowhow to use it, but having the adaptability to understand that these students have a whole different sense of reality and understanding information than do their predecessors. It reminds me of when my household bought our first family computer and hooked it to the internet. Both my parents and my computer teachers at school fell to the same naive notion of technology and learning. They put us in front of machines they did not understand themselves and expected us to teach ourselves and become intelligent in the ways they were. We learned how to use computers and the internet, but to them we seemed slow in the areas they were expecting us to flourish in. I find this similar with many teachers I work with even today. They feel that finding the next program or the faster machine will directly impact how well their students learn their material, but this is a false notion often fed by a deeper need to feel supported through new media. Both students and teachers need to be taught that the technology itself is only a tool to help with the gaining of knowledge and skills and that a new management of learning must take place for those tools to become effective in education goals. Many or most teachers truly realize this concept but are not often shown the extent of what the new technology can accomplish and do not have the proper support which leads them to want to take the risk needed to use it. When we look at the bullet list on page 29, we can deconstruct the way to connect students to the skills we want them to have rather than relying on the machine as the fix to any situation. These highlight not the technology itself, but how it has shifted the needs of the students in learning situations.
-Freedom: Students can navigate wherever they please on their own time. Bringing them into a situation telling them they must learn one concept in only one way with the same singular outcome will accordingly bore them to affectless numbness at school. The answer is not to cut them loose with no guidance as they will inevitably accomplish little to no work towards the standards or goals of the assignment. The answer is for instructors to put in the planning to give students a choice of real problems to solve with not already planned answers and guide them through their efforts with the skills needed and standard skills teachable in the given set of choices.
-Customization: As students customize their own web-based portfolios through facebook, twitter, and instagram, they develop the habit of selling themselves and their talents in the forms they choose. As we continue to move toward a more producer-based web, this will only grow within our students. Again, the planning of the teacher comes into play when designing assignments (projects) and assessments. Up front planning creates an environment where students can show what they know through the mediums they work best in. This also demands malleability of the instructor in the skills of developing choices which work for both the student and the teacher for the evidence of learned skills and information.
-Scrutiny: This comes to questioning. The “me-me-me generation” has no subculture as they do not recognize a general culture surrounding them. This is an obvious step from the social revolution grandparents fighting the culture of the time followed by the self-pitying-do-not-help-me generation X. This new generation is accepting of people in general, but not of authoritative demands without evidence or reason. In short, they question. This questioning is a demand we should have and encourage in our students, but the teacher must be willing to be questioned as well. These students have very few secrets and therefor are more willing to pry into the reasons and details of many levels before the current system squashes the tendency instead of feeding it.
-Integrity and Openness: Through videos, pictures, tweets, and status updates, students live their lives in the open. Many of their current pop-culture heroes came to fame simply through the ability to openly share their faults and accomplishments on line for the world to see. They expect the same from the adults in their lives. Creating an environment where students feel that they can be open as well as expect the others in the room to do likewise, including the instructor. Too many times, the separation of the teacher from the students as one sitting higher on a social ladder creates a sense of separation and distrust in the learning environment. While we as an older generation may have more respect for privacy and “keeping up appearances”, our students wear their lives on their sleeves. We must create a space where that is welcome and not judged too harshly when we deem information unsatisfactory.
Entertainment: This is a no-brainer and older than this generation for sure. We like to play. We like to laugh. We like to be intrigued, excited, and entertained. The world of sit down, shut up, and learn from the boring guy in the tie can no longer exist with our students. Just what stops us as instructors from putting in the planning time to make our lessons more entertaining and engaging for our students? We must also take feedback from our students on the effectiveness of that planning by paying attention to them as the lesson unfolds. Are they sleeping or are their eyes wide with anticipation of the next step? Living by that idea creates a class all students are excited to attend.
-Collaboration: Students’ lives are lived and determined by the opinions and affections of those around them. Why not take advantage of that fact by creating an environment which mutual respect and friendship as they would want to work together simply to be around each other? This is easy to achieve again by taking time to design positive situations where students and instructors interact towards similar goals and the event is a team event rather than individual battles.
-Speed: Teachers must connect with students outside of the forty-five minutes a day they see them. The class should maintain a twitter account for the purposes of class. Sending out a cool fact at random times shows students that the information is not just what they are mandated to learn, but helpful, fun and useful in all aspects of life.
-Innovation: One could never overstate the importance of innovation in the future work place. Every major corporation and learning genius understands and professes the need for students to be innovative and imaginative. Why then do we inhibit it through the worksheet culture of fact pushing within concrete prisons seated at standardized work-spaces? This will not be addressed by so-called education reformers and the only answer is for teachers to scoff at the data-driven reformation and instead reform from within and let the data do the talking later. By planning and taking the steps necessary to contain the above principles and apply the skills needed to them, we can simply pass by any standardized test with ease as a moment of annoyance in our otherwise exhilarating class experience.
Learning Research:
This section is clear and needs little discussion. I wonder though why it needs discussion at all in the profession as the issues within the section seem common sense. They speak to all previous discussion and only add to say that time should be taken to discuss what we are doing and why in the sense of how we learn. I shall now move directly to the Top Challenge as the rest speaks to the previous statements.
Top 21st Century Challenge:
The authors again note that problem solving and the abilities to do so are where our education system should focus while building solid foundations in core subjects. The question for us as educators is how to accomplish this monumental task. I argue through this project is to introduce them to the task of solving these problems now. Have them enter the discussion and take on the tasks while they are safe to fail and rebuild ideas. The test of the 21st century teacher will be to plan and integrate the skills and information required by standardization into the process of teaching 21st century skills. It is on the shoulders of the instructor.
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