21st century learning | It's About Learning

A Domain of One’s Own – A Learning Portfolio by Any Other Name

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

https://chronicle.com/blogs/techtherapy/2012/12/05/episode-101-giving-everyone-at-college-a-domain-of-ones-own/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Episode 101: Giving Everyone at College a ‘Domain of One’s Own’ – Tech Therapy – The Chronicle of Higher Education via kwout

Jim Groom the director of teaching and learning technologies at the University of Mary Washington has a propensity for creating great names for some very common things. Several years ago Groom referred to the approach to teaching and learning practices that results from a do it yourself (DIY) attitude as “edupunk” and the name stuck. Groom latest great name is “A Domain of One’s Own” which refers to a net presence or space that faculty and staff are given to experience the full power of the web and create a net identity that they control and own even when they leave Mary Washington University.

Groom argues that this is more than just an eportfolio or learning because there is so much attached to this portfolio idea and unfortunately, due to poorly designed commercial software this generally refers to a repository of artifacts that are collected in a digital folder. A domain of one’s own goes well beyond this limited notion and challenges the students and faculty to create their own space and choose the tools and resources that they wish to use to set it up in the way they desire.

Taking ownership of one’s learning space should be central to the learning environment in higher education and it is refreshing to see institutions like Mary Washington promoting this important aspect of the learning environment.

Hats off to Groom for yet another great name for a simple but fundamental idea.

Listen to the full podcast…

In 21st century learning domain, portfolio

Your brain on video games

Dwayne Harapnuik — November 21, 2012 — Leave a comment

Scientific evidence that video games can be good for us.

In 21st century learning, Video - Wednesday Watchlist games, gaming, video games

More Evidence of the Consolidation of Higher Education

Dwayne Harapnuik — November 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

https://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/10-colleges-will-offer-online-courses-for-participants-in-study-abroad-programs/41070?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

10 Highly Selective Colleges Form Consortium to Offer Online Courses – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education via kwout

After announcements of the major Ivy League institutions forming loosely structured collaborations in EdX, Coursera and other alternative models we shouldn’t be surprised to see other respected institutions joining forces. When you see the list of the following institutions agreeing to work together to allow their students to share online credit you must finally acknowledge that online learning has begun to disrupt Higher Education:

Brandeis University
Duke University
Emory University
Northwestern University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Rochester
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis

How can small private Liberal Arts institutions compete with these types of collaborative efforts. Will this be the beginning of the end for the small Liberal Arts University?

In 21st century learning, Liberal Arts, Online Learning collaboration, elearning

7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology

Dwayne Harapnuik — November 13, 2012 — Leave a comment

A current project has me compiling the skill set of the 21st century teacher. My search has uncovered this wonderful infographic and list of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology. Any list that starts with the “Why” will get my approval and the other 6 habits listed do correspond with teachers who effectively use technology to enhance learning.

In case you find the infographic difficult to read a summary of the habits include:

They always start with the why.
They are malleable and can easily adapt.
They embrace change.
They share, share, and then share some more.
They think win-win-win-win.
They are extremely thorough and think two steps ahead.
They actively care.

Infographic Source: Mark Bates

In 21st century learning effective, habits, teachers, technology

Given Tablets but No Teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves

Dwayne Harapnuik — November 2, 2012 — 2 Comments

Given Tablets but No Teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves | MIT Technology Review via kwout

Earlier this year, OLPC workers dropped off closed boxes containing the tablets, taped shut, with no instruction. “I thought the kids would play with the boxes. Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, found the on-off switch … powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child, per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs in the village, and within five months, they had hacked Android,” Negroponte said. “Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera, and they figured out the camera, and had hacked Android.”

This is a classic example of discovery or inquiry based learning. Given the right resources and opportunities children will learn how to use to a computer.

This is not the first time we have seen children teach themselves. Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK has learned from his Hole in the Wall project that children can learn as how to use a PC on their own and then teach other children. Mitra continues to ask what else children can learn. The following TED talk summaries the results of his Hole in the Wall project.

Mitra’s research that shows that children become computer literate without the aid of a teacher is formally presented in the academic paper Acquisition of computing literacy on shared public computers: Children and the “hole in the wall”

The OLPC experiment and Mitra’s Hole in the Wall research confirm that children can learn to become computer literate irrespective of who and where they are. What else can children learn on their own?

In 21st century learning "Hole in the wall", OLPC