The key ideas described in the video incorporate technology in education in a variety of ways: gaming, media arts, scavenger hunts, augmented reality, and creating allegories. I'd like to think we do some of these, although not nearly in the same depth, throughout the year in either science or social studies. In addition to the variety of techniques introduced, there were some very powerful quotations. I particularly enjoyed, "technology is changing the ecology of a school." I'd sure like to believe this, however, I know that in our building, the new ecology is in specific niches (rooms) and not throughout the whole facility.
I love the game designing idea, but they didn't mention how they teach the kids about how to produce the games. Was it a specific program? Who teaches them the technology, or is it incorporated into the content? I love the idea of a virtual theater - off all the technology we do, the animation piece is pretty limited and that assignment was just removed from our curriculum. I also liked the connection to gaming and problem solving; I often forget that aspect. I remember playing very simplistic games on our VIC20 and Commodore 64, that had levels and I pushed myself over and over - such a great strategy for education, which lends to the quotation, you "don't leave unless you've learned it." What a concept!
The Digital Youth Network also looked amazing, however, there seemed to be so much independence. I'm not sure how this would work with kids who don't have that focus, yet. I also appreciated hearing about how technology builds on the traditional literacy. For years, I've known this was what and how we needed to be teaching, but hey, I've only been around education for 19 years. I loved the concrete connections that I can add to my repertoire so when people criticize or question what we do, I have the examples and support I need.
The idea of creating scavenger hunts as well as the learning around town would be a great way to teach our Yarmouth unit; although again, it may require more independence than our kids have in September. Molly Smith tried to get a group of kids together to create recorded walking tours, I'll have to see if there was ever a final product.
The two ideas I'd like to use in my classroom (immediately) are the creating allegory and the "what if you changed the outcome of an event in history". We often ask our students to retell a concept or idea in their own words as if they were explaining it to their 5th grade buddy. We don't ask them to demonstrate or show the concept - what a wonderful use of the different programs on their computers. I also think the idea of changing the outcome of an event, like an assassination or a spark to a war/conflict would be such a great group project - I can just imagine the discussions and connections they'll make.
Finally, two other quotations I enjoyed include, we "can't ignore technology," and that a teacher's goal is to, "make everyone able to participate in society." If we want to be successful in doing this, we need to let go of so many of our 20th century practices and try and incorporate as much technology in as many different ways as possible. We can't be afraid of what our kids can do with the resources we provide!
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