1. Classroom of Tomorrow
This video showed a lot of options for technology in the classroom or school setting. However, all it showed was students and teachers with their faces stuck to screens. There was hardly anyone doing any kind of personable interactions. While technology is an important and a nice addition to the classroom, I do not believe it should replace face-to-face classroom interactions.
2. The Voice of an Active Learner - Education from a Digital Native's Perspective
This video encourages adults and teachers alike to keep up with the students of today and tomorrow. They are going to grow up in the age of technology. I agree that it is important for us to keep up in order to keep them challenged. However, the fact that the video said by 2019 it is projected to have about half of high school classrooms online...that doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I feel like by having high schoolers take most of their courses online, it's setting them up for unnecessary distractions, lack of face-to-face help when they need it, and just not doing the work.
3. The Future Starts Now - 2012 Edition
This video was extremely well done. It had many valid points as to why we need to integrate and stay up to date with our technology in the schools. Technology does have a way of keeping people interested. I liked that the narrator mentioned using technology to help people better understand harder subjects via fun rather than cram sessions. I believe that technology could be so much fun if it's used in the right way. Interactive technology, like the kind the Narrator is speaking of, would be extremely useful both today and tomorrow.
4. Designing Schools for 21st Century Learning
Stimulus rich environments improve learning. Research shows that if you don't have enough stimulus you're setting yourself up for failure. Your brain likes things that keeps it's interest and keeps oxygen pumping through. This video is about building new schools in at risk neighborhoods. The environment for a student is crucial. I like the ideas about the open classroom settings but for me, it would be extremely distracting. I could see how it would be useful for group work but for basic classroom instruction or initial teaching, I don't see it as a good idea. The architect believes that you should have floor to ceiling windows to feel connected, but this is not very feasible for the ADHD students. The students who get easily distracted by the slightest thing will be staring out those windows more often than not, unless there is enough going on in the classroom to keep them engaged. However, I do like the interactive atmosphere of their classroom settings and how close the students and teachers seem to be. The teachers in this environment seem genuinely interested in their student's success. 21st century learners need a different set of skills for sure.
5. Tools and Resources for the 21st Century Educator
This video was a little odd. It was just music with a lot of apps being posted around for the 21st century educator. I felt as though this was a waste of 3 minutes because I could read a list of these apps with the description of what they do exactly rather than see the name, "Storify" and wonder what on earth it does. While it was a nicely animated video, I don't think it was the best possible resource they could have used to get their point across.
6. A Vision of 21st Century Teachers
This video was about teachers integrating technology in the classroom, what it does to help their students, and how much time they spend integrating the technology. One teacher said she spends 4 hours a week maintaining a classroom website, another said she spends 20 hours a week working on interactive whiteboard lessons. Several teachers said their students participate in blogs and actually talk, including the shy ones. They make blogs, music, movies about what they learn, capture pictures of real life math situations, etc. Technology in the classroom in combination with face-to-face instruction is extremely helpful in keeping the kids interested in what they're learning.
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