Unitclass

Traditional educators, classrooms, and brick-and-mortar schools are no longer necessary to access information. Instead, things like blogs and wikis, as well as remote collaborations and an emphasis on 'critical thinking' skills are the coins of the realm in this new kingdom. Yet the national dialogue on education reform focuses on using technology to update the traditional education model, failing to reassess the fundamental design on which it is built.

In 'Why School?,' educator, author, parent and blogger Will Richardson challenges traditional thinking about education — questioning whether it still holds value in its current form. How can schools adjust to this new age? Or students? Or parents? In this provocative read, Richardson provides an in-depth look at how connected educators are beginning to change their classroom practice. Ultimately, 'Why School?' serves as a starting point for the important conversations around real school reforms that must ensue, offering a bold plan for rethinking how we teach our kids, and the consequences if we don't.

Richardson offers provocative alternatives to the existing education system, questioning everything from standardized assessments to the role of the teacher. In this chapter, “Real Work for Real Audiences,” Richardson envisions students creating work that is relevant and useful in the world outside school.

At the core of connected learning are three values:

Equity — when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in.

Full Participation — learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute.

Singapore's 21st-Century Teaching Strategies 

Adrian: I think it is important to make school fun. And when school is fun, you don't get kids waking up in the morning and saying, "Do I have to come to school again?" So we embrace technology, because it helps us make learning more engaging. I believe that when kids are engaged, when kids are interested, that's where learning takes place.

From a techcrunch.com article:

“I don’t think this is such a good idea. I think that 13′s and above are having a hard enough time around some of the pressures of Facebook,” argues, MIT Psychologist, Sherry Turkle, and author ofAlone Together. Facebook is reportedly mulling a decision to permit children under 13-years-old to join. Mark Zuckerberg, himself, has broached the subject, “my philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age.”

...the Wall Street Journal reported that "Facebook is developing technology that would allow children younger than 13 to use the social-networking site under parental supervision.

The Journal called Facebook's move "a step that could help the company tap a new pool of users for revenue but also inflame privacy concerns" and shortly after the article went live on the web, Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer, who was quoted in the story, issued a statement that Facebook "appears to be doing whatever it takes to identify new revenue streams and short-term corporate profits to impress spooked shareholders." He added that "there is absolutely no proof of any meaningful social or educational value of Facebook for children under 13," and that "there are very legitimate concerns about privacy as well as the impact on the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children." He likened Facebook to "Big Tobacco in appealing to young people -- try to hook kids early, build your brand, and you have a customer for life."

New York City public school teachers may not contact students through personal pages on Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, but can communicate via pages set up for classroom use, the Education Department said Tuesday after it released its first list of guidelines governing the use of social media by employees.

The guidelines do not ban teachers from using social media and, in fact, recognize that social media can offer tremendous pedagogical benefits. But they do reflect growing concerns about the instantaneous electronic ease with which teachers can interact with students, not just in New York City but around the United States.

(Reuters) - An elite California college's admission this week that it tried to boost its reputation by inflating the test scores of incoming freshmen has stoked a heated debate over the outsized influence and controversial methodology of commercial "best college" lists.

Without a one-stop shop for clear, comprehensive information, some parents fall back on easy-to-grasp lists like the annual "best colleges" rankings, Hawkins said.

“Education and learning are moving, at least in many children’s eyes, beyond acts of knowledge transmission toward acts of exploration and creation. As participants in this new model, robots and other intelligent technologies could help unleash the inherent and expansive capabilities of each child in ways that we’ve only begun to conceive.”

This also reminds me of a quote from codeyear.com: "If we don't learn to program, we risk being programmed ourselves... program or be programmed" - Douglas Rushkoff, Media Theorist, Writer. However, this will not make teachers and parents redundant. Like with the use of Khan Academy in classrooms, educators just need to take on different roles.