An Authentic Curriculum

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working hard to develop a curriculum that “Get[s] Past Teaching Apps [and helping students] Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt“ (Cool Cat).  This focus is defined in my curriculum in terms of  students’ technology fluency, which is defined in Cool Cat’s post as:

the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention.

I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment since things keep changing. As Cool Cat notes and Karl Fisch supports, “We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won’t hold: It won’t hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.”

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Collaboration:

Okay, let’s face it.  The world is moving toward more and more online collaboration.  We need to prep our students for this.  One project I currently have simmering on the back burner is a “design team” project where student groups would “meet” online with clients to discuss the design of everything from logos to web sites.  The ideal tool for such an undertaking is Acrobat.com:

• Acrobat.com

This tool is ideal for real-time online meeting, sketching ideas on the whiteboard, uploading sample files and presentations, and even sharing screens.  It’s even free.  The problem is, it doesn’t work on our student workstations…  It’s fine on my workstation and most of my colleagues.  My students, on the other hand, always get “invalid ticket” errors.  I swear this is deep freeze, but I can’t get anyone to believe me.

Here are some other possibilities that may not already be on your radar because they haven’t been mentioned in a summer workshop or whatever (I find we’re constantly told about the same old resources again and again). These, however, all require signup and therefore open up a whole other can of worms, particularly if your district doesn’t have student email…

• WizIq
• Thinkature

Free Apps you should have but probably aren’t allowed to install yourself…

Okay, so if you teach computer classes in the public education system and you don’t have a cool class like “Web Design” or “Desktop Publishing”, you probably get pretty sick of Microsoft Office.  You also probably are not in a position to beg your district to buy you new apps.

• Adobe Air (a world of widgety goodness and free mini-apps awaits)
• Google Sketch-up (who can argue with 3d drawing)
• Audacity (a little slice of near-pro podcasting goodness)
• Gimp (open source alternative to Photoshop)
• Inkscape (open source alternative to Illustrator)

Of course, you probably can’t install these yourself so put in an IT request, beg your tech department, and bake them cookies.

“Introducing all new edublogs supporter” where we’ve taken away features you already had and offered to return them for $6.95/month. Good luck if you’re actually on a teacher salary and your district pays for nothing extra.  Yet another reason public education always get’s the shaft…

Okay, I understand.  Edublogs needs to make money to keep their servers running, but there are various degrees along the spectrum of supporting oneself and selling out.  Edublogs has sold out.  An appropriate banner ad or two is expected on most free web services, but embedded advertising links???

Will Richardson, whom I respect greatly, defines real blogging as,

Links with analysis and synthesis that articulates a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind.

If this is the case, and links are an integral aspect of the connective writing process known as blogging, then what is one supposed to think when and ad agency can trump the links within a post with their own??  Ironically, Edublogs appears to be one of the sponsors of Weblogged.  I wonder what Will thinks of their new advertising practice??

I recently read Dennis Southwood’s October article, “It’s Not Just a Game—It’s Skills for Life” from Educators’ eZine. I know, I’m a bit behind on my reading, but I have a three-month-old, which I consider an ample excuse.

Southwood begins by posing the following question.

Q: Your students are most likely to be learning the real-world skills that employers demand when they are:

a) In the classroom, following the lessons in the textbook.
b) At home, completing assigned homework.
c) On line, playing World of Warcraft.
d) On a class field trip, visiting the offices of a local corporation.

The answer is, of course, WOW (World of Warcraft). More and more, educators, scientists, and business executives are apparently coming to believe that such games require players to master skills in demand by today’s employers, such as critical thinking, team building, problem solving, and collaboration.

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