"If we are expected to achieve results
never before accomplished,
we should expect to employ methods
never before used."
-Sir Francis Bacon -1590
Our Future...
Most of our students have never seen one of these...
Sir Francis Bacon's comment is even more true for me today.
This statement has been at the forefront of my thinking as we
ponder on the challenges before us.
So where to from here... these are definitely changing times!
21st Century Learning... is all the buzz with the Ministry of Education.
In many ways we are delivering a "rotary phone" experience to an "iphone" clientele. Technology is constantly changing and we unable to keep up. Ten years ago schools had better technology than families did. Today, the family home has a number of computers and are likely to be more up-to-date than the local school.
The result is that students are disengaged, and parents are concerned about their students future and ask, "Will they be ready?"
So...what do we need to do? Get Wisdom.
We need to continue to our emphasis on parental involvement...we cannot do it alone. The board needs to continue its community forums and expand them by accessing technology to share the sessions online for non attendees.
We need to enhance/promote new forms of schooling...one size does not fit all. I love the fact that in Langley we have options for learning. Langley Education Centre does distance learning with a hybrid model of face to face and online at all times of the day and evening. Fundamental Schools, Fine Arts Schools, Vanguard Secondary, U-Connect...we need to continue to provide unique learning opportunities while maintaining core services in all our schools.
We need smarter approaches. Google is the pocket of all our students. They have the ability to access knowledge with ease. How do we harness it for greater learning?
We need to recognize the uniqueness of every single learner. I have always thought that our mentor program for teachers and administrators was a powerful learning tool...why not develop it for students that desire it as well. It is said that it takes a "whole village to raise a child"...why not involve the village?
We need to continue to encourage our teachers to be are facilitators of learning supported by technology. I believe that the biggest value for our dollar is spent in supporting technology for our teachers...the more we can make their job a powerful learning experience...the more our students will be invited into the exciting world of learning. If teachers are excited...students will be as well. Side by side teaching has made a big difference in supporting technology in the classroom...this needs to be increased.
We need to be focused on student outcomes rather than system inputs. The factory model of inputs...has had some success...but it is time to look at the product as comes off the assembly line. Is that the best we can do? Knowing about something is a long way from understanding it.
Real Learning | Real Change | Real Futures
Rod Ross
This statement has been at the forefront of my thinking as we
ponder on the challenges before us.
So where to from here... these are definitely changing times!
21st Century Learning... is all the buzz with the Ministry of Education.
In many ways we are delivering a "rotary phone" experience to an "iphone" clientele. Technology is constantly changing and we unable to keep up. Ten years ago schools had better technology than families did. Today, the family home has a number of computers and are likely to be more up-to-date than the local school.
The result is that students are disengaged, and parents are concerned about their students future and ask, "Will they be ready?"
So...what do we need to do? Get Wisdom.
We need to continue to our emphasis on parental involvement...we cannot do it alone. The board needs to continue its community forums and expand them by accessing technology to share the sessions online for non attendees.
We need to enhance/promote new forms of schooling...one size does not fit all. I love the fact that in Langley we have options for learning. Langley Education Centre does distance learning with a hybrid model of face to face and online at all times of the day and evening. Fundamental Schools, Fine Arts Schools, Vanguard Secondary, U-Connect...we need to continue to provide unique learning opportunities while maintaining core services in all our schools.
We need smarter approaches. Google is the pocket of all our students. They have the ability to access knowledge with ease. How do we harness it for greater learning?
We need to recognize the uniqueness of every single learner. I have always thought that our mentor program for teachers and administrators was a powerful learning tool...why not develop it for students that desire it as well. It is said that it takes a "whole village to raise a child"...why not involve the village?
We need to continue to encourage our teachers to be are facilitators of learning supported by technology. I believe that the biggest value for our dollar is spent in supporting technology for our teachers...the more we can make their job a powerful learning experience...the more our students will be invited into the exciting world of learning. If teachers are excited...students will be as well. Side by side teaching has made a big difference in supporting technology in the classroom...this needs to be increased.
We need to be focused on student outcomes rather than system inputs. The factory model of inputs...has had some success...but it is time to look at the product as comes off the assembly line. Is that the best we can do? Knowing about something is a long way from understanding it.
Real Learning | Real Change | Real Futures
Rod Ross
