Jul
26
Beyond Standardising Testing
July 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
assessment-overview-video
This video explores the tensions between standardised testing and performance-based learning and advocates a move to “high-quality, localised assessment”. Project examples include students building robots, designing future schools and racing electric cars. The Urban Academy in New York City, which is part of a consortium of 32 schools, has replaced standardised testing with performance assessment [...]
Mar
13
World’s best practice
March 13, 2008 | 1 Comment
Described as “currently the most widely read worldwide study of what should lie at the heart of an education revolution” (SMH, Dec 2007), the McKinsey report, looked at the qualities of the world’s best performing schools in 2006 and 2007. Some of the most interesting points can be drawn from the case study of Finland, [...]
Nov
17
Ditch the digital/native catchcry
November 17, 2007 | 2 Comments
The video, A Vision of Students Today, released by the Kansas State University’s Digital Ethnography has generated some heated debate, particularly in response to Gary Stager’s post, Hey Mom! Look What I Made in College. The video itself has more than 4600 comments and 860,000 hits on YouTube.
Despite the fact that I’m empathetic to students [...]
Aug
26
Creativity versus Curriculum
August 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Are these two concepts mutually exclusive? While we’d like to think they’re not, the tyranny of content often means that we do not undertake projects that involve “deep”, connected and creative learning because we have “too much stuff to get through.” I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I compare my two history classes [...]
Aug
22
Now that’s progressive
August 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I attended a professional development day in Sydney this week to explore the new texts on the HSC English list for 2009-2012. The texts set for study change every couple of years and I welcome the list as progressive mix of canonical prose fiction, multimedia, poetry, film and drama. The most interesting, and I think [...]
Aug
7
Trying to “enthral” students all day long
August 7, 2007 | 4 Comments
Below is an excellent video from Wes Fryer, who discusses the difference between “enthralling” and “engaging” students. He also provides useful strategies about how teachers can do this. The major ones are choice and differentiation: a) choices about the ways students learn material. “Rather than asking them to learn facts, ask them to apply those [...]
Jul
15
Relevance and learning by doing
July 15, 2007 | 6 Comments
As I go about planning next term, which begins in a week, I’ve been thinking about how to create experiences that make learning more relevant to students, that make connections between the literature we study and the world we live in. I have also been thinking about the difference between cognitive learning (e.g. [...]
Jul
7
I should never be able to fulfill what is, I understand, the first duty of a lecturer – to hand you after an hour’s discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece for ever …. [W]hen a subject is highly controversial … one [...]
May
11
Best of both worlds
May 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment
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May
11
Why use technology?
May 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Download
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May
10
Five ways to engage students using technology
May 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment
UK History teacher Doug Belshaw writes an informative blog with a wealth of info about incorporating technology in the classroom in practical and effective ways. His post on five ways to engage students using technology is worth a read.
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May
8
Shake it up
May 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Download:
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May
8
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Apr
26
21st century skills
April 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The changing information landscape of the 21st Century demands that our students develop new skills of information literacy and become knowledge producers as an integral component of their learning.” - Graham Wegner
Source: http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/aa.gif
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Apr
23
Revised Bloom’s taxonomy
April 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Gifted and Talented Education seminar
Peter Merrotsky from UNE discussed the importance of higher order thinking skills for high achieving and gifted students.This revised Bloom’s taxonomy fits well with ICT, which gives students the opportunity to construct their own knowledge via the creation of wikis and blogs.
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