Source: http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/10/learning-rememb.html

Reading this article at Remote Access was very thought provoking. My definition of learning had been relatively short term: Teach students a foundation of knowledge, help them build on the foundation, and hope that the knowledge stays with them for state testing and college entrance exams. What I really need to be teaching them is the process of learning so that as they go out into the world, they can be self-sufficient learners. I need to teach them to be resourceful–how to find the information that they don’t know. This year, I am trying to teach my students through more modern means, Internet research projects, building models of geometry concepts, and relating geometry concepts to construction. I am in my own experiment, testing a hypothesis of giving students ownership of their learning, trying to reach a goal of making them better learners and thinkers.

It will be several years before I begin to see the results of my curriculum changes. So until then, I will keep this learning experiment running, until the data from the future becomes the present, and I know if I am on the right track.

George Siemens’ article gives some insight into a new concept of learning (for me) called connectivism. Source: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm. Whenever I am commenting on articles of interest, I like to pick one statement from the reading that is meaningful to me. This time, it is “Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks.” So the challenge to teachers is to provide more learning opportunities for students of both varieties.

Lastly, the “Future of Learning” manifesto (the long version) really brought about a state of confusion for me.  Source:  http://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/2007/01/the_future_of_l.html

If this is how my students think, then do I, as a digital immigrant, have any hope of really reaching them?  Do students find any value in what we are trying to teach them?  Can we, as teachers, be taught to make a connection with a students?  I would be curious to hear what others think.  Are the ways I mention above a step in the right direction?