Saturday, February 5, 2011

Playing School Or Preparing for Life?

posted by Paul



This installment from F E T C 2011, called Playing School or Preparing for Life, is presented by Meg Ormiston. The program guide says of this presentation:
Playing school means sitting still quietly, listening to the teacher, and completing paperwork. If the purpose of education is to prepare students to be successful when they graduate, we need to look at how different the real world is outside of schools. Today people are hired to Twitter on behalf of their employers, utilize social networking tools to spread the company message, and multitask online. Most schools today are blocking and filtering the very experiences our students will have when they enter the workforce. Investigate how to bring these collaborative tools into the classroom to better prepare students for the world beyond the classroom.
Audio File of Presentation (mp3, 13.2 Mb - right-click to download; click to play)

My notes:


Her son.... she refers to him as "2014"

Today's world doesn't know a world that's not connected.
  • Wikipedia – 10 years old
  • 36 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute


“Who did you ask questions to before Google?”

“How did you talk to your friends before Facebook?”

Today's phone is a computer.

Going forward with video games requires:
  • solving difficult problems
  • collaborating with others


Facebook (or its replacement) is not going away
  • Farmville
  • 8/29 Farmville usage dropped; everyone went back to school!


And... School is Different; kids are different 

Real Life:
  • expected to know how, and when, to use technology appropriately
  • blocking, locking and filtering doesn't work: doesn't help 2014 get ready for the real world
  • our job is to teach 2014 how to live in the real world appropriately
  • Don't “lock” teaching and learning


If kids are asleep in class, there's no hope...

Connect to Outside the Classroom

google: Gary Hayes social media calendar

Favorite tools when you walk out of schools

Creating a Digital Rich Classroom – her book

schooltown – like moodle, without the technical problems

MegOrmi – her Twitter
  • twitter network that focuses on professional development
  • #1 source for personal, professional development
  • #edapp
  • #spedchat
  • #assistiveetech

teach kids how to communicate with Twitter in a professional manner

Stop playing school and help kids get ready...for life.

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