"We are preparing learners for an era that no longer exists, with a skill set that does not enable effective navigation of today's complex, adaptive world."
This quote, at the beginning of this week's reading made me pause for a moment and reflect on my own teaching practices. As I stated in my previous post, my job requires that I teach students various multimedia software and Web 2.0 tools. Often, my colleagues and I engage students in project based learning, where they investigate a problem, research and write about their findings, then assemble information in a multimedia project such as a website or video public service announcement. It's very exciting to teach students how to post their own blog or create a video, or design a website. The real challenge, as an instructor, is not in teaching the software, but in choosing the best tools to create the product and developing an efficient workflow for students to move their project from the research phase to production. Often my students, and I to a certain extent, can get mired in the production process and lose sight of the content. However, I must pause and remember that content is the most important element to most media projects and I must constantly remind students of this.
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I totally relate to your experience of becoming "mired in the production process." While interning in the Digital Storytelling Initiative at KQED, I watch the instructor explain and demonstrate the software being used by participants in the storytelling workshop; there is a fine line between knowing enough about the software---in this case iMovie---to use it toward creating a deliverable product and emphasizing the software features so greatly that the software becomes the focus, rather than the product being produced using the software.
I agree with you that as an instructor one needs to update his or her knowledge constantly, especially when we are currently living in an information age; we are constantly bombarded with new, foreign, and possibly unreliable information everyday.
In particular, I believe that the role of the instructor is not just to select the best technology to help students complete their projects in the most efficient manner, but also to help them organize their thoughts as they are learning something new. After all, developing the most efficient way to learn is, in my opinion, one of the goals of any learning.
Nice writing, Jodi, but I find myself asking after your closing sentence, is it just content of the project itself? Is the process of the project, the collaborative thinking, the struggle to decide which tool will best serve the need, the acquisition and sharing of information, isn't that also equally important. Being a teacher of similar topics, I can certainly relate to the challenges, but also the successes of working with students to do something unique and also giving a greater sense of global citizenship. If the majority of what is being taught is being done so in a method that is quickly becoming obsolete, how do we continue to expand our goals to be beyond product or process but also incorporate the greater skills that enable 21st century success?
I work also work in a K12 environment and we are trying to figure out how to use Web 2.0 tools with our students. Many times a lot of the tools are filtered out because we do not allow social forums for things like myspace and youtube. With elementary students, it is difficult to use Web 2.0 tools because students under 13 years of age can't open their own e-mails and we are leery of putting their work out on a public domain.
Judi --
I really l the real world example you used. It actually fits well with my 894 project, except I am focusing on adults. You talk about the content being the main focus and having to remember that. I would say; however, that as an instructor, it is equally important to teach them about the process. In some ways, the content is less important then understanding how to collaboratively produce content with tools available. Even the tools aren't as important as the process.
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