Students First, Not Stuff

1. Students First, Not Stuff By Will Richardson Presented by Melinda Ross

2. Will Richardson

3. Author of the highly ranked and read edublogWeblogg-edand author of the book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms • Now an independent presenter and owner of Connective Learning, LLC • He is also an advocate for school reform which encourages the integration of technology in learning • Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 1980. • Master of Arts (Teaching), College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ, 1983 • Lives along the Delaware River in Western New Jersey with his wife Wendy and his children Tess and Tucker, all of whom are bloggers About Will Richardson

4. “Technological change is not additive; it is ecological, which means, it changes everything” Neil Postman

5. Rapid and technological change is not what we signed up for is it? • Is school still the place where people receive their information? • Resistance is futile to new and changing technology Introduction

6. Great news for kids! • Some want to limit technology • There is great use of technology outside of school which limits learning inside of schools due to Standardized assessments • What comes next? • How can we do it better? So Many New Ways To Learn

7. Learning is now truly participatory in real-world contexts. • Connecting with other learners outside school walls • This is when technology changes truly become ecological – students drive their own learning Particiaption

8. “We’ve spent billions of dollars on technology that by almost every measure has had little or no widespread effect” • This technology has been used poorly • It is not about tools, it is learning experience of the traditional curriculum • Educators must lead inclusive conversations Learning First

9. If we define learning as “higher student achievement” or “improved student performance” as measured by test scores – we will deliver the current curriculum more effectively to make these scores “better” • “Productive learning is the learning process which engenders and reinforces why we want to learn more” Seymour Sarason

10. It has never been more possible to access and research information • However, “wanting to learn more” means a transfer of power • Discover rather than learn • It is all about students pursuing their own interests in context of their curriculum Putting Students First

11. It is not suggested that teachers have not used this approach before or that they rely only on technology • Due to the web these changes must become the rule in classrooms rather than the exception • Colearners • Experts at asking great, open-ended questions and modeling the learning process • Teachers should be master learners Shift from teacher to student

12. The redesign of literacy needs to change as well • “National Council of teachers of English suggests that literacy is much more than reading and writing texts” • This council defines 21st century literacies as including proficiency with the tools of technology • It is good to have the ability to share and design across multiple streams of information that meet a variety of purposes Literacy

13. Users need to be productive with the technology – rather than be distracted by it • Its becoming increasingly more common for learners to educate themselves outside of traditional schooling Productive Rather than Distracted

14. Massively Open Online courses • Writing and responding to blogs, webinars, etc. • MOOC enabled more than 2,000 learners from all over the globe to educate themselves, one another, and model how to learn online, • Universities like Stanford, Princeton, MIT offer MOOCs • Online courses are led by experts in the field • These represent ecological change because they are free MOOCs

15. Offer full college credit for completion of free MOOCs • How do you feel about that? • Would you do that, if Bloomsburg offered it? Colorado State University

16. The reality is that people no longer need to send their children to schools to learn algebra, U.S. history, or french • Most self-motiveated students can use MIT Open Courseware or Kahn Academy to acquire the knowledge they need to pass a typical test • The focus needs to develop learners rather than to make sure students learn • There now needs to be focus on individual passions, inquiry, creation, sharing, patient problem solving, and innovation • This does not mean that all information and knowledge is thrown out of the curriculum Reality

17. Long-term, inclusive conversations about what teaching, learning, and being educated means in relation to new technology • Education will continuously be changed • Students, not stuff What needs to be talked about

18. My opinion on this article is that it is a very good stance to have on the new technology that is being incorporated into the schools. Rather than focusing on the devices, changing technology, and the web - educators should be focused more on the students and their needs. There are many new ways to learn, hands-on due to the technological advances that have been made over the past few years. These will also continue to grow and change Abstract