Whatisschool October 30, 2014

TYTYTY

Wow, what a fast paced chat #whatisschool tonight!  The ideas were flying so fast they were possible to keep up with and so were the side chats. The ideas and the energy you bring here each week are amazing! You are making a difference not only for yourself but for every educator you meet and pass an idea on to.  Tonight we had some students join us, as my daughters often do. Please encourage everyone you know to get involved in shaping their future, the future of education. Let’s foster a system that nourishes thinkers, creators and doers who will change the world. You are making it happen, don’t stop now. Archives are posted below. 

Who's Pulling The Strings?

#Whatisschool, Thursday October 30 7PM EST

Over the past few weeks we’ve discussed many ways to strengthen student experience using modern methods and technology to build skills for a workforce that doesn’t yet exist. But what if the industry you work in has other objectives?  Are the stakeholders students, parents and teachers or is somebody else pulling the strings?

Thomas Frey, a senior Futurist a the DaVinci Institute, a Colorado Think Tank, had this to say,

Thomas Frey, Futurist

“Colleges are in the business of selling classes. Students are in the business of gaining marketable skills. These are two radically different objectives…Business professionals in the future will require twice as much training as their counterparts today, just to stay competitive.  As we move further towards a globally competitive workforce, competition will stiffen, and our need to shift gears will happen at a moment’s notice. We will no longer have the time and place luxuries of waiting for the right opportunity for education to happen”

So how can teachers help students gain the skills they need while working with tools designed to make profits?

Questions For #Whatisschool 

Thursday October 30, 7PM EST

1) How have pre-designated tools helped or hurt your ability to teach students 21st century skills?

2) What technologies have you employed that best suit the needs of building 21st century skills?

3) How can out-of-the-box teaching methodology nurture students to be thinkers and creators?

4) What forces work in opposition to teaching students effectively?

5) What role should budgets and business play in determining what and how students are taught?

6) How can you foster 21st century learning with the tools at hand? What, if anything, needs to change?

#whatisschool is an international twitter forum co-founded by author, speaker Laura Hill and tech teacher Craig Kemp that attracts thousands of educators who come together to re-imagine school in order to give students the skills they need to be leaders, inventors and creators in a global digital/communication economy.  Join us every Thursday night at 7PM EST, questions and archives of each week's chat are posted below.  To bring  #whatisschool to your school email Laura Hill or contact me on twitter @candylandcaper.  I hope you join us! -Laura

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