Building-Toward-Learning-Communities.aspx?Page=1
This article looks at the idea of using the increasing comfort with Internet social networks as an impetus to move students toward the development of student centered learning communities. The idea is that students already have social communities and that they can expand on the skill set and social relationships within them to create collaborative learning and knowledge building. In this framework the instructor moves from the center (the sage on the stage) to a leader of student centered knowledge accumulation and manipulation. The author gives several tips on how to engage Internet native learners:
• Be available beyond the standard 9-5 adult work schedule.
• Use a variety of tools for processing information because students are comfortable with a variety of internet tools.
• Model synthesis of knowledge and develop smaller areas where students can also learn to synthesize information. This is where the instructor can be the biggest influencer for student learning.
• Engage students by customizing tools and methods for each student’s learning style.
These skills in social collaborative knowledge construction will allow theses students to be able to construct dynamic models of real world problems, collectively develop knowledge towards a common goal and understand diverse perspectives in a complicated world. Certainly these are valuable skills for the 21st Century.
Question 1: How can instructors, who are generally not Internet natives, keep up with their students??
Answer: Historically teachers have been the keepers of knowledge and their goal was to pass on both their skills and knowledge to the next generation. Teachers now not only have to have the core knowledge, but know the guideposts and methods to get to that core knowledge through various methods. Teachers of the future will need to re-learn what it is to be a teacher by facilitating knowledge and skill acquisition from multiple perspectives. The role of teacher is getting more and more complicated.
Question 2: How will teachers do this?
Answer: In this paradigm, the role of training and professional development becomes much more important. Are there administrators that understand the increasing importance of training and are able to institute the time and resources needed to improve teachers’ skills for the tech heavy future? Or will there an even bigger push to make teachers be responsible for more and more skills without adequate compensation? It is a conundrum that will be another stressor on an already highly stressed educational system that doesn’t have enough highly trained educators.
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