Continuous Learning

I’m really proud to announce the release of the second edition of my Digital Tools for Teachers ebook and also the Trainers’ Edition which should enable any teacher with a basic knowledge of technology to run teacher training and development courses and sessions for pre-service and in-service teachers.

Educators have long recognized the importance and applicability of critical reflection across a wide range of educational settings, yet in practice it remains a challenging and nebulous concept for many to firmly grasp. In education, the concept of reflection dates back to the work of John Dewey (1933), who defined it as “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (p. 9). Dewey was the first to point out that experience alone does not constitute learning; instead, a conscious realization must occur for the experience to become a source of learning.

In examining the depth of reflection, Rogers (2001) made an influential and careful study and synthesis, while Peltier, Hay, and Drago (2005) put forward a way to evaluate different levels of reflective thinking, which include habitual actions, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection (refer to Weimer, 2012). Yet the void of ecologically valid classroom-based research on incorporating reflection to improve student learning has left teachers largely on their own when it comes to creating opportunities for reflection in their courses.

Many adult learners rank low when it comes to digital readiness, ed-tech trend knowledge and desire to pursue online learning.

For all L&D managers in the corporate world, delivering successful training within available time and resources is a continuing challenge. Presenting information to learning in the right way can be the key to achieving learning outcomes. And since a lot of moneys and time is invested into creating impactful training, there is a definite trend of developing higher levels of interest in how learners want to learn, in addition to what they need to. The ultimate aim is to make learning exciting enough to become a lifelong pursuit for learners and there are various ways of achieving this. Today, one of the most popular one is using blended learning ideas.

One of the personal qualities that seems to be shared by most gifted children is being different and divergent – in terms of thinking, interests, values and behavior.

Many gifted adults feel “wrong” or anxious about “not fitting in” even though being different can be a strength, a positive attribute.

In her article “Counseling Gifted Adults – A Case Study”, counselor Paula Prober writes about Susan, who “had known that she was different since she was seven. Her thoughts and feelings had never fit into the box that was comfortable and reassuring for most children.

“Her appetite for learning was insatiable. Reading was more nourishing than food. Thinking, analyzing, and synthesizing were better than Barbie.

“And she worried about everything: poverty, world peace, and the loss of the rain forests. It kept her awake at night. The adults around her said that she was too young to be concerned with such things. That didn’t help. To her classmates, she just seemed weird–certainly not birthday party material.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Gifted+kids

Our understanding of how to learn in this globally connected world is limited by our experience of learning. Our formal education has led us to believe that learning is something given to us. We are one step removed from the process of planning and regulating our learning for so much of our lives as learners that we become dependent on educators. We have powerful tools at our disposal and yet make poor use of them. Networks which should bring us closer together are used to divide and segregate. Instead of enhancing our collective understanding we are confronted by the challenges of alternate facts and fake news. We have an abundance of information but seemingly little wisdom and little understanding of who we may trust and how we may find truth.

Digital intelligence or “DQ” is the set of social, emotional and cognitive abilities that enable individuals to face the challenges and adapt to the demands of digital life. These abilities can broadly be broken down into eight interconnected areas.

Brain plasticity is a two-way street; it is just as easy to generate negative changes as it is positive ones. You have a “use it or lose it” brain. It’s almost as easy to drive changes that impair memory and physical and mental abilities as it is to improve these things. Merzenich says that older people are absolute masters at encouraging plastic brain change in the wrong direction.

Here are at least 14 trusty online tools of all kinds to give your students the edge as they work on improving writing skills.

Over the last couple of months I've found and written about a number of really great tools and resources to help improve our students' writing skills. This is a collection of links to reviews of ten of the best.

We'd like to share this critical thinking skills cheatsheet for you to use with your students. Get them asking questions on any topic!

Wanted to know 10 benefits of Microlearning-Based Training and why microlearning is a significant part of organizational training? Check out the article.

While microlearning is not a new concept, it is suddenly being talked about as the next significant approach to train workforce. Although chunking content into short bytes has existed for a long time, we are seeing an increased focus on microlearning as a fairly significant part of an organization’s overall training delivery. Here are 10 benefits of microlearning-based training.

In this article, I will outline why “less is more” and touch upon the top 10 benefits of microlearning-based training.

Microlearning is a short, focused learning nugget (often 3-5 mins long or shorter) that is designed to meet a specific learning outcome. It can be used to offer formal training but it often finds a wider usage in informal training (with a focus on performance gain).

Typically designed in rich media formats, it is a learner-centric approach that provides just-in-time training that is available on multiple devices (extending to Tablets and Smartphones besides Desktops and Laptops). All these aspects ensure that it can be easily accessed, quickly completed, and applied by the learners.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/

School equips us with knowledge we need, and we have more than enough training in convergent thinking, but to be creative once we leave the education system, divergent thinking is what we need to work on, and here’s how:

What is professional development?  It is pretty much anything that helps one develop professionally. At the heart, professional development is about growth and learning.  In the field of education, it seems like many quickly think of educational opportunities that mimic what they see in their schools. As a result, they turn professional learning and education into schooling.  The problem with that is that schooling is too limiting.  In this age, there are many other exciting and high-impact learning opportunities for teachers that extend beyond traditional notions of schooling.  When we hear the phrase “professional development,” certain practices likely come to mind, things like in-services and conferences. In the digital age, there are countless other opportunities for professional development and restricting one’s thoughts to just a few options limits our insight into what is possible for our students.  With that in mind, here is a brainstorm of 20 options available to educators today. This is far from an exhaustive list, but it is enough to start exploring the possibilities.  Feel free to suggest others in a comment to this post.

Learn more:

Professional Development: WHY EDUcators And TEACHers Can’t Catch UP THAT Quickly AND How-To Change It

LEARNing To LEARN For MY Professional Development | I Did It MY Way