Educational Models: Analogies for the new classroom.

With the all of the things going on at the end of the school year and the beginning of summer school, I didn't write on this blog due to lack of time. Just because I didn't write, doesn't mean I haven't been reading. To that end, I have quite a collection of articles that I have collected that I want to write about and get that information out to you. I am mulling over how the best way is to get this information to you. If you look at the previous post on this blog, I just gave you a hot list with some short annotations. I don't think that is the most effective way to get the information to you, so I have started using a shared bookmarking site called 'delicious....' This site allows you to collect bookmarks or links to pages that you can share with anyone. Now, the name and the URL are a little tricky. http://del.icio.us That's it, you just need to know the one word, you just have to put the periods in the right places. When you arrive, I have an account created, both the username and password are: 'captech'

In a theoretical vein, I am reading many ways that people are representing the use of the Internet for educational purposes. There are quite a few that I have caught my eye and have interested me enough to share them with you...

At the side of the page, there is a graphic from a site that wants to 'Create Passionate Users' and their analogy of innovation is to create an 'educational mosh pit' for students to explore the uses of technology in the classroom.

Another site draws from Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat," referring to the 'Flat Classroom.' The 'Flat Classroom' doesn't rely on the teacher to be the source of all knowledge in the classroom. Traditional classrooms have teachers that know more than the students and therefore, gravity is the source that creates the educational process. As the classroom becomes 'flatter' there is less gravity and the source of energy in the classroom has to come from another source. If students are the source of energy, how do we as teachers harness that energy and direct it in such a way as to be educationally sound.

There is also an interesting wiki-site regarding the use of blogs in education, which is going to be a major component of the Global Communications program.

More on all of these to follow.... If you want to see what things in the Global Communications program are beginning to look like, take a look at our wiki at: http://globalcom.wetpaint.com

Have a great rest of the summer!