Monthly Archives: September 2011

Why Do I Have To Memorize This? You Don’t!

Ian Jukes is the founder InfoSavvy Group. He has been a teacher at all grade levels, a school, district and provincial administrator, a university instructor and is a passionate educational evangelist. He asks why do students have to memorize location of states when they can Google the answer? If a student asks “Why do I need to learn this?” and we can’t answer the question, it’s probably not relevant. Watch the short clip below and make sure to see Literacy is Not Enough and The 21st Century Fluency Project.

Edmodo – A Great Classroom Tool That Engages and Empowers Students

Over the weekend at a picnic I was talking to a friend’s daughter (Bree, a 7th grader) who asked me if I had heard of the web site called Edmodo, which is a “Facebook like” social media site for education. Bree went on to explain what a great learning and collaborative tool it has been in her classroom. There is no greater testimonial for any learning tool than from a student who uses it! Take a minute to learn about Edmodo and how you can leverage it in your classroom to enhance learning and collaboration. It is a fabulous 21st Century tool. Thanks for sharing, Bree!

A Look At What Schools Could Look Like!

Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning (SCIL) is the research and innovation unit of Northern Beaches Christian School (NBCS) in Sydney, Australia. NBCS, through SCIL, is seeking to create models for 21st century education that change the focus from teacher-directed paradigms to self-directed engaged learning.  video captures a number of the ‘spaces for learning’ created – using the campfire, watering hole and cave architectural motifs.  Learn more about Principal Stephen Harris.

SCIL: Spaces to learn from SCIL on Vimeo.