We’re living in a world, where our school system hasn’t changed much in many generations, yet the world has moved on and changed due the technologies around us, and the way businesses operate. As teachers our lessons should provide opportunities for learners to be problem solvers.
If we teach our learners to be thinkers, to be creative and solvers of problems, they will be adaptable and will thrive in an ever changing world.
Encouraging experiential, self-directed learning is what all our students need, with a focus on self-growth and individual rights. Developing self responsibility through self-guided, discovery and exploratory learning. If we developed this type of education across our schools, our students would cope in a changing world, adapting to change. May be interested and motivated problem-solvers.
As education leaders and educators we should be focusing on the individual learner in our lessons.
Never before in human history, have we as teachers had technological tools, which we can use to assist in making individualised learning realistic, effective and easier to use.
These tools can be used to truly achieve and create individual learning strategies.
Collaborative productivity suite tools: google docs, sheets, slides, drawings, forms (add collaborators)
Use the tools for peer reviewing and effective, accountable team work engagements.
Auto marking of assessment tasks and activities, using online quizzes or Google forms set as a quiz.
Google Forms allows you to create a quiz, with or without auto marking, providing learners with feedback to individual questions. The feedback can be for both correct and incorrect answers.
The results of the quiz can be shared with students directly after completing the quiz, similar to a response system.
Results can be seen as an overview of the class' results; or individually learner by learner being able to explore each question.
The information can also be opened as a Google spreadsheet, and analysed there.
Interactive response systems; such as socrative, quizezz or kahoot; engage learners in activities. Response systems and online quizzes maybe used to determine if learners are understanding a concept.
Even tools such as Plickers provides feedback for teachers. Here only the teacher requires a smartphone, and students use the cardboard response cards.
Data analysis of student results on google spreadsheets or use online assessment tool results, such as downloading Kahoot results as spreadsheets.
Using the data results to investigate and find out how learners are really progressing within a subject, topic or lesson. Use the data, where in an application or on a spreadsheet. Find out how you can make your student's learning and lessons personalised.
We should be providing learning spaces which are stimulating, interesting and empowering. Allowing for individual and group experiential learning.
Where students are recognised as individual, creative and critical thinkers! Ready to solve problems, and prepared to struggle and explore to find solutions, so becoming empowered thinkers.
Einstein expressed: “A person doesn’t need to go to college to learn facts. He can get them from books. The value of ------- college education is that it trains the mind to think. And that’s something you can’t learn from textbooks. If a person had ability, a college education helps develop it.”
Let’s make the change, and evolve our lessons, classes and schools! #EvolveSchool
Another reason why do we, as teachers and educatos need to inspire learners to be problem solvers . . . . The World Economic Forum ‘2022 Skills Outlook’ lists the following skills as growing in necessity and requirement:
Analytical thinking and innovation
Active learning and learning strategies
Creativity, originality and initiative
Technology design and programming
Critical thinking and analysis
Complex problem-solving
Leadership and social influence
Emotional Intelligence
Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
Systems analysis and evaluation
Think about how you use the data you have on your students, and how to create personalised learning. I look forward to hear your thougths and ideas.
Contact me for workshops, presentations and keynote addresses: www.karenwalstraconsulting.co.za
References:
World Economic Forum, 5 Things to know about future jobs https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/future-of-jobs-2018-things-to-know/
Quote Investigator Education Is Not the Learning of Facts, But the Training of the Mind To Think Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/05/28/not-facts/