Change
Revised concept map. Click on the picture for a narrated commentary.This portfolio is a reflection on change: change in education, and change in my understanding and practice of education.
The most fundamental change has been in my understanding of learning from being a teacher-directed, teacher-centered activity, to one that begins with the learner, and focuses on his/her construction of knowledge. This was a Copernican revolution: the center of my classroom changed, much as Copernicus shifted the center of the universe from the Earth to the Sun.
This was the foundation of a continuing transformation in my thinking: if teaching depends on the learner, what motivates the learner? This led to engagement theory, situated learning, active learning, and problem-based learning, pedagogical models which share an interest in motivating learners by making learning real, relevant, interesting, and rewarding, and by giving students a role in their own learning.
Education as a whole is changing. Technology, a driving force behind change in our world, brings new tools to the classroom. I explored ways in which technology could be used to support learning in my 'post-Copernican' classroom. I saw technology providing access to information, the building blocks of knowledge; promoting collaboration; and engaging learners. Furthermore, I saw technology as supporting differentiation, taking over cognitive roles, and perhaps leading to the evolution of new kinds of thinking.
In Music, I considered how to integrate technology into composition lessons, working from and exploring the thesis that technology provides students easier access to creative experiences by taking over some of the cognitive and manual functions previously required of composers. Within a broad definition of curriculum, I explored several possible changes to the music curriculum, and outlined how they might be successfully implemented.
Finally, I explored different future possibilities, driven by technology and learning theory: MOOCs, BYOD, flipped classrooms, and nongraded schools; and 21st century frameworks. I considered how each took learning theory into account, and how they utilized technology to make learning more meaningful. I concluded with a look at Elliot Eisner's vision of 'what school could be'.
Now what?
The most fundamental change has been in my understanding of learning from being a teacher-directed, teacher-centered activity, to one that begins with the learner, and focuses on his/her construction of knowledge. This was a Copernican revolution: the center of my classroom changed, much as Copernicus shifted the center of the universe from the Earth to the Sun.
This was the foundation of a continuing transformation in my thinking: if teaching depends on the learner, what motivates the learner? This led to engagement theory, situated learning, active learning, and problem-based learning, pedagogical models which share an interest in motivating learners by making learning real, relevant, interesting, and rewarding, and by giving students a role in their own learning.
Education as a whole is changing. Technology, a driving force behind change in our world, brings new tools to the classroom. I explored ways in which technology could be used to support learning in my 'post-Copernican' classroom. I saw technology providing access to information, the building blocks of knowledge; promoting collaboration; and engaging learners. Furthermore, I saw technology as supporting differentiation, taking over cognitive roles, and perhaps leading to the evolution of new kinds of thinking.
In Music, I considered how to integrate technology into composition lessons, working from and exploring the thesis that technology provides students easier access to creative experiences by taking over some of the cognitive and manual functions previously required of composers. Within a broad definition of curriculum, I explored several possible changes to the music curriculum, and outlined how they might be successfully implemented.
Finally, I explored different future possibilities, driven by technology and learning theory: MOOCs, BYOD, flipped classrooms, and nongraded schools; and 21st century frameworks. I considered how each took learning theory into account, and how they utilized technology to make learning more meaningful. I concluded with a look at Elliot Eisner's vision of 'what school could be'.
Now what?
"Visions, no matter how grand, need to be acted upon to become real."
- Elliot Eisner
Future change
Elliot Eisner's vision was for students to become lifelong learners. To stop learning now would be leaving my work unfinished. Therefore, in the future, I will:
- Transform my practice to be student-centered, engaging, situated in real life, and inquiry-based. I need to work at every unit I teach, in every subject, developing questioning skills, creating scenarios for problem-based learning, and working out how to step off the stage and become more of a guide.
- Integrate technology based upon learning theory. I need to work with the technology available to develop meaningful uses of technology which engage students, which teach students that there is more than one way to solve a problem, and which utilize new ways of thinking, learning and demonstrating learning.
- Change how I assess student learning to include process as well as product. If I am going to give students more freedom in how they learn, then I need to accept that the products of their learning will be diverse in form and in quality. I need to develop ways of evaluating the skills students are developing throughout the process of learning. And I need to let students learn deeply that failure is part of the learning process, reinforcing this in the way I assess and in the opportunities for learning from failures I provide.
- Become an advocate for change in education. It is easy to complain about lack of access to technology, or lack of student-centered resources, or everything else that is wrong with education. Rather, I need to apply what I have learned, and become a driving force for positive change in these areas.
- Continue to develop my technological competency. One area I need to develop is connectedness: maintaining online communications with students, parents, teachers and administrators; keeping up-to-date with educational research and reform; and joining and building networks of educators.
I would like to finish by thanking my fellow M. Ed. classmates; throughout the Masters program, our discussions were entertaining and inspiring, and our collaborative learning enlightening: 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'. I am also grateful to my UOIT professors who not only taught what good education is, but modeled it, leading me through a rich and rewarding experience of active, student-centered, inquiry-based learning. My hope is that I will teach and inspire my students in the same way.