Session+Three

SESSION THREE: Approaches to Learning & Assessment, Standards Realignment, and Revisiting Literacy (Transliteracy)

 * Topics Covered**
 * Approaches to Learning
 * Realignment of Standards in the 21st Century
 * National Educational Technology Plan and the Common Core State Standards
 * Revisiting Literacy (Transliteracy)

Note: Project-based learning is included in Session Four.
 * Objectives:** Participants will -
 * compare various current approaches to learning.
 * critique various professional organizations and their standards, specifically investigating the role of 21st century learning in standards updating.
 * evaluate the National Educational Technology Plan and the Common Core State Standards Initiative on teaching and learning.
 * critique the movement to redefine literacy and the inclusion of transliteracy in curriculum design.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy [|Participatory Culture]by Henry Jenkins [|Participatory Learning] [|Participatory Learning e-Folios] [|Participatory Learning from COSN] [|Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age] Partnership for 21st Century Skills Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow2 Intel Education [|Instructional Design]
 * Approaches to Learning: Things are a'Changin'**
 * [|Connectivism: Networked and Social Learning]

Standards

 * ISTE Standards
 * [|ACTFL]
 * [|NSTA] (You can also follow them in Twitter.)
 * [|NCTM]
 * [|NCSS]
 * 1) [|The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the National Council for the Social Studies Team Up on Curriculum Framework]
 * [|NCTE]
 * 1) [|21st Century Literacies]
 * 2) [|The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and National Council of Teachers of English Create New Framework]
 * 3) Why do some call digital storytelling the new genre in literature?
 * Others?

Initiatives Underway

 * [|National Educational Technology Plan]Why was this plan not called the National Learning Plan? Why is technology traditionally set aside and viewed as something separate from curriculum, teaching and learning?
 * [|Common Core State Standards Initiative]

As you reviewed curriculum standards, did you find that literacy is being redefined? Is the definition of literacy changing? If so, how? If educators view literacy differently today than in the past, how will assessments accurately capture student learning? Click [|here] for Dave Warlick's examination of Contemporary Literacy. Further, what are the ramifications of [|transliteracy]in curriculum design?
 * Literacy (Transliteracy)**

"...we must develop a participative pedagogy, assisted by digital media and networked publics, that focuses on catalyzing, inspiring, nourishing, facilitating, and guiding literacies essential to individual and collective life in the 21st century. Literacies are where the human brain, human sociality and communication technologies meet." [|Howard Rheingold] [|Participative Pedagogy for a Literacy of Literacies]

"Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement." Henry Jenkins [|Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century]

"We promote GAMING LITERACY: the play, analysis, and creation of games, as a foundation for learning, innovation, and change in the 21st century. Through a variety of programs centered on game design, the Institute engages audiences of all ages, exploring new ways to think, act, and speak through gaming in a social world." [|Institute of Play] [|Quest to Learn]).

[|Online Graphs and Charts] [|Historic Tales Construction Kit] [|Google Maps: 100+ Best Tools and Mashups]
 * Cool Tools Showcase**

Each team will decide which topic they would like to report on -
 * Student Assignment:**
 * a summary of what you believe are the best approaches in learning and why. Your discussion can expand beyond the resources provided here.
 * an examination of redefining literacy and the inclusion of transliteracy in curriculum design.
 * a critique of the common core state standards initiative.
 * a critique of the National Educational Technology Plan.

Each team uses Google Docs in their collaboration and planning for their video on the topic of their choosing. The team must upload the video to the Internet and embed it into a wiki which describes their project and provides links to resources.


 * Tools You Use:** uStream integrating with Twitter.