Trends in digital learning

I have been plowing through some things that showed up in my inbox before the holiday break and have been interested in the number that focus on the trend towards online learning for everyone. There are questions about how credible virtual classrooms are, there are questions about the extent to which teachers are being prepared to teach online. While I recognize those are being things we might care about, I think they miss the point. I think the issues are these:

Young people today live in a digital world-- their brains are changed (literally) by their expose to digital information-- we must ask if the traditional definitions of "credibility" and literacy and numeracy are still valid in this world.

Teachers need to develop skill at "transitioning" from what they are doing to what they should be doing... when I first started teaching, I had a mentor who told me to "plan a lecture" so that everything you think is important is down and then "figure out how to teach it without lecturing." He also suggested doing this anew each time I taught a lesson to get in the habit of thinking about "alternatives" to lecturing. I find myself doing that today with digital technologies-- what do I want my kids to know and how do I do it with digital media so that I am working in their world.

Virtual Schools

Teacher Prep