Technology, Education, & Energy!

Chapter 9 of The Connected Educator focuses on how learning is affected by advanced technology. Classroom learning strategies change in response to how technology has evolved. From an educators perspective you must change your way of learning, rather than how you teach and lead, in order to effectively model lifelong adaptive learning strategies for your students. To make this change you must consider the four major components of learning 2.0, these include knowledge, pedagogy, connections, and capacity. You must also ask yourself if are preparing students for yesterday, today, or tomorrow? And think what principled changes you should be making in the classroom to ensure that you are developing in students the skill set they will need as they face future challenges. The chapter also addressed the moral purpose of teaching and the need to do something powerful to promote change in your school or classroom. "Be the example you want your students to be".


Last week my colleagues and I had the opportunity to hear from educator Robyn Hrivnatz, who is currently employed at Microsoft as a Senior Teacher Engagement Manager for U.S. Education managing the MIE Expert and MIE Trainer Communities, as well as curriculum lead for professional learning. She has been an educator for 16 years and has a passion for working with educators and learners to integrate technology to help revolutionize today's classroom and empower global citizenship. She was able to discuss some of the key elements of her career and how she incorporates social media. She is such an inspiration and great example of a learner and thinking leader!

Following this great discussion, our class broke into groups to play Frogger. Yes that may sound elementary but it was a great learning experience and way to prepare us for tasks in the professional world! In order for our frog to successfully make it through hazards we had to work as a team and figure out what different objects to use that conduct energy. Energy from an electrical circuit is what allowed us to operate the frog using our keyboard. Each individual from our team was able to point out what they believed to be a barrier and we were able to find the proper energy source. Who knew that the human body could serve as a conductor for energy. It was a matter of trial and error as well as being able to come to an agreement with the members of your team and work together effectively. Aside from constantly rearranging the wires and finding the appropriate conductor, we wouldn’t have been able to overcome issues without communication.