1.
Consider for a
moment a noun: a naming word that is a person, place or thing. Good morning, my name is Jennifer Williams.
And I am a verb trapped in a noun’s body.
As a teacher of English, this of
course is not easy for me to say as it defies basic rules of grammar.
2.
Now consider
this : “classroom” a noun that means a room in a school where classes are
taught. I am here to tell you that I
believe classrooms of today, like me, are nouns destined to become verbs.
3.
Traditional
classrooms, based on factory-style learning environments follow this standard definition. Many nouns: room, walls, desks, books,
teacher, students, conventions.
4.
It is time to jump out the box of traditional
spaces that restrict innovation and to redesign spaces for maximum engagement
and integration of technology. These new classrooms can become alive with
action and with verbs: innovating, creating, making, and exploring. All teaching, all learning,
5.
Students today acquire information and socialize in new and
innovative ways. With immeasurable advances in technology, students are exposed
to experiences with diverse cultures and are afforded complex opportunities of
networked collaboration.
6.
Immersed in tools of the digital age, today’s students
acquire information in fundamentally different ways. Non-linear
learning of these hyperlinked students has more to do with a network than a
line. It’s about experience, multitasking, and connecting many dots.
7.
With our current educational system designed for linear
learning, we find ourselves following thinking patterns of past generations.
Traditional stand-and-deliver, sit-and-listen pedagogies in a passive learning
setting. In our industrial age designs using teacher-centered instruction, we
are challenged to reflect the changing needs of today’s learners.
8.
Static layouts and furniture with limited mobility restricts
interactions between students, teachers, and content. The environment in itself can be a barrier to
learning.
9.
In innovative
student-centered learning spaces, everyone is part of the experience, the
sharing of knowledge, and the exchange of ideas. The environment is motivating
and is engaging. Within the lives of the people in a place called a classroom, this culture
is fostered.
10. As
teachers in these classrooms, we are educators, facilitators of learning, and
designers of learning spaces. We are
eduscapers that look for opportunities
to use our space as a change-agent to help students become more skillful curators
of their digital worlds. We encourage individual voices and we ask why, why not, and what
if?
11. By
examining the landscape of the classroom, we can design collaborative
learning spaces that will support the teaching and learning of 21st
century skills needed today. With this
creation of an activity-based learning environment that seamlessly connects
pedagogy, technology, and the space, a new word is formed: eduscapes.
12. Today we
have a responsibility to create a vibrant exploratory eduscape for our students
to discover, play, learn, and create.
Change the focus from nouns to an emphasis on the verbs. Learning
space design can act as a catalyst to support sustainable change in teaching
and learning in FIVE SIMPLE STEPS!
13. First, by seamlessly integrating technology into
teaching and learning, students are invited to explore and are empowered to
design their own learning. With Apple
TV, Google Glass, iPad, and Nearpod technologies, classrooms can be transformed
into a connected learning space.
14. Second, activity-based learning designs of
methodology and space allows students and teachers to collaborate in the
process of learning. Projects allow for
creation, connection, and problem-solving with learning teams.
15. New
pedagogies and a focus on active participation and personalization evolves the
role of the teacher from distant lecturer to facilitator of learning. Students
of the digital age are engaged, self-directed, and responsible for the development
of their own knowledge. This design provides
for a shift in ownership of knowledge and allows for all to be teachers and all
to be learners.
16. #4
Creative learning spaces foster skills needed for a technology-infused
world. Students will need to be able to
adapt quickly to change, solve complex problems swiftly with ease, and
critically think not only abstractly, but creatively.
17. Finally,
in a collaborative learning space, every space is for learning. Every seat is the best seat and students have
control over how and where flexible furniture is placed. Spaces should allow students to easily move
from individual work to group work, and access to content, peers, and teachers must
be available and flexible. But, above
all, the student is always at the center of learning.
18. In the words of Maya
Angelo, one of the most influential voices of our time, “The horizon leans forward offering you space to
place new steps of change.” Today we
have the unique and exciting opportunity to construct this space and take new
steps of change.
19. I invite you to work
alongside your students and connect two seemingly unrelated pieces of a puzzle
and creatively analyze the big picture.
Enjoy the experience of together connecting the many dots. Change the noun of classroom to a verb of
action.
20. And together with your students never stop
questioning by asking why, why not, and what if? Thank you and please enjoy your last day at
ISTE! Looking forward to seeing you next
year!
