Did You Know?-Part 2

As you will notice in this video, there are some facts that our revisited.  However this video is shorter than Did You Know 2.0.  As I watch this video, I can relate some of these facts to myself.

• I have been with my current employer for less than 1 year.
• The longest I've been with a single school organization is 4 years and I've been in education for 11 years.
• I don't have a MySpace account, however I do have a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Delicious accounts.
• I'm a heavy Google user!

What's missing from this video is the educational impact this information implies.  I don't believe as educators we need to be ahead of the information explosion (besides, I don't think its possible).  Instead of jumping on the educational technology bandwagon, buying the latest and greatest devices and bringing them into the classroom, we need to keep it simple!  I encourage you to pick only the tools that would make you better at the things you already do.  I started my educational tech journey with Delicious, a social bookmarking program.  I love it because it's so simple and easy to use, and now I can't hardly function without it.

So what about you? What are you going to start with?  It can be Google Docs or Google Calendar.  It can be Facebook, a wiki, or blog.  But whatever you decide, remember to keep it simple!  Pick one thing, stick with it, and use it.

Did You Know?-Part 1

This video was developed by two individuals by the names of Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.  They collaborated on a project know as Shift Happens and titled the video "Did You Know?" in order to encourage 21st Century learning in our educational systems.  There are four versions of this video available, and I will address the first one I experienced as a teacher.

I was first introduce to these videos with version 2.0 at a new teacher in-service in Rockwall ISD.  It was part of the Phil Schlechty's Working on the Work or W.O.W. framework district workshop.  At first, I thought the 2.0 in the title referred to Web 2.0, and it wasn't until later that I discovered it was the second version of this video (you can find the first version HERE).  Even thought this isn't the latest and greatest version, I like this video because I believe it speaks to those individuals who may not be deep into educational technology and speaks to a broader audience.




So what do you think?  What are our students doing in schools?  How are we helping our students become literate in 21st century?   Are we providing the resources and training necessary to prepare students to be successful in 21st century society?  Now that we know all this, what changes should be made to current education legislation? Leave answers in the comments section.