Friday, September 21, 2007

What do they know and do already? Creating and Connecting Report

In starting to design a course for elementary teachers to develop skills and understanding of roles for technology in teaching and learning, I asked myself "What do the students know and do already with technology? How can we tap into their experience and expertise?" I have not yet met any of the students so I don't know first hand. Theron Desrosier, a colleague at WSU helped me get an overview when he wrote about a new report from the National School Boards Association Creating and Connecting Report. He summarized:
Here are some of the other results:

"81% students report visiting a social networking site within the past three months.
71% report using social networking tools weekly.
59% report talk about "education" in their online social networks.
50% report talking specifically about schoolwork"
I suspect that UNE students will have comparable responses. I'll be interested to learn what they are saying about education.

1 comment:

Nils Peterson said...

Steve

You might want to look at Micheal Wesch for example http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=121 and esp at the series of videos he and his students have posted on YouTube. He is both engaging them in PBL with ethnographic studies and gathering more of the data you are asking about in this post.