While the “software for schools” deal does provide a basic productivity suite for computers in schools and an OS it is a very limited selection of the tools that many learner need and use regularly. Here is my list of some of the tools that I use: (NB some require registration, and others like Comic life will require purchase but are well worth the investment)

Most of us have met them. If we teach in independent schools, higher decile schools or teach in more privilaged areas they are becoming increasingly common. Even the more short sighted of teachers can see them increasing as our future becomes increasingly electronic. Whether we call them Digital Natives (Marc Prensky), Digital Children (Ian Jukes), Neo-Millennials (Dieterle-Dede-Schrier) or 21st Century Learners (Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach ) they are increasingly becoming the future of teaching.

So what are they?

Well they are students who are shaped by there environment. The environment they are exposed to is media rich, immediate, fast, engaging, dynamic and instant. Its electronic and digital, Its a communication medium with instant gratification. Marc Prensky, described the array of media the students are exposed to in his papers on Digital Natives I & II .

This obviously has a huge effect. Digital Natives, those students who, through consistent exposure to these factors and access to a variety of digital media, are engaged and motivated by the use of digital technologies. They are adept in the use of digital medium, and as Dieterle-Dede-Schrier and Marc Prensky wired to used these tools.

So what is a Digital Native, a Digital Child, A Neo-Millennial or 21st Century Learner?

It helps perhaps to look at a digital native in reference to someone we are familiar with: A teacher, who is moer often than not as Marc would describe them, a Digital Immigrant. (source: Educational Origami )

These changes in prefered method and mode of learning are changing and shaping the way we teach (21st Century Teachers), how we design and build our classrooms (21st Century Learning Spaces) and how we are resourced (facilitating 21st Century Learning or taking a measure of ICT integration). For teachers to engage and educate, to facilitate and motivate, our methods of teaching must match their methods of learning; our teaching spaces must reflect their learning spaces; our teaching tools and resources must support their learning strategies. There must be in short, a paradigm shift in education . Teachers must become 21st Century learners and more.

(The posts refered to above have been incorperated into the educational origami wiki. If you would like to contribute to these please become a member of the space and add to them .)

Resources:

Educational Origami – http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

• 21st Century Teacher
• 21st Century Learning spaces
• Facilitating 21st Century Learning
• Digital Children
• Neo-Millennial learning styles
• Bloom’s Digital taxonomy
• Traditional practice and digital alternatives
• ICT and learning style

Have our classrooms really changed that much?

http://www.commoncraft.com/podcasting

Yeeha – another great resource from Lee and the crew at Commoncraft. This is a excellent resource and well worth using with students and staff alike.

Good effort.

Essentially ACU  – Abilene Christian University – has issues students with iPhones as a standard part of their University stationary (the details and costs are not mentioned, neither are the security arrangements). They then use their iPhones for:

• RSS feeds – personal (facebook) and academic – podcasts and classmaterials linking to iTunes
• course calendar
• address books
• Campus events
• online payments
• voice recorders
• txt alerts and messages from teachers & the school
• timetables and schedules – including changing classes

They have built in some very cool functionality, like a 3D campus map with GPS tracking to show you where you are an how to get to class (I presume its GPS or perhaps triangulation from cell towers). Auto “in class” busy on the phone when you are scheduled into class, linking to VLE etc.

Watch or download the movie here -

This is for most of us a dream, we don’t have the relationship and support of a major player like apple or the finances to implement this scale of concept – particularly given the cost of iPhones and connection.

However, on a achievable scale, we do have almost ubiquitous access to cellphones. Most of my students have atleast 2 cellphones. They have optimised their calling plans and have one on each provider. While many of the features that we see in the iPhone are not available, many of the simple features are, particularly in WAP enabled phones -

• text alerts and messaging,
• calendar synching and updates,
• pod and vodcast,
• voice recording,
• Cameras and video camera
• internet access
• easy communication with teachers, mentors, administration, coaches, peers etc
• reminders even RSS feeds to tell students they have updates, new posts etc.

The potential of these tools is huge. Are they a disruption? I have not found them to be. My students know that if their phone rings in class, with out a legitimate reason, there are consequences for interrupting and interfering with the learning of the other students. Do I ban them – No, its not worth the effort. Do they self manage – Yes.

Watch the video – wish you had the ability to do what they have done – its neat and a vision of the future.  Read the vision they have.

• Convergence and the 21st-Century Classroom:
• Envisioning the 21st-Century Campus:
• Solutions for the 21st-Century University: