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Slides from June 20 - Interdisciplinary Learning

Fascinating?

livetiles.nyc

4 Fascinating Trends in Education Technology

• by Jon Lisi,   May 17, 2016     4 min read
• original

Published by: Jon Lisi

There is a divide between teachers who embrace the future of education technology and teachers who fear it. This is because the role of technology in the classroom is often dramatized. Whether it’s the irrational fear of an AI takeover, as if teachers will be replaced by robots, or the panic about the role of cyber-bullying in the classroom, people generally don’t understand the positive role that technology can have on education.

Kelly Walsh

Education expert Kelly Walsh agrees that most of the fears are overblown. Walsh is the Chief Information Officer at The College of Westchester in White Plains, and we asked him to share his thoughts on the relationship between teaching and technology.

“Technology has made collaboration possible in ways far beyond our imaginations in the 20th century, and done so in ways that are often highly affordable.“

Right now, teachers are taking advantage of different digital tools. For example, Walsh singles out collaboration tools that allow users to create and edit documents, worksheets and presentations. These “powerful free tools,” he believes, can revolutionize education.

In his article “20 Fun Free Tolls for Interactive Classroom Collaboration,” Walsh calls attention to a number of free collaboration tools, from video tools to interactive online whiteboards, to prove his point. The future of the teacher-student relationship is collaborative, and digital tools will help create an interactive classroom space.

“The widespread availability of digital technologies has enabled teachers to begin to move learning content outside of the classroom and deliver it in a format that allows for easy review, which in turn has freed up time in the classroom for more active and more individualized learning.“

Thanks to digital technology, teachers can upload learning materials to the Cloud, which can be accessed by students anytime, anywhere. Walsh sees this as a huge advantage, as teachers can use valuable class time to create meaningful face-to-face encounters with students. This concept of “individualized” or “personalized” learning allows teachers to converse directly with students. Gone are the same boring lectures, repeated ad nauseamto a sea of tuned out students!

This is how technology impacts the classroom today, but what are some future trends? Walsh focuses on four fascinating trends that should excite students and teachers alike.

4 Ed Tech Trends:

1. Video in the Classroom

“I think we will see teachers become increasingly comfortable with using video as part of the process for interacting with students.”

Although it’s true that digital technology allows teachers to show more video content in class, like Ted Talks, it also allows teachers to create their own videos. As the classroom becomes more digital, Walsh believes that teachers will use video to communicate with students.

What are the benefits of this? For a start, if teachers want to send a message to students about class, they can record a video that can be saved and accessed at a later date. It’s easy for students to forget about a teacher’s important reminder, especially if it is made in

Losing Good Employees

huffingtonpost.com

9 Things That Make Good Employees Quit

• 4 min read 
•  original

It's pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about--few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.

Managers tend to blame their turnover problems on everything under the sun, while ignoring the crux of the matter: people don't leave jobs; they leave managers.

The sad thing is that this can easily be avoided. All that's required is a new perspective and some extra effort on the manager's part.

First, we need to understand the nine worst things that managers do that send good people packing.

1. They Overwork People

Nothing burns good employees out quite like overworking them. It's so tempting to work your best people hard that managers frequently fall into this trap. Overworking good employees is perplexing; it makes them feel as if they're being punished for great performance. Overworking employees is also counterproductive. New research from Stanford shows that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that you don't get anything out of working more.

If you must increase how much work your talented employees are doing, you'd better increase their status as well. Talented employees will take on a bigger workload, but they won't stay if their job suffocates them in the process. Raises, promotions, and title-changes are all acceptable ways to increase workload. If you simply increase workload because people are talented, without changing a thing, they will seek another job that gives them what they deserve.

2. They Don't Recognize Contributions and Reward Good Work

It's easy to underestimate the power of a pat on the back, especially with top performers who are intrinsically motivated. Everyone likes kudos, none more so than

Challenging Duckworth's Promotion of "Grit"

by Nicholas Tampio for AEON:

Teaching ‘grit’ is bad for children, and bad for democracy

Guian Bolisay/Flickr

According to the grit narrative, children in the United States are lazy, entitled and unprepared to compete in the global economy. Schools have contributed to the problem by neglecting socio-emotional skills. The solution, then, is for schools to impart the dispositions that enable American children to succeed in college and careers. According to this story, politicians, policymakers, corporate executives and parents agree that kids need more grit.

The person who has arguably done more than anyone else to elevate the concept of grit in academic and popular conversations is Angela Duckworth, professor at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In her new book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she explains the concept of grit and how people can cultivate it in themselves and others.

According to Duckworth, grit is the ability to overcome any obstacle in pursuit of a long-term project: ‘To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times and rise eight.’ Duckworth names musicians, athletes, coaches, academics and business people who succeed because of grit. Her book will be a boon for policymakers who want schools to inculcate and measure grit.

There is a time and place for grit. However, praising grit as such makes no sense because it can often

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