digital learning

Online Learning Boosts Student Performance.  A blog post by Don Tapscott, author of Grown up Digital, about a newly released study done by the U.S. Department of Education.  He cautions about generalizing the results of the study, which covered mostly higher education, to K-12, but it's worth a look.

Grown up Digital.  Don Tapscott's website about how the net generation is changing your world.

Feedback from peers is a surprisingly effective tool in helping students develop their writing skills.  It gives them a chance to hear how their writing is understood by readers who have only the words -- none of the thoughts or context or background that lie in the mind of the author.  When it is thoughtful and meaningful and is offered in a supportive learning environment, peer feedback can also help students gain confidence about their writing.  As one eighth-grade girl put it, "I think the comments I have received from other people have been very helpful because they have supported my writing and helped me grow to be a better writer."

YWP's success in engaging students to write and helping them improve is based on three fundamental learning concepts: 

• Authentic audience
• Peer-to-peer learning
• 21st-century learning
• Project-based learning

Click the links below to read more about each of them.

Digital technology offers great opportunities for Project Based Learning, which engages students to learn by getting them involved in solving hand-on, concrete, real-world problems. Among the many benefits teachers see with project-based learning, students enjoy peer-to-peer learning, shared learning and social learning. Consider this: According to the National Training Laboratories of Bethel, Maine, these are the average retention rates on various types of learning:

1. Dabbling.
2. Doing old things in old ways.
3. Doing old things in new ways.
4. Doing new things in new ways.

Audience gives writing purpose. It is why we write. Yes, we sometimes write for ourselves, to clarify our thinking or, as E.M. Forster put it, to find out what we are thinking.

But in traditional classrooms a student writes for a teacher, an audience of ...

And usually this audience of one -- the teacher -- judges them.

So what does math have to do with real life? Eileen Ivers, a master fiddler in the Irish tradition and a native of Bronx, graduated magna cum laude in Mathematics from Iona College. Math, she says, formed the basis for much of her music, which is, after all, all about rhythmic patterns.

In foreign language study digital media is a great asset to engage students and to help them learn by doing -- and listening to their own voices. Students can record, critique their accents, create and enhance their ability to speak or say a sentence in a foreign language. They can work on the sound of the language. And sound is a powerful method of learning and is closely connected to spelling and the written word as well.

Article on Project Based Learning from Edutopia.  A growing number of schools are using project based learning, which teachers find far more effective in engaging and motivating students and helping them learn and retain core concepts and skills. 

Edutopia article summarizing some of the research on the efficacy of project based learning.

eSchool News Special Report on Project Based Learning.  An in-depth look at some of the schools and classrooms that are using Project Based Learning, with references to some resources for further information.

Digital Storytelling Finds its Place in the Classroom - A teacher describes how he guided his fourth- and fifth-grade students through all phases of creating a digital story in an assignment he called "Project Place."  Lots of well-chosen, detailed tips about all phases of the process, as well as helpful hints about using iMovie.

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has the best take on what students need to compete in the 21^st  Century workplace. Here is what they are advocating that schools develop as a digital learning framework:

21st Century Content. In addition to competency in core subjects -- English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography -- several significant, emerging content areas are critical to success in communities and workplaces. These content areas typically are not emphasized in schools today:

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The Partnership and National Council of Teachers of English Create New Framework

The value of authentic audience for student writing

The Effect of Distant Audiences on Students’ Writing.  Article by Moshe Cohen, Minister of Education, Jerusalem and margeret Riel, Interlearn, California.

21st century skills

Schools tap '21st-century skills' A Christian Science Monitor article about how schools and education are changing to prepare students for a fast-changing future in the 21st century.

The Digital Teachers Project was created by Young Writers Project as a placel for teachers to share ideas, receive online training and access some of the best work and practices in digital writing.  YWP provides:

• A library of Best Practices in digital writing. (See block at the top right of this site)
• A Master's Level Practicum for teachers through St. Michael's College. (All filled for 2009/10, sorry. Info on summer course will be posted in January.)
• Teacher Blogs from Vermont and all over the world
• A space to share your ideas, concerns and experiences. Just sign up and write!

YWP also offers: