iSchools: Positive Changes in NYC
Certain instructional methods which I have mentioned in many of my previous blog postings, have recently been the subject of some positive publicity in the June issue of eSchool News. A new model being used in select NYC schools, called iSchools, seeks to integrate ‘innovative technology with project-based curriculum’ and early results indicate highly successful outcomes. In this model, groups of students utilize virtual resources on the internet to complete research projects and in doing so take pride in their work and ownership of final results. In this model, each student has his/her own laptop and access to a variety of online resources, which can be monitored by teachers and parents using a learning management system. These are all steps toward creating an environment in which time can be varied to accommodate the learner. As the student becomes more inclined to utilize technology and group-based project research, the skills gained will better prepare the student to enter post-secondary education and the 21st Century workforce.
eSchool News June
eSchool News June
Labels: educational change, group-based project learning, iSchools, k-12 education, NYC public education, technology and education
posted by Dr. Abraham (Abe) S. Fischler at 4:58 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Dr. Fischler, I made a reference to you on my blog today and am happy to share it with you. You may be interested in some of my other recent posts including one, What GM Means for American Education, that may partly respond to your question about why the investment in public charter schools may be necessary to reform non-charter public schools. The link is http://bdaz.blogspot.com. Cheers! Brian Dassler
I agree that time should be a variable -- and I hope the schools in NYC are including options, alternative assessments, to allow flexible test-taking. (See also Howard Gardner, Intelligence Reframed, after page 167). As a teacher of students of English as a second language, I know that some students do better if they can take an exam home with them and then, after much practice, come in on Monday with a strong performance. That's a motivated student. That student does four times the work that a student does who sits and writes his answers... So I remove time and I ask the students who take more time to do an especially good job... I read somewhere that if the teacher expects that the students will do a lot of work, then the students often do the work. Teacher expectations are projected onto the class. Best wishes, www.VisualandActive.com
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